Tim the Howie Man drops by to discover the origin of the mysterious gate along a dusty road at Shannons Flat in New South Wales, which has, over the past decade, accumulated hundreds of tied shoes and boots.
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00:00 Spread all over Australia are quirky and unusual final resting places for missing shoes.
00:08 Yes, missing shoes.
00:10 From thong trees at Tartha on the NSW South Coast,
00:13 to a hills hoist laden with shoes at Colgara in the Northern Territory, the geographical heart of the nation.
00:20 However, much closer to home is the Bobian Boot Gate here at Shannon's Flat,
00:25 near the southern border of the ACT.
00:28 It all started accidentally one day in 2014.
00:31 It began by me coming down here on one early Saturday morning and finding a brand new boot,
00:41 similar to this, but it was a brand new tradies boot, sitting in the middle of the road just here.
00:47 So I put the boot on this post here and just sat it there hoping that he'd see it when he was coming back.
00:56 I came back two weeks later to see if the boot had been found.
01:01 And the boot had been taken away and this is what was there.
01:09 A little collection that had just started and now it's grown somewhat from there.
01:21 The funny thing is, we know it's not locals because they're often tied up with cable ties.
01:28 The locals, they're all farmers and they use wire.
01:32 What's the most unusual item that you've seen tied to the gate?
01:37 A prosthetic. And what's sad about that is that prosthetic was hanging just here on the corner.
01:45 But someone's obviously needed it because it's disappeared.
01:49 Do you ever see any other boot gates on your travels?
01:52 Like when you travel around Australia or the world, do you go looking and seeking out boot gates to see if they're as good as yours?
01:58 I'd like to find another one. I've heard rumour of one up in central New South Wales somewhere,
02:04 but I haven't been told the exact location so I haven't been able to find it yet.
02:09 (gentle music)
02:11 [Music]