In Aladdin's cave with the stalactites

Bob "Minmi Magster" Skelton stumbled across the Jewboy Cave near Mount Sugarloaf more than 50 years ago.

Bob was riding a horse out that way.

"A local timber-cutter told me later it was called the Jewboy Cave," he said.

"Only a few knew about the cave back then. I agreed with the timber-cutter to keep quiet about it, so it wouldn't be invaded by the public."

We reported last Friday that Boolaroo's Col Maybury paid a visit to the cave, which was a lair for the infamous Jewboy bushranger gang.

A young Rob Skelton with his horse at the Jewboy Cave.

One of the gang's members committed a murder at Scone, so the gang fled to Doughboy Hollow near Murrurundi. A posse of settlers pursued them led by police magistrate Edward Denny Day.

"My wife's old cousin from Mulbring showed me an old newspaper article, where his grandfather was in the posse with Denny Day when they captured the Jewboy Gang," Bob said.

Bob said the cave was near Stockrington and the Hunter Expressway.

"It used to be great. That was a beautiful secluded valley where no one went - only the timber cutters.

"Now the expressway is right through the guts of it. I suppose that's progress.

"I went out there when they were building the expressway and I saw the pegs really close to the cave. I was worried about that. The boundary just missed it."

Bob used to ride to the area with his son Rob, who is now 44. He took a photo of Rob deep in the cave with what appear to be stalactites. It was their very own Aladdin's cave, of sorts.

"I don't know whether they're stalactites them things, they look like it. It must be a bit of limestone, but it's conglomerate on the outside," he said.

"I doubt that the stalactites are still there these days, but I sincerely hope so."

Bob said there were "a couple of secret holes that go down into the cave, too".

The Burrenjim dam is also nearby. "We used to dive into the dam," he said.

Rob in his later years at a waterfall at the Jewboy Cave.

Doughboy Hollow

Russell Hall tells Topics that Col Maybury's story about the bushrangers "brought back memories of my time spent at Doughboy Hollow, now Ardglen".

"My grandparents owned property at Ardglen and every school holidays my sister and I would catch the train with our mother to Ardglen to spend the school holidays," Russell said.

"That was 70 years ago. I knew every blade of grass in that village."

Russell said the name "Doughboy Hollow" originated from the day the police captured the Jewboy Gang.

The journal of the Quirindi and District Historical Society stated in 1974: "The saddles were off their horses and the outlaws were sprawled on the ground, sunning themselves on the banks of a sparkling brook. On a fire nearby they were boiling 'doughboys' for their evening meal."

The journal stated that a school teacher named Mr Meiklejohn, who came from Scotland, lived at Doughboy Hollow in about 1893.

"The area reminded him of a beautiful little place he knew in Scotland by the name of Ardglen. With the help of the railway station master, they obtained some signatures from the local people. Through the railway commissioner, the name was changed to Ardglen.

"One day, I will have to go back to Ardglen. I have driven through the village via Google Street View on my computer."