Safety and Legal Issues

  Individuals who purchase and use the Cox’s Road Dreaming Guide to visit the 116 sites described do so at their own risk. They are expected to make appropriate risk assessments as to the safety of visiting a particular site, including weather, fire, road condition and other natural hazards. Participants should not trespass on private property unless given permission to do so by the relevant landholder.

Location: It is preferred to visit this site on a sunny day when the Blue Mountains are not obscured by low lying cloud. Access Ridgeline Reserve via Prospect Highway travelling S off the M4 at Prospect, continuing south via Reconciliation Drive, turn left into Bulu Wagun Drive and continue to parking area just near boom gate. Walk through the bus pass area along Bulu Wagun Drive for 100m to access entrance to the Marrong Reserve (Previously Ridgeline Reserve) and access via steps or graded path to the western skyline high point. Note that at the time of printing the NSW Globe imagery predates the recently completed walking tracks in the reserve. Walk south about 200m along the fenceline to the point where there are two concrete blocks that can be stood on with a view south over the exhausted, now redeveloped quarry pit and west to the Blue Mountains.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 101 m AHD;-33.8178,150.9258;

Time required at site: 1 hr.

Relevance to Cox’s Road: Prospect Hill was adjacent to the bush track that headed west to Emu Plains and was likely used by the many travellers who were heading towards the Bathurst Road.

Location: 181 Mamre Road Orchard Hills. Entrance is approximately 600m south of M4. Operated by the Sisters of Mercy. Property can be visited but morning tea is only provided in association with an organised historical tour – phone 96706178.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 29 m AHD;-33.7899,150.7676;

Time required at site: 30 mins – 1 hr.

Relevance to Cox’s Road: The Rev Samuel Marsden named his land grant after Mamre in the Holy Land. Mamre House was built in the early 1820s, initially as a wool storage barn, but the land grant itself dated from 1803. He appears never to have used Cox’s Road but his grandson of the same name became the Anglican Bishop of Bathurst. His life and influence however, interacted with many of the main characters of the story of Cox’s Road including Governor Macquarie, Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth, as well as his neighbour, the botanist George Caley, to name just a few. Perhaps most tragically, was his role in the hanging of Caley’s botanical assistant, Mootwattin (Dan), a Dharug man (S48). Marsden helps us to better understand the conflicts, mindset, personal ambitions of the settler class, indeed the ‘spirit of the age’ that gave birth to Cox’s Road.

Location: 31 Luddenham Road Orchard Hills. Take Mamre Road southern turnoff from the M4 2.2km to Luddenham Road, then right turn on Luddenham Road travelling about 400m SW.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 25 m AHD;-33.8055,150.7656;

Time required at site: 30 mins.

Relevance to Cox’s Road: This cairn marks the starting point of the Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth expedition to find a route through the Blue Mountains, on the 11th May 1813. The starting point is adjacent to Lee Holme, the former site of Blaxland’s farm. The crossing led eventually to the construction of Cox’s Road through to the Bathurst Plains.

Location: Gate 1, 89-151 Old Castlereagh Road, Castlereagh. From S111, travel 3.9km by first backtracking via Memorial Road and Ladbury Avenue turning right on to GWH and then left at Castlereagh Road, then left onto Old Castlereagh Road with Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural Centre on the right.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 21 m AHD;-33.7267,150.6830;

Time required at site: 1-2hrs, admission charges vary according to range of activities undertaken.

Relevance to Cox’s Road: About 1.2km north of Emu Ford. However, Cox’s Road traversed through or was adjacent to Dharug country from Emu Plains through to Mount York. Two Dharug men, Jo and Colleby were for a time, members of Cox’s Road building team.

Location: Walk from the Junction of Memorial Avenue and Old Ferry Road along the Nepean water front, for about 1km passing the Penrith Weir to Emu Ford Crossing  further downstream. This site is more accessible by car, from Bruce Neale Drive on the northern side of GWH.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 18 m AHD;-33.7406,150.6855;

Time required at site: 1.5 hrs including return walk.

Relevance to Cox’s Road: The Nepean River Crossing known as Emu Ford, the commencement point of Cox’s Road.

Location: Exit from the M4 via Russell Street (Leonay/Emu Plains) and take right turn onto GWH and continue over the Victoria Bridge turning right into Ladbury Avenue and right again into Memorial Avenue, parking near the Old Ferry Road, opposite the Explorers memorial.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 15 m AHD;-33.7482,150.6825;

Time required at site: 1-2 hrs if including the walk to S112, the Emu Ford Crossing.

Relevance to Cox’s Road: Emu Ford was replaced by a punt, near this location, to enable traffic to operate under elevated flows but not in flood conditions. However Emu Ford continued to be used by those not wanting to pay the ferry fee and by drovers with their herds and flocks.

Location: Approximately 900m south of the M4 railway overpass, where it joins the GWH, as one climbs or descends Lapstone Hill, parts of the giant bolts needed to stabilise the cutting, can be seen protruding at right angles from the embankment.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 136 m AHD;-33.7649,150.6397;

Time required at site: Drive past only in the left lane to briefly observe the bolts, as there is no place where it is safe to stop.

Relevance to Cox’s Road:The original Cox’s Road bisected this area on its ascent/descent of the notorious Lapstone Hill.

Location: Backtrack from S108 to The Oaks Fire Trail and follow WSW about 4.5km to Red Hands Fire Track, turn hard right and proceed 5.5km to car park. From the car park to the caves is a 15’ walk.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 100 m AHD;-33.7834,150.5902;

Time required at site: 1.5 hrs.

Relevance to Cox’s Road: The range of Aboriginal sites that participants are directed to, represent just a few examples of the hundreds of Aboriginal sites (Dharug, Gundungurra and Wiradyuri), that have been located in the Blue Mountains, particularly in the Linden –Woodford area. Sites are dotted and clumped in and around the vicinity of Cox’s Road, testament to a living and vibrant culture of nations without cities, already in possession of the land when Cox built his road through the heartland of these cultures. Furthermore, there already existed numerous Aboriginal roads, song lines and associated Dreaming stories, pregnant with meaning and geographical perception and coherence.

Location: Backtrack from S107 about 2km, and then left turn to Euroka Clearing.

Altitude, Lat/Long: 80 m AHD;-33.7989,150.6168;

Time required at site: 1 hr.

Relevance to Cox’s Road: This is a Dharug camping area still in use today, the smoke from numerous camp fires in the colonial period, would likely have been seen by explorers, road builders and road users. Two Dharug men, were members of Cox’s road building team. In the Jurassic period, it was the site of a volcanic explosion.