BERGHOFER PASS MT VICTORIA BLUE MOUNTAINS NSW AUSTRALIA
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| JW Berghofer circa 1912 |
The central character in this blog is John William Berghofer, born as Johannes Wilhelm Berghoefer in
Munchhausen, Germany, who arrived in Australia as a 12 year-old in 1855. After
working on properties in the area, he purchased the former Victoria Inn at Little Hartley in 1892, renaming it “Rosenthal”. He lived here until shortly
before his death in 1927. With the formation of many rural Shires (local
government areas) he became the first president of the Blaxland Shire Council, now incorporated within the Greater Lithgow
City Council area. Follow up this reference to learn more about the life of
WJ Berghofer: John Low’s book “Pictorial Memories Blue Mountains” (1991) here.
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| Rosenthal/Rosedale Little Hartley |
As you can see from the adjacent photograph, probably taken
well before Berghofer’s time, Rosenthal
(now known as “Rosedale”) lies close
to the foot of Victoria Pass. It would have seen a lot of passing traffic after
its construction in the 1830s, especially following the discovery of gold near
Orange in 1851. This greatly diminished after the railway from Sydney to
Bowenfels was opened in 1869, when most of the many roadside inns in the
Hartley-Bowenfels area became redundant.
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| Berghofer Pass (centre) and Victoria Pass (behind) |
The completion of the Jenolan Caves road from Hartley through
the Grand Arch in 1896 encouraged lots of visitors to make the journey from Mt
Victoria. At first there were only horse drawn vehicles and bicycles but
gradually motor vehicles began to appear on the route. Regular services from
Katoomba were running as early as 1905. It must have been obvious to Berghofer,
who was no doubt called upon to retrieve vehicles unable to cope with the steep
grades of Victoria Pass, that an
easier route was essential for the new-fangled automobiles. Thus was born the
idea of a whole new road between Little Hartley and Mt Victoria.
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| Horse and dog drinking trough |
Moves to build the new road must have commenced soon after
the formation of the Blaxland Shire Council in June, 1906. At the same time, construction and maintenance
of roads became a responsibility of local government. JW Berghofer’s name
appears in the list of candidates for the first election (5th
November 1906), and he became its first elected president on 1st
March 1907, replacing the previously appointed “Temporary President”. (The
Mudgee Guardian is the source of this information.) Work was certainly underway
by March 1908, though without access to Council records, I can’t say when it started.
In the issue of the Sydney Morning Herald
for Tuesday, 31st March 1908, page 9, the road is called “Berghofer Pass”. It must not be
thought, however,
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| Blaxland Shire Council inscription |
that Berghofer’s name was attached to the new road simply
because he was the Shire President. In fact, he had been one of the prime
movers in the construction of the 1900 Explorer’s Monument at the end of Mt
York, as he was later to be of the 1913 celebrations at Mt York and Mt
Victoria. Clearly, Berghofer saw the Mt York area as one of special importance
to him personally. It dominates the view from “Rosedale” today as it always has.
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| Blue Mountains Shire inscription |
Work on the new pass was not easy. The site was demanding
and the adjoining Blue Mountains Shire
Council was also involved, boundary adjustments between the two being
underway at the time. No doubt this is the reason for the rock engraving
showing the boundary between the two council areas. It appears that vehicles
began using the road even while it was under construction, and it was in
general use by the beginning of 1910. For approximately 10 years the pass was
extensively used, but by 1920 most traffic had returned to the former route,
which we know as Victoria Pass. It was not until 1952 that Berghofer Pass was
finally closed, though no doubt adventurous motorists continued to travel on it
after that date.
The Pass today has become a fine walking track, providing
great views of the valley and especially the stonework put in place by convict
gangs on Victoria Pass in the 1830’s. It allows walkers to appreciate the
effort put into this project more than a century ago. See my video on the walk here.
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| Victoria Pass convict stonework |
Something needs to be said about
the treatment of JW Berghofer during World War 1. There were already schemes
afoot to change the name to “Victoria Pass” before the war began, though this
was never done officially. However, you will come across photographs of the
Pass using that name or sometimes “New Victoria Pass”. I suspect that there
were some in local government who envied Berghofer’s prestige and took the
opportunity to attack him when anti German sentiment was reaching new heights in
1916. They successfully lobbied the state and federal governments to have the
right to vote and to serve in local government removed from anyone of German
birth. Berghofer lost his position on the Blaxland Shire Council. The same
thing happened to Charles Lindeman on the Blue Mountains Shire Council.
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| The inscription as it is today |
Some bigoted people even chipped
Berghofer’s name off the inscription near the top of the pass. Well after the
war the Blue Mountains council promised to restore it, but they
never did. Berghofer died with the knowledge that there were still those who
disliked him because of his birth nationality. It was not until 70 years had
passed that his name was once again engraved in the sandstone cliff and it took
the effort of his descendants to get the job done.
I’ll let John William
Berghofer have the last word. “He was Australian and his heart was in this country. He asked those
who signed the petition what had they done for this country. He had cleared the bush and made
a farm, and used his strength and ability for the good of the country. Unless the
Government said he was not fit to occupy the positions he now held he would not
resign.” Read the entire article here.
Some Additional Reading: Presentation to the Duke and Duchess of York The North Western
Courier Narrabri Thursday 5 May 1927,
page 6 here.
Illustrated
article (difficult to read) in The Evening
News Saturday 30th December 1911 here.
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| The Coo-ees recruiting march on the Pass. Day 26 (4th November 1915) |
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