visited Braidwood and Arnprior: "Further on you come to Arnprior, the estate of Mr. Ryrie in the county of Murray, on the Shoalhaven River, about 152 miles from Sydney. Here there is a considerable quantity of land enclosed, but the property is not highly esteemed; gold has been found upon it, however; and we sincerely hope that it will ultimately be of great value to its possessors." The Ryrie grant was bisected by a road leading directly north from Braidwood to Bungonia. This road passed directly through the Ryrie property, across the ford at Larbert on the Shoalhaven River and another ford on the Boro Creek, passing through Mayfield and alongside Glen D'Or. There is some suggestion that this was a Cobb and Co route. In the south-west portion of the original Arnprior grant lies a road easement leading to Lake Bathurst through Mayfield. The 1867 Postal Directory recorded that Mrs M. A. Ryrie, Helen, Anne, and John Ryrie were residing at Arnprior. These were the wife and children of William Ryrie. Alexander Ryrie purchased the property from his brother John Cassels in either 1867 or 1876. By the late nineteenth century, the extended Ryrie family had moved away from Arnprior, to the Monaro district and to Port Philip (Melbourne). In 1902, the property passed out of the Ryrie family when it was sold to Frank M. W. Cooper. He in turn sold to John Welsh in 1906. One of Alexander's sons, Vincent, repurchased Arnprior in 1928. It appears that Vincent Ryrie retained Arnprior until the 1950s, at which time it passed through a number of hands: first it was sold to William Hyde, who sold to J. B. Hibberson, who in turn sold to G. L. Gouge. In 1968, the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board proposed a scheme, known as the Shoalhaven Scheme, to supply water to Sydney and the South Coast. The proposed Welcome Reef Dam on the upper Shoalhaven River, in the vicinity of Braidwood, was to be part of the second stage of this scheme. From 1968 through to the mid-1980s, the Water Board set about purchasing privately owned pastoral holdings in the area between Braidwood and Goulburn for the proposed Welcome Reef Dam and catchment area, eventually acquiring 37,000 acres. Arnprior was resumed by the State Government on behalf of the Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board at this time. The boundaries of the