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| Ducks on Glenbrook Lagoon
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Glenbrook
An obvious starting point for explorations of the Blue
Mountains with a large and comprehensive Tourist Information
Centre for the whole region.
Located 64 km from Sydney, Glenbrook is an obvious starting
point for any exploration of the Blue Mountains. There is an
excellent Tourist Information Centre - (02) 4739 6266 -
located on the Great Western Highway which provides
travellers with all the bushwalking maps and brochures, as
well as details of how to get to the main sights.
Glenbrook was first mentioned by Europeans when Blaxland,
Wentworth and Lawson, while crossing the Blue Mountains,
passed the Glenbrook Lagoon on 12 May 1813. They described
it as 'a large lagoon of good water full of very coarse
rushes'. It subsequently became a notable landmark when
William Cox, who built the first road over the mountains,
built a storeroom near the lagoon. Subsequently Governor
Lachlan Macquarie placed a military depot on the road near
the lagoon to monitor movements over the mountains.
In Fourteen Journeys over the Blue Mountains, Major Henry
Antill described the settlement at Glenbrook in 1815 as 'a
good log hut with two rooms, one of which answers as a
store. It is placed about 100 yards on the right of the
road, near a small lagoon of fresh water. The soldiers have
enclosed a small piece of ground for a garden, and one of
them had displayed some taste in laying it out in little
arbours and seats formed from the surrounding shrubbery.'
The desire to create beautiful gardens seems to have been
a constant European impulse in the Blue Mountains.
The township of Glenbrook really came into existence in
1874 when, with the construction of the zigzag railway up
the Lapstone monocline a place called Wascoe's Siding, named
after a nearby inn, was established and water from Glenbrook
lagoon was piped to the trains. This siding became a
passenger station in 1877 and in 1878 it was named
Brookdale. It was changed to Glenbrook in 1879.
In true Blue Mountains artistic tradition the great
Australian painter, Arthur Streeton, lived here in 1891. In
a letter to Tom Roberts, Streeton described the district,
'All around and above fine tall red gums, smooth of trunk,
as though cast in iron...Below me runs a crystal virgin
brook with a rocky bottom and rushes...'
Things to see:
Glenbrook Lagoon
If the traveller turns off the Great Western Highway at Hare
St, turns left into Moore St then right into Glenbrook Rd,
it leads down to Glenbrook Lagoon. The first Europeans to
pass this freshwater site were Blaxland, Wentworth and
Lawson who arrived at 'a large lagoon of good water full of
very coarse rushes' on 12 May 1813. With its ducks and rich
banks of reeds, this is a pleasant retreat from the
surrounding suburbia. There is a belief that the depression
was created by a meteorite which crashed to earth.
The Glenbrook Native Plant Reserve
The Glenbrook Native Plant Reserve is a reserve of around 2
hectares on Crown Land which showcases Australian Plants,
especally those local to the Blue Mountains area. It houses
a small nursery and education centre, as well as a small
landscaped garden as well as the local flora reserve - with
a number of walking trail and a wide range of local species
represented. The landscaped garden is home to many orchids
and ferns. Conveniently located on the Great Western Highway
in Glenbrook across the road from the Visitors Centre, it is
maintained and developed by the Blue Mountains District
Group of the Australian Plants Society in co-operation with
the Trustees of the Reserve. A pamphlet detailing the
various walks is available at the Reserve; admission is free
and it is open Sat, Sun and Wed noon - 4.00 p.m. A native
plant fair and flower show is held every spring; in 2004
native orchids, ferns, eremophilas and grevilleas were
featured.
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| Lennox Bridge
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Lennox Bridge
Glenbrook Rd continues on to Mitchell's Pass (the main route
up the Blue Mountains from 1834-1964). If the driver turns
right and heads east along the Pass (which leads down to
Emu Plains it leads to Lennox Bridge, which is listed by
the National Trust. Built by David Lennox (1788-1873), a
Scottish master mason who had worked with the great British
bridge builder, Thomas Telford, before emigrating to
Australia, the bridge is the second oldest stone arch bridge
in Australia. There is an older one in Tasmania.
The bridge was Lennox's first job after his appointment
as Superintendent of Bridges. He began work, assisted by
twenty convicts, in November 1832 and the bridge was
completed in July 1833. The bridge is held up on a 3 metre
radius stone arch and is about 10 metres above the gully
floor. On the keystones were carved 'David Lennox' (now
difficult to see) and 'A.D. 1833'. It remained in continuous
use from 1833 until 1926 (and remained open until 1964) and
is a monument to Lennox's extraordinary building abilities.
Bushwalks in the Area
The main appeal of Glenbrook lies in its bushwalks and the
fact that, being at the base of the Blue Mountains, it has
the mountains' major Tourist Information Centre (located on
the Highway in Glenbrook Park) and therefore is ideal for
people wanting detailed information on walking trails, tel:
(02) 4739 6266.
At the western edge of Glenbrook Park turn left into Ross
Street then left into Burfitt Parade which becomes Bruce
Road. This is the easternmost entry point to the Blue
Mountains National Park which, covering over 100 000
hectares, is the second-largest national park in New South
Wales.
The bushfires of Christmas 2001 led to the temporary
closure of the area and the permanent closure of the
National Parks and Wildlife Service office in Bruce Rd which
was the staring point for some of the area's bushwalks.
However, as the walking tracks are re-opened the old trails
will be re-established and the old information centre site
will remain a departure point. Booklets relating to these
walks will remain available from the main Tourist
Information Centre on the Highway.
An easy, 8-km, four-hour circuit walk from the old
Information centre site (get the 'Glenbrook and Eastern Blue
Mountains' booklet from the Tourist Centre) goes up the Red
Hands Creek Valley along a creek and through a rainforest
setting with plenty of birdlife to Red Hands Cave. If you
don't want to walk, there is an unsealed, well marked road
to the Red Hands Cave picnic site and from there the cave is
only a ten-minute walk. National Parks information observes
of these ancient hand prints, hand stencils and grinding
grooves that they contain 'some of the best-preserved
examples of hand stencils and prints in the Sydney Region'.
'Interpretive signs at the cave tell the story of the hands
and the people who made them...While knowledge of the
original meaning of the hands has been lost, they remain a
link with the Aboriginal people who have lived in this land
for so long....Red Hands Cave is an irreplaceable part of
Australia's cultural heritage.'
Other National Parks walks in the area include the 1-km
Bluff Lookout Circuit Walk, an easy 2-km return walk to
Jellybean Pool, which is a pleasant summer swimming hole and
an easy 2.5-km return walk to Euroka Creek, offering views,
birdlife and facilities. The latter starts from Euroka
Clearing which is often populated by kangaroos at dusk
(access via the visitors' centre). The carpark on Nepean
Lookout Rd (access via the visitors' centre) is the start of
a moderately difficult 2.5-km return walk along Jack Evans
Track to Erskine Creek, taking in views, rainforest,
birdlife, picnic facilities, rockpools, sandy beaches and
blue gums. For further information ring the National Parks
and Wildlife Service on (02) 4787 8877.
Glenbrook Creek Gorge
A superb view over the Glenbrook Creek Gorge can be seen
from the Bluff Reserve Lookout. This vantage point lies at
the end of Emu Rd which runs off Explorers Rd.
Knapsack Park
On the other (northern) side of the Great Western Highway
there is a large reserve based around Knapsack Creek and
Knapsack Park. It incorporates two lookouts (Elizabeths
Lookout and Marges Lookout which provide excellent views of
the plains below), both of which lie along a vehice track
that branches off Barnet St. There are also a number of
walking tracks which can be accessed from a number of
points: Elizabeth Lookout, the Vehicle Track, Knapsack St,
Mitchells Pass, the old Great Western Highway Carpark and
Olivet St.
Zig-Zag Railway and Lucasville Station
Also in this area are historic remnants which relate to the
Zig-Zag Railway and Lucasville Station. The original zig-zag
railway line was built in 1863 by John Whitton (the
Engineer-in-Chief for the New South Wales Railways) and was
used until 1891 when a deviation was completed. Access is
via Knapsack St. At the dead end of that road is the start
of a walking track which leads to some interesting old
cuttings associated with the railway. The trail passes the
original Gatekeeper's Cottage and a lookout over the
Knapsack Creek Viaduct. It is a pleasant walk offering good
views across the Sydney basin.
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Glenbrook
