The Orange 150th Year Celebrations were to start in the last week of October. What better time to take a personal trip into the past? It was late spring, the flowers would be in full bloom and there were beautiful gardens, both natural and cultivated, on the way to the goal of the city of Orange, some 280 km from Sydney. First stop was Richmond in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, rich in local history, and the home of a sprightly old friend around 80 years old. The gardens there were resplendent with azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons.
From Richmond, the main road to Lithgow and Bathurst is known as the Bell's Line of Road over the mountains, along a route set out in 1823 by Archibald Bell, the younger, who was an early landowner of those parts. It connects with the Great Western Highway at Lithgow and from whence one goes to Bathurst and Orange. The present main road was constructed during WWII for strategic purposes as an alternative route to the highway through Katoomba.
Apart from having less heavy traffic, the Bell's Line of Road passes two Gardens of interest and importance. Soon after passing Bilpin, a village with many fine apple orchards, there is a sign to the Waratah Native Garden, an area of bushland donated as a special natural garden well off the main road. The waratahs from the protea family were out in full bloom in many parts of their native bush habitat, as you can see in the picture and it is appropriate here as a waratah is the top image in the logo of the Cornish Association of NSW. There is much undergrowth among the tall trees with the stems of the waratahs, clad with their large leaves, emerging triumphantly to be finally dressed with the glorious red flower. These splashes of red could be seen everywhere.
But it was time to move on! About 6 km further west, there was the sign for the Mt Tomah Botanic Garden. It was established in 1988 as a bicentennial project by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The cool climate of the mountains and the often misty conditions have enabled the gardens to become of scientific importance to botanists as well as providing a recreational area with its walking tracks wandering through rhododendron collections, old world formal gardens, rock gardens and forest sections in which the trees like to live in misty damp conditions. Generally, the gardens are stocked with plants from the Northern Hemisphere, not usually capable of being grown in the NSW coastal areas.
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A splendid selection of rhododendrons were out in full bloom with many azaleas still making a show. In the more formal garden areas, there was a pathway under a trellis system covered in banksia roses, making a picturesque archway of pale yellow. Strolling around, up and down the many paths, it was possible to admire the wide variety of plants and shrubs which the Botanic Gardens had developed from sources around the world. With the fine sunshine, it is not surprising that there were bus loads of visitors, some of whom were the focus of television cameras in the formal gardens section. A great visit!
Back on the main road again and on towards Lithgow, the views over the valleys trended to a deep blue in the distance.
The railway to Lithgow presented enormous problems for its contructors. The cliffs and deep escarpments suggested that only a tunnel some three kilometres long would solve them. But no contractor could be found who would undertake such a venture. The railway engineer in charge of the operation undertook to build a series of embankments, cuttings and viaduct built of the natural stone with a zig-zag transition down the side of the mountains. The gradients were steep on the way down but, at the end of the 'zig', a portion of line was built with a fifty percent greater uphill gradient to allow the trains to slow down, ready to go down the 'zag' portion of the line. The line came into service in 1869 and was used until 1910, when it was replaced by a multi-tunnelled system which went through the mountains. The Zig-Zag fell into disuse except that one viaduct was used for motor vehicles after the rails had been removed. In 1974, enthusiasts for steam locomotion began operating a service for tourists, much to the delight of the many children who 'give it a try' and have a look in the driver's engine compartment.
Coming down from the mountains, Lithgow is still a thriving centre for light industry. It was the surprising place where the first industrial settlement was established in New South Wales, or for that matter in Australia of the time. It still has an important coal-mining industry which was established soon after the crossing of the Blue Mountains but it was the introduction of the railway line in 1869 which saw a number of major industries grow, steel making, copper smelting, brick works and the chilling of meat. Some of these industries have been transferred elsewhere over the years such as steel plant and rolling mills to Port Kembla.
The next stop for an overnight spell was at Bathurst, the oldest inland settlement in Australia. George Evans, the Assistant Surveyor-General in NSW, was the first of the newcomers to the Continent to view this fertile country in 1813. By 1815, Governor Macquarie was able to visit the area along the new road which had been constructed over the Blue Mountains. He selected the site for a new town and named it Bathurst after Earl Bathurst who was the current British Secretary of State for the Colonies. It became a thriving town in 1851 with the discovery of gold at Ophir, mentioned elsewhere in these pages in connection with the Tom family. By 1861, Cobb & Co. had established its national headquarters for the famous coach business of which many wonderful stories are told. And there were of course the bushrangers, notable among whom were Ben Hall and his gang, who were attracted by the gold shipments and raided Bathurst in 1863 in an attempt to steal a racehorse. We will visit here again some other time. The trip would continue to Orange but not by the usual main road.
Just outside the motel was the corner with the turn off the main road and the sign to Blayney. It was an easy start to another day of exploration. We were passing through rich farming and grazing country, first known as King's Plains very appropriately as it was the centre for the stockmen who looked after the herds of Government cattle. By 1828, a town area was selected but it was not until 1843 that a town plan was approved and originally gazetted as Blaney. With the discovery of copper and gold nearby, the town expanded. It was the completion of the railway between Bathurst and Blayney and later to Cowra which saw the importance of the area grow because it was then possible to send produce quickly to the markets in Sydney and for goods to be despatched back to the area.
From Blayney, there is a well-established road to Orange, midway along which is Millthorpe. Millthorpe was at the crossroads where the track from Blackman's Swamp (Orange) to King's Plains (Blayney) met the track from Flyers Creek to Vittoria. It all started with the first land grant to Charles Booth in 1836 with the area being called Spring Grove. By the time the railway came through in the 1870s, there could have been a confusion of names all starting with Spring, particularly the Spring Hill railway station. The village was renamed Millthorpe to recognise the newly constructed flour mill and to use the old English word for village, thorpe. The district became famous for hay fodder, potatoes, peas, fruit and other vegetable produce, with the railway providing growers with easy access to worthwhile markets on the east coast.
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All of this thriving activity has left grand old buildings and heritage architecture of an earlier era, to the extent that the entire village is registered on the National Estate. A visit around the village takes you back to the beginning of the 20th Century and even back into the late 1800s. There are wonderful old two storey shops, ornate hotels, bluestone churches, pleasant town houses, worker's cottages and country homesteads. At the end of the main street is the railway station, an imposing structure for a town that was important for its produce. The Golden Memories Museum brings out the wonderful history of the area.
On 17 November 1990, a heritage wall was erected to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Millthorpe Museum. On it are 68 commemorative plaques which were unveiled by the President of the Millthorpe and District Historical Society, Mr Trevor Pascoe, a descendant of a pioneer family in the district. To look over these plaques gives a marvellous insight into the range of people who lived in the area. The former Aboriginal people, whose land this was, have a plaque in a central position on the wall. The surnames on other plaques are representative of the many places on the other side of the world from which pioneers came to this district. Of particular note were the many names of people who emigrated from Cornwall to New South Wales, one of whom was John Evans who donated land on which the first Wesleyan Methodist Church was built with the foundation stone laid on 11 April 1885. One of his grandsons was the first baby to be baptised there a week after the official opening of the Church. If you wish to inspect more of the plaques, they are shown on a separate page.
Through beautiful countryside west from Millthorpe, the road passed through Forest Reefs and into the Cadia hilly country in the foothills of Mount Canobolas, the extinct volcano of over two million years ago. It was a trip to make contact once again with the Cadia Engine House in the restoration of which the Cornish Association of NSW had taken a part. That is a story elsewhere. These days the site is once more under development for a copper/gold mine by Newcrest Mining so access is only on open days which the mining company arranges. From the road, the old engine house can be seen in the distance through the trees, standing proudly on the side of the hills. From where we stood on the roadside, a heap of curious stones could be seen. On investigation, the lumps were dense copper slag left over from the smelter which had operated nearby in the previous century, a real remnant of Cadia's past history.
From Cadia, the road north to Orange was through lovely farming and orchard country and it was not long before we were going along the Byng Road in Orange, past the Council Chambers and the Orange Visitors Centre with a colourful garden to set it all off. The other parts of the journey through the past are given mention in other pages, especially those associated with the 150th Year Orange Celebrations which were just about to begin. Truly a worthwhile exploration of the the past!
This story and the accompanying photographs were put together by John Symonds after a visit to Orange from October 25 to October 29, 1996.