Ducks on Glenbrook Lagoon

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.

Lennox Bridge

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.

	Tourist Information
	Glenbrook Visitor Information Centre Great Western Hwy Glenbrook NSW 2773 Telephone: (02) 4739 6266 or (02) 4782 4111 Facsimile: (02) 4739 6787
	Restaurants
	Brookdale Restaurant 19 Ross St Glenbrook NSW 2773 Telephone: (02) 4739 5908
	Chong Sing Restaurant 5 Ross St Glenbrook NSW 2773 Telephone: (02) 4739 6517
	Glenbrook's Hare Street Brasserie Cnr Great Western Hwy & Hare St Glenbrook NSW 2773 Telephone: (02) 4739 1695