In 2013 Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia celebrated 200 years from its naming as a town in 1813. Over the 200 years significant milestones have occurred in the town and regions infrastructure development to support growth of the region.
The development of Australia progressed with a few frontier towns built in extreme isolation like Bathurst. Sydney was founded in 1788 and 25 years later in 1813 only a few other coastal towns had been established. The desire to explore the unknown areas led the Colonial Government to sponsor expeditions to the interior of the vast country. A large mountain range running parallel to the Sydney coast blocked access to the west and rugged mountains and a river blocked access to the north. Before the exploration of the inland started they had no idea what they would find but what they did discover was fertile and well watered land ideal for grazing of animals and producing agricultural products.
To grow from a village to a town to a city requires major infrastructure construction. This normally occurs in phases, as the technology develops, as the funds allow, and the needs become pressing.
The key infrastructure developments that allowed Bathurst to grow were the road system, gas supply, telegraph network, railways, telephone, electricity, and water systems. Each one of these created an improvement in living conditions and productivity for the residents and the economy as a whole.
First a road was required and once built settlers moved west, over time the other infrastructure requirements followed as the town grew in importance to the Colony.
Summary timeline of major infrastructure improvements
1814 – Roads Immediately a need arose for a road to gain access to the vast lands of the interior, but it was no ordinary track that needed to be constructed, this road had to cross a formidable mountain range and abruptly descend into a valley criss-crossed by rivers and streams.
To develop, a town needs access from the adjacent populated centres. In 1813, the Bathurst district was discovered by an exploration party from Sydney that crossed the wild mountain range known as 'The Blue Mountains'. From that point the region was identified as ideal farming land and the Governor ordered a road to be built across the mountain range to the new settlement of Bathurst. This set the scene for population growth and development of the entire western region of the colony of New South Wales.
Three significant changes to the Sydney to Bathurst road route occurred throughout the nearly 200 years of history of the road.
Cox's Road (Eastern Road)
In 1814 the Governor Lachlan Macquarie of the colony of NSW approved the construction of a 163 kilometre long road from the existing limit of habitation of Sydney (near Penrith) to the newly discovered locality of Bathurst. The road was built by William Cox and completed on 14 January 1815. The instructions to William Cox on building the road were as follows...
William was instructed to make use of depots and ask for any provisions that were required for the workers' comfort. So as not to disrupt the working party, orders were given to the public and posted in conspicuous places, against visiting or crossing the Nepean without a pass signed by the Governor.
The road commenced at Emu Ford and proceeded to Wentworth Falls, here he had built a hut to house supplies, the road proceeded generally along the existing highway route following the top of the mountain ridges, a second provision hut was built at a site later known as Weatherboard Inn, now Wentworth Falls. The road continued through present-day towns such as Leura, Katoomba, and Blackheath. At the present town of Mount Victoria the original road proceeded north west diverging from the existing westerly route. Cox's original route winds its way down an extremely difficult descent known as Mount York, Governor Macquarie later named the passage down Mount York as Cox's Pass in honour of William Cox the builder. For 15 years Mount York was a serious impediment to traffic on the western road. It was so steep that passengers often had to disembark from their carriages, walk down the descent and wait for their horse-drawn carriage at the bottom. Bullock teams hauling goods had to tie large logs to the back of their wagons to retard the speed of descent. The Government regularly sent work crews to burn the large accumulation of logs at the bottom of Mount York.
From the bottom of Mount York the original road continues its entirely different course from that of the later routes. The old road travels roughly due west passing through the village of Hartley, O'Connell, and then turning north crossing the Macquarie River then through the locality of The Lagoon and north into Bathurst. This route is so different from the subsequent routes that it is difficult to plot on a map. The old road ran parallel and approximately 30 kilometres south of the present road. In various sections the road no longer exists and other sections are now only sections of minor gravel roads. For approximately half of the entire western road the route now is entirely different from the first road to Bathurst.
The party consisted of 28 convict men and 6 soldiers and this team built the road and bridges in a six-month period.
This new road immediately became known as the Western Road.
O'Connell deviation
In 1823 Cox's original road was diverted just south of the present village of O'Connell through the future village of O'Connell and parallel to the east bank of the Fish and Macquarie Rivers, arriving at the village of Kelso on the eastern side of the Macquarie River, Bathurst town being immediately opposite on the western bank of the River. The original 1815 route passed parallel to the west bank of the Macquarie River through the Lagoon locality.
Victoria Pass and Rydal deviation
As westward traffic increased, Cox's remarkable but hastily built road was improved in the 1820-30s by major deviations and improvements, particularly the western half from Mount Victoria. After this improvement, in May 1831, the Government announced the new name of the road as the Great Western Road. It too was constructed by convict labour but under the supervision of the newly appointed Surveyor General, Major Sir Thomas Mitchell. Surveyor Mitchell descended the 'Mountain' via an alternative route, the demanding Victoria Pass, whose 8:1 gradient has challenged drivers for almost 180 years! Victoria Pass opened on 23 October 1832, by Governor Sir Richard Bourke. It was traversed on 18 January 1836 by the young naturalist Charles Darwin, who wrote of it in The Voyage of the Beagle: "To effect this pass, an enormous quantity of stone has been cut through; the design, and its manner of execution, would have been worthy of any line of road in England – even that of Holyhead."The Voyage of the Beagle, p.322, Penguin edition 1989.
Along with the Victoria Pass deviation, Mitchell surveyed a new route through the villages of Rydal (then known as solitary Creek) and Yetholme. This took the road much further north than the original alignment through an area still known as 40 bends, the work started in 1832 and was completed late 1836. The section west of Yetholme is generally the same alignment as that used to this day. Much of today's modern Highway to Bathurst follows Mitchell's line apart from the later deviation through Bowenfels (Lithgow) and Wallerawang.
Wallerawang deviation As the towns of Lithgow and Wallerawang grew in importance with coal mining and as the railways were now located there, traffic increased to these towns, the route via Rydal was also quite steep in parts. As early as 1848 a group of prominent members of the Bathurst community surveyed and proposed a new route. The new route deviated from the former at a point south of Lithgow (old Bowenfels) and proceeded past the outskirts of Lithgow and alongside the mining and railway town of Wallerawang, joining the previous Mitchell's route near Mount Lambie. It was not until 1929 that is new route was completed. This new route now bypassed the village of Rydal and avoided several long steep hills, especially the seven-mile hill at Mount Lambie.
Bathurst bridges
In September 1867 a major flood washed away the first Denison Bridge that had spanned the Macquarie River. Unfortunately, as that bridge was washed down the flooded river, it collided with the only other bridge spanning the river, Rankins' Bridge four miles down river, and destroyed that bridge also. The destroyed timber bridge at Bathurst was replaced with a new bridge made of wrought and cast iron, also named the Denison Bridge, a short distance to the south of the old bridge location.
Modern improvements See the Wikipedia article Great Western Highway for detail on more recent Highway improvements.
Travel time Sydney to Bathurst Following the completion of the new road in 1815 the Governor undertook the journey to the new town of Bathurst. The journey from near Penrith to Bathurst on horseback took 8 days., and bullock drays took up to 18 days on the journey. Six years later, in 1821, Governor Macquarie proceeded to Bathurst from near Penrith, the journey taking 4 days in his horse-drawn coach.
A contemporary report in 1848 states that the mail contractor proposed to commence a non-stop service from Sydney to Bathurst taking approximately 24 hours to complete the one way journey. However, in 1858 the weekly passenger coach took 5 days to complete the journey. Combined with modern motor vehicles and a much improved road design the present day journey time is approximately 3 hours.
Development along the routes Settlement sprung up along the road to support travellers and farmers taking advantage of the access to both Sydney and Bathurst. At the outset small camps were established during the construction of the road. They were known as Convict Stockades and they were located at Glenroy (1815–), Mount Walker (1832 – c. 1839), Mount Victoria (c. 1830 – 1836), Hassan's Walls (1835 – c. 1839), Stoney Range (1832 – c. 1839), Honeysuckle Hill (1832 – c. 1839), Diamond Swamp (1833 – c. 1839), Bull's Camp Woodford (1833–1848), Bowen's Hollow (1835 – c. 1838), Mount Clarence, and Blackheath (1844–1849). Small villages then developed along the route particularly associated with an Inn, where travellers could have overnight accommodation, a meal, and feed their horses. Along the original route the small villages including Weatherboard (now Wentworth Falls), Hartley Vale, O'Connell, served the travellers and supported small local communities. The first inn in the area was Collit's Inn at Hartley Vale which was constructed in 1823. Subsequent development was to occur at Bowenfels, with the construction of a number of inns along the main road from 1832.Cremin, et al., p. 3.
1859 – the electric telegraph The electric telegraph was developed into a practical system for transmitting morse code messages during the early 1800s. It was in 1837 that the first commercial electric telegraph was used in England, and 17 years later in 1854 Australia had its first commercial telegraph in operation. It was only 5 years later, in 1859, that the electric telegraph reached Bathurst from Sydney. This link was a major leap in improving efficiency of trade and developing the state's economy. It specifically changed the way business was done in Bathurst, money transfers, police messages, government instructions, share trading, time signals, news, all sorts of business and to a lesser degree, private messages.
Before the telegraph link communications between the capital city Sydney and Bathurst would involve a using the postal service which at best would involve a 24-hour transit over the mountains by horse-drawn carriage. After the arrival of the telegraph the message could pass between the towns in minutes.
Arrival of electric telegraph