WENTWORTH FALLS LAKE BLUE MOUNTAINS
NSW AUSTRALIA
It’s not hard to see why a railway dam was constructed at
the place we now know as Wentworth Falls. By that, I mean the township, not the
waterfall. It is the only place between Glenbrook and Bell where the railway
line actually crosses a watercourse.
The 1813 exploration led by Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth
successfully crossed the Blue Mountains because they stuck to the principle of
following the ridgelines as they moved generally westward from the Nepean River
at Emu Plains. When the expedition reached the cliff edge overlooking what we
now know as the Jamison Valley at Wentworth Falls, they ran out of a ridgeline
to follow. Turning north and keeping the watercourse we know as Jamison Creek
on their left, they eventually reached its head and resumed following the main
ridgeline again.
George Evans evidently crossed this creek when he retraced
their route later that year, according to the plaque in the reserve beside the
lake. However, William Cox and his roadmaking team stuck with Blaxland’s track
in 1814/15 and headed the creek. He set up a depot near the creek which became
known as the Weatherboard Hut, from his note on the map of the road to
Bathurst. This appears to have been on the eastern side of the creek near the
bridge over the railway line.
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As soon as accurate maps began to be made by surveyors, it
became clear that the road could be shortened by several miles by crossing the
creek instead of going around its head. Just when this happened I don’t know,
but you can be sure that Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell would have insisted
on this route when the road to Bathurst was being reconstructed in the 1830’s.
Charles Darwin stayed at the Weatherboard Inn on the western side of the creek
in 1836 and the inn had been there for several years by then. The railway builders of the mid 1860’s naturally followed
the same ridgeline as the road and so the railway crossed Jamison Creek just
where it does today. Steam engines need prodigious amounts of water and there
are few places on the Blue Mountains Line where it can easily be obtained. Weatherboard
(as the locality was then called) became the first railhead on 11th
July, 1867 as the tracks pushed westward. So far as I can tell, the first
railway dam was built at Lawson (then Blue Mountain) in that year. It wasn’t
very adequate even if Blue Mountain was a good place for a watering stop. The
supply at Lawson was augmented by larger dams in the valley to the north, the
last of these being the ancestor of the Olympic Pool in Wilson Park.
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| Jamison Creek Below the Dam Wall |
The line was soon extended to Mt Victoria, this extension
being opened on 1st May 1868. The chosen spot for watering engines
in the upper mountains was Blackheath, originally intended as the temporary
terminus. Water was pumped from dams across Pope’s Glen Creek and, as in
Lawson, their descendants became swimming holes. The upper one gave rise to
today’s beautiful pool in Blackheath’s Memorial Park; the lower dam becoming
the duck pond. The water supply from this source eventually became inadequate
and a replacement dam was built on Govett’s Leap Brook.
Further dams were needed as the next section of line was
constructed, the line descending via the Great Zig Zag into Lithgow’s Valley to
the new railhead at Bowenfels. This section was opened on 18th October 1869. I believe these dams were at Clarence and Zig Zag.
Another dam on
Dargan’s Creek (Newnes’ Junction) was needed to service engines on the Newnes
branch line some time later.
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Eventually it was decided that only the creek at Wentworth
Falls could supply the volume of water for the rapidly expanding rail network.
The large dam, backing up into what we know as Wentworth Falls Lake, was
completed in the early years of the twentieth century and supplied water by a
pipeline to watering points as far down the mountains as Valley Heights. This
sufficed until electrification and dieselisation made steam engines practically
redundant on the Blue Mountains by 1960.
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The development of the dam as a recreation area
happened over many years. It was too good a resource to go to waste and it has
become the most diverse and extensive recreation area in the Blue Mountains
City. Now you can have a picnic (with barbecue), enjoy the two children’s play
areas, fish from the shore or the dam wall and appreciate the many water birds
as you walk around the shores of the lake. Swimming isn’t recommended, however,
as it is difficult to guarantee water quality when there are residential areas
in the catchment. One improvement is a new, centrally located toilet
block.
Further Information:
All New England and other Geology blogs and videos
Limestone Caves of NSW
Song Studies. Bible studies based on hymns and songs
Shoalhaven District Geology
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