UBMBWC and THE BUSH CLUB Inc.Greater Blue Mountains National Park- Blue Mountains National

Park- History and a bit of adventure -Lockyers Road and Lawsons Long Alley- Monday 26th August 2019

Title Lockyers Road and Lawsons Long AlleyDate Monday 26th August 2019Leader Brian Fox/ Michael KeatsMaps etc LPI Hartley 8930-4N, 1:25,000, Third edition, GPS setting WGS 84Walk description and route

Park one vehicle on Mount York Road at the junction with Lawsons Long Alley, 438 815 and another on Mount York Road at 434 847. Starting at the top of Lockyers Road and walking down it to approx. 434 847 and then off track descending the spur there to the east to connect with Waltons Road approx. 441 857 and then walking back up Lawsons Long Alley. About 200m +&- and about 8km.

Rating 4

Gear issues First aid kit, 2 litres of water, electrolytes, GPS PLB, Appropriate head and footwear

Numbers Max 12 Meeting point

Meeting Points, Pymble 0630, or Mount York Road at the junction with Lawsons Long Alley, 438 815, 0830

Transport Club Cars Comments A mix of historic track and some bush scrambling. Close of Bookings

Contact leader

Enquiries Brian Fox email brianandelaine@aapt.net.au or Michael Keats email mjmkeats@easy.com.au or telephone 9144 2096

The Party

Brian Fox, leader, Michael Keats, John Cooper, Berenice Torstensson, Harold Thompson, Freda Moxom, Suzanne Barr, Andrew Ford and Jenifer Tierney, 9.

The Weather

A winter day out with misty rain in the morning at the start of the walk, then fine but overcast conditions until the last half an hour when mist and much heavier rain returned. Temperature range 7 to 9 degrees C.

Local Place Names

Lawsons Long Alley is a Historic Walking Track from Mount York Road, Mount Victoria to Waltons Road, Hartley Vale. Named after William Lawson (1774-1850), who was the Commandant over the whole area west of Mount York at the time of construction, 1822-1823. This track commences near the intersection of Berghofer Drive and Mount York Road,

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Mount Victoria. Other access points are Lockyers Pass and Coxs Pass. Ref: The Department of Lands, Blue Mountains Historic Crossings Walking Tracks, 1979. H 438 815 to 439 835.

Lawsons Long Alley was closed to traffic about 1832 at time of opening of Victoria Pass. It is as steep as the Cox's Road and subjected to flooding. Where the road crosses swampy ground a corduroy road of logs was constructed to stop vehicles becoming bogged. There is no remaining evidence of this structure. In 2019 it is not unsuitable for wheeled traffic.

Lockyers Pass is a historic walking track from Mount York Road, Mount Victoria to Hartley Vale Road, Hartley Vale. Named after Major Edmund Lockyer (1784-1860), Inspector of Roads and Bridges, who commenced construction of this road from April 1828 and worked on it until late 1829, but it was never completed. Thomas Mitchell stopped the work on this road and transferred the road gang to his own road down Victoria Pass. However, the road

was still recorded on survey plans. Ref: Survey Plan of Portion 48 Parish of Hartley,

25 June 1849 and Portion 46, dated 29 May 1893. Department of Lands Historic Crossing Walking Tracks, 1979. Other access roads were Lawsons Long Alley and Coxs Pass. H 431 822 to 430 859.

BF and YB

Mount Dixson is a coal mining adit located on the lower eastern slopes of a spur projecting from Lockyers Road, 600m south of Hartley Vale. In 1855, a Mr Dixson of Newcastle was engaged to find

the extent of a coal seam in the area. By digging a shaft, he found the coal seam to be 4.5 feet thick. Shown on Survey Plan C259.1507 of 50ac of land at Mount Dixson, surveyed in April 1865. Ref: Illawarra Mercury, 2 March 1866, p. 4. Whitworth, Robert. NSW Gazetteer and Road Guide, 1866, p. 258 records,

"A most valuable seam of bituminous coal has recently been opened at the base of mount Dixon, (sic) about 2

miles due N. from here; it is of a most peculiar quality, and from experiments made, from 160 to 160 gallons of crude kerosene oil to the ton have been extracted." Note: The word ‘Mount’ is the name of the adit, same as the name Mount Rennie Tunnel at Katoomba. H 435 854.

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Some of the party at track junction signage. Left to right Berenice, John, Suzanne, Freda, (hidden,) Michael, Jennifer and Andrew. Photo: Brian Fox.

Fairy Dell Creek rises near the intersection of Carrington Avenue and the Darling Causeway, Mount Victoria. It flows for 4km generally north, north west into Kerosene Creek. Named after Fairy Dell, which is within this creek. Name assigned 24 April 1970 by the Geographical Names Board. MW 453 802 to H 441 831.

Sunshine over Hartley Vale -view from Lockyers Track. Photo: Harold Thompson.

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Signage on Lockyers Road at 435 831. Photo: Brian Fox

Kerosene Creek. This non perennial creek rises in a gully to the north west of Mount Victoria, near the junction of St Georges Parade and Berghofer Drive, 444 813. It flows generally north for about 7km when it joins the River Lett at 434 873. The name is most likely derived from the Kerosene Shale mines near Hartley Vale. Hartley Map, 1:25000.

Andrew and Jennifer on a cliff edge 20m east of Lockyers Track. A section of Lawsons Long Alley track can be seen in the centre of the picture. Photo: Brian Fox.

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Dry- stone wall construction on Lockyers Road. Photo: Brian Fox.

Track Notes

This walk includes sections of two of the five historic access routes down the western escarpment from Mount Victoria. The five routes are Cox’s Road, Mitchells Pass (Victoria Pass), Lawsons Long Alley, Lockyers Pass and Berghofers Pass. Of the five roads only Victoria Pass is currently in use for wheeled vehicles. Plans are being considered for even this pass to be superseded by a new road that would use part of the Darling causeway and the ridgeline to Hartley Vale. Today the walk would include parts of Lockyers Pass and Lawsons Long Alley.

After meeting at 0840, the track head for Lawsons Long Alley and end of the walk a car shuffle to the start of the walk was completed by 0850. Walking started at .432 822, 0859 after Brian showed us some historical notes and a 1980s promotion brochure. From the start and noticeable on the western side of the track and extending for about 200m was a new fence, 432 825. This seemed to coincide with boundary of surveyed portion 348.

As we walked north there was residual evidence that part of this road had been given a tar seal. This disappeared as we moved further along the track. At 0921, 435 830 a dry-stone wall formed the edge of the road on the western side. This wall reached a maximum height of 1m. It extended for over 300m before becoming redundant. An interesting observation was made that Lockyers Road follows a ridge while Lawsons Long Alley follows a tight valley.

At 0929, 435 831, there is historical track signage pointing the way to an old coal mine together with evidence of hand picking in the roadside cuttings. Interpreting the map, it is fair to assume that Lockyers Road was used to move mined coal to Mount Victoria rail head.

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Two minutes on the track nudges close to the cliff edge, and a short 30m walk leads to a natural viewing platform, 436 831, 997m. Despite the heavy mist we had a great view down into Kerosene Creek and even a section of Lawsons Long Alley Road which we would be walking on later in the morning.

Notable as we walked were metal trail markers for walkers and direction arrows. Fire has ruined 90% of the images, however the metal arrows still serve their purpose.

The ridge becomes progressively narrower, coupled with a relative height of 950 to 1000m the views both east and west unfolded rapidly and very pleasantly. We had morning tea at 435 838 from 0953 to 1010. Time to get moving. At 1027, 433 846 the sun came out fully, settlements in Hartley highlighted by the sun made great pictures. We were now close to the point of leaving Lockyers Road and adding some off- track activity to the walk.

Parallel to Lockeys Road to the east of it and about half -way to Lawsons Long Alley is a cliff lined ridge overlooking Kerosene Creek. It was our plan to explore some of this terrain before descending into Kerosene Creek and linking up with Lawsons Long Alley. 1034, 439 848 we took the plunge and commenced our descent.

The terrain is wild and the vegetation thick. We made much use of Wombat tracks although we wished that as animals, they were a bit taller. They proved to be good engineers and apart from a couple of wild slides progress was good and so much more interesting than a walking track. I had a great find, an Aboriginal chert tool at 435 848. It was noted and returned to where I found it.

1059, 436 848 we were in Wombat territory with many burrows. We are not sure how they are surviving the dry conditions as no free surface water was found until the valley floor. 1117 438 848 we stopped for a drink. Sharpe eyed Brian found a dead Camaenid land snail, Meridolium sp. By 1130, we regrouped on Lawsons Long Alley Road, 441 849. In the area

Kerosene Creek is shown on the first edition map as a swamp. The current edition shows a thin blue line. The reality is there is no surface water.

Signage, Lawsons Long Alley. Photo: Brian Fox.

Signage, Lawsons Long Alley. Photo: Brian Fox

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We now started walking south and up Kerosene Creek following Lawsons original road. I did wonder about where in the mid- 19th century had the corduroy section of road1 been built. If the first edition map is a guide, then a section of about 200m between 438 836 and 438 834 and another of about 300m between 438 831 and 437 828 could have been constructed. If this was the case, then the abandonment of Lockyers Road for horse traffic is more readily understood.

The original Lawsons Road becomes lost about 439 837, as small life-style holdings have appropriated the road for access and left walkers with a bypass track. Walkers and historians return to the original track about 439 826. Past the junction of Fairy Dell Creek, Kerosene Creek becomes confined to a tight gorge and the vegetation becomes more dense and lush. For a short 200m or so the trees are huge and the understory rich.

Lunch was taken at 1215 438 826. For about 16 minutes. Resuming we soon encountered the original Lawsons Long Alley Road. Massive drystone walls protect the road as it negotiated bends. The workmanship is amazing. The mind boggles at the thought of men in irons cutting and manoeuvring huge stone blocks into position with the ever present man with a lash if you slackened off…

Dry stone wall on Lawsons Long Alley road. Photo: Brian Fox.

At 1246, 439 821 we began photographing the walls. It is good to see that NPWS or some other authority taking steps to remove vegetation that threatened to destroy the walls.1 A corduroy road or log road is a type of road or timber trackway made by placing logs, perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area. The result is an improvement over impassable mud or dirt roads, yet rough in the best of conditions and a hazard to horses due to shifting loose logs.

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From here the road climbs quite rapidly and there is a lot of evidence of culvert construction and water diversion work. It is all executed by hand. Higher up, where the road crosses some unstable local country rock, the road width appears to have been increased to allow minor subsidence to be accommodated without destruction. Some remedial works have been undertaken to protect the original road and stone walls. In places the road- bed has scoured out over 1m leaving the built wall in isolation

Several culverts at 1302, 438 818 and 1306, 436 816 are exceptional examples of the stone-masons craft at its best. We perhaps did not spend as much time examining these features as we should have. It was now raining quite determinedly. At 1310 we reached the cars, 439 815. Hurried goodbyes were said as we scuttled to keep dry, reverse the car shuffle and remember a great day out. Total distance 8.49km, total ascents 266m.

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Hand picked roadside gutter, upper reaches of Lawsons Long Alley. Photo: Brian Fox.

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Signage, Lawsons Long Alley road. Photo: Brian Fox.

Michael Keats for The Bush Club Inc. and the Upper Blue Mountains Bushwalking Club, 27th August 2019

BCSNW Lockyers Road and Lawsons Long Alley 260819-Track Notes /MK

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Brian alongside the handpicked gutter and constructed kerbing, Lawsons Long Alley. Photo: Harold Thompson.

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Hand-picked drainage culvert, Lawsons Long Alley. Photo: Harold Thompson.

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