page_title: Hermit's Cave
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Hermit's Cave / Description
caption_attribution_description: Some of the dry stone walling at Hermit's Cave complex
context_page_description: The Hermit's Cave is a heritage-listed complex of stone structures on Scenic Hill on the northeastern outskirts of Griffith, New South Wales, Australia.
  Misleadingly called 'The Hermit's Cave', the site in reality comprises a complex of shelters, terraced gardens, exotic plants, water-cisterns, dry-stone walling and linking bridges, stairways and paths that stretch intermittently across more than a kilometre of the escarpment. Made single-handedly by a reclusive Italian migrant, Valerio Ricetti, these structures involved the moving of hundreds of tons of stone and earth, together with the ingenious incorporation of natural features in the landscape.
  The site is recognised for being a rare example of an Australian hermit's domain. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 12 January 2007.
context_section_description: The Hermit's Cave Complex is a collection of rock shelters and rock overhangs (several of which have been modified by Ricetti to create cave-like enclosures) with elaborate stoneworks and earthworks created by Ricetti, all of which are located along a long, narrow ridge top site outside Griffith. Ricetti's work is over more than one kilometre along the south-eastern face of Scenic Hill which is a 200-metre-high (660 ft) escarpment on the southern-most part of the McPherson Range. Scenic Hill is now adjacent to the western edge of the Collina residential suburb. The southern and northern edges of the site are defined by Ricetti's hide-outs constructed in rocky outcrops. The western perimeter is currently defined by the road reserve boundary of Scenic Drive although there are possibly remnants of other constructions west and north-west of this road. The area of the nominated site comprises 16.16 ha with a length of 1150 m and varying widths of approximately 120 to 190m.
  The archaeological remains of the site are located in discrete areas along the length of the site across a distance of over one kilometre. From south-east to north-west these remains are grouped as follows:
  1) Far South Rock Shelter (possible main western hide-out)
  40-step stone stair;
  hide-out with open rock shelter with three large stone blocks placed in a row;
  small, natural shelter with a narrow passage leading into a small chamber containing natural stone blocks that form a window opening.
  2) South Rock Shelter (possible first dwelling)
  Rock shelter containing:
  18-step stone stair;
  dwelling with partly intact stone enclosure walls;
  remnant stonework (remains of the wall and another stone stair).
  The small size of the shelter and absence of rock inscriptions and rock murals suggests this was a short-term dwelling used by Ricetti before he constructed and moved into the second, more substantial dwelling.
  3) Southern Garden and Rock Shelter (possible second dwelling)
  This dwelling is associated with two gardens, three cisterns, a rock shelter popularly known as "La Scala" (Opera House) and its inscriptions. It is recorded in historical photographs and is remembered to have been built and occupied before the third dwelling.
  A) Rock Shelter containing:
  east stone stair leading to the garden;
  bottom stone stair from the east, leading to a narrow passage between two boulders with a low wall into the dwelling;
  dwelling, being a rock shelter overhang that was walled off, containing a stonework window;
  top stone stair rising from the rock shelter overhang;
  west stone stair into a narrow passage between two boulders leading to a second, small chamber that contains a large flattish stone). This chamber is thought to have been a cistern.
  holes (chiselled out) that were used to support timber trellis structures.
  B) Gardens
  The largest and most complex zone of the site being 60 metres long and 35 metres wide. Located along the base of a cliff face below the ridge top with a drop in level of 10 metres.
  i) Upper Garden. Designed as three terraces with cisterns, connecting stairs, paths and a dwelling. Its remnant features are earthwork terraces with stone retaining walls; metal materials (steel sheet, wire) for shoring terraces and construction; remnant fig plantings; remnant yucca plantings and yucca plantings that have invaded the surrounding area.
  ii) Lower Garden.  Contains the best -constructed and best-preserved example of Ricetti's stonework. It comprises an earth-filled stone retaining wall forming an elevated walkway.
  C) Cisterns
  i) Uppermost Cistern.  Situated in the top terrace and fed by moisture from the cliff face.
  ii) Second Cistern.  Situated outside the north-eastern retaining walls of the garden at the middle terrace level and fed by moisture from the cliff face and surface run-off.
  iii) Lower Cistern. Adjacent to and below the lower garden and fed by  surface run-off from the gardens and possibly the top cistern.
  D) Natural Amphitheatre-Shaped Rock Shelter featuring:
  stone retaining wall to form a bridge;
  stone staircase remnants;
  location of a bush 
caption: Dry stone walling at the Hermit's Cave complex
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