The Great Western Road illustrated by Frank Walker FRAHS

The Greet Western Road
' n - 7 ’ * 4 -.
THE ,OLD WESTERN
ROAD.
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CENTENARY AT PENRITH.
TU B N IN G OF F IR S T SOD.
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TO-DAY’ S CELEBEATION,
I?;-M i ---------
The centenary celebration to be entered
upon at P enrith to-d ay is th e third in con ­
nection w ith the opening up of the in terior
o f New South W ales to be held within a period
o f less than 14 m onths. The first took place
e t Mt. Y ork, in May of la st year, to m ark
the 100th anniversary o f the first crossin g of
the Blue m ountains, and the second at B athurst,
about six m onths later, in com m em oration
o f the centenary o f the d iscovery of the W estern
Plains. On the form er occasion, tribute
was paid to the m em ory of W entw orth, B la x­
land, and Lawson, who were the first to effect
a passage over the barrier o f the great dividin
g range, and on the latter tribute was paid
to that of W illiam George Evans, w ho was
th e first w hite m an to behold the w onderful
panoram a unfolded by the fe rtile plains b e ­
yond. T o-d ay It is the m em ory o f W illiam
Cox, under whose supervision th e Old W estern
R oad was constructed, that is t o ' be honored.
W entw orth, Blaxland, and L aw son biased the
tra ck across the Mountains, and Evans picked
up the trail w here they le ft off, and carried
It on Into the W estern P lains; but it rem ained
lo r Cox to bu ild a road by m eans o f which
this rich Interior was made accessible to the
people o f the coastal region. The story of
how, with 30 convicts, equipped w ith the crude
im plem ents o f the tim e, he accom plished this
in the rem arkably b rief p eriod o f six m onths
from the turning o f the first sod, is graphically
to ld by Mr. F rank W alker, president o f the
A ustralian H istorica l Society, in a sp ecia l a r­
ticle on an oth er page o f this issue. T he first
aod was turned on July 18, 1814, and the rood
was com pleted in January o f the follow in g year.
Although P enrith was founded som e years before
the con struction of the road, the d istrict
ow es m uch o f its grow th and prosperity to the
opening o f this gatew ay to the west, and it Is
because o f the fa ct that the s ite of the turning
o f the first sod is in close p roxim ity t o th e
tow n that the loca l people originated th e m ovem
ent which will cnlm inate in the celebration s
to be held to-d ay and to-morrow. L .
I
j GENESIS O F PEN RITH . 1 f «
The genesis o f P enrith dates fro m soon after
th e settlem ent o f Sydney Cove. A ctin g under
instructions from G overnor P hillip , Captain
Tench and Lieutenant Daw es un dertook expeditions
in the d irection o f th e B ue M ountains,
and the form er, in June, 1*89, arrived
w ithin v iew o f the N epean R iver. T h e name
N epean was given to the g r e a t w atercourse
by P hillip, a fter his friend, Sir B von Nepean,
U nder-Secretary to the H om e D epartm ent, and,
although there is no definite in form ation on
record, it is believed that P hillip doubly honored
Nepean by applying t o th e tow nsh ip the
ap p ellation o f his Christian name, because for
som e years the place was called B ra a . H ow
th e town cam e to be named P enrith is not
cle a r but it is in terestin g t o n ote th a t in the
County o f Cum berland, England, th ere is a lso
a tow n o f Penrith. *
BR ID G IN G T H E NEPEAN.
F o r many years a fter the con stru ction o f the
W estern Road, a punt was the principal m eans
o f tra n sp ort a cross the N epean. T h e first
bridge, m ade o f w ood, was opened by G overnor
F itzroy on January 1, 1856, but on the nigh t of
th e w reck o f th e Dunbar, In A u gu st o f the
follow in g year, it w as washed aw ay b y a
flood, the first o f a severe nature, it m igh t be
m entioned, sin ce 1809. A nother brid ge was
subsequently erected, bu t in 1860 it m et the
la te o f its predecessor. Puntage w as then
reverted to, and was continued u n til 1867, when,
in the m ost severe flood on record, th e punt
w as carried away. Soon a fte r this the third
brid ge w as built, but n ot until five fresh es in
the river had washed aw ay a sim ilar num ber o f
coffer dams w hich had cost som e thousands
o f pounds.
OPENING OF T H E R A IL W A Y .
The first sod o f the railw ay lin e to P enrith
w as turned on the aftern oon o f July 6, 1859,
by Mr. R. T. Jam ieson, m em ber fo r the district,
in the presence o f ab ou t S00 sp ecta tors, and
the line was opened fo r traffic on July 7, 1862.
T he line, as fa r as St. Marys, then know n as
6outh Creek, was opened on May 1, 1862. The
rem ainder o f the tra ck t o P enrith w as required
by the G overnm ent to be com pleted
w ithin five m onths, b u t th e con tra ctors— an
E nglish firm—refused to d o the w ork, and it
was left to a Mr. Gibbons, w ho sta rted it in
the second w eek of June o f th e sam e year,
and finished it w ithin a m onth. N o further
exten sions w ere m ade fo r five years, and during
that period P enrith was the startin g place
fo r coaches and team s fo r the w est, as w ell
as a restin g place fo r traffic to and from S y d ­
ney.
D E A F AN D DUM B ARCH ITECT.
R eference t o early Penrith w ould n ot be
com p lete w ithout m ention o f th e once fam ous
R egen tville H ouse, said t o have been planned
by a deaf and dumb arch itect nam ed K itch en,
to the orders o f the late S ir John Jam ieson.
I t was erected about 90 years ago, ab ou t three j
m iles from Penrith, but only a few stones now |