Knapsack Creek Bushcare Group
Knapsack Historic Walk, Oct 06
The view from Lapstone Lookout showing historic and modern routes into the Blue Mountains
A walk of the historic railway structures making up the Knapsack Bridge and the Lapstone Zig Zag took place on Saturday, October 14, 2006. This was put on by the Knapsack Creek Bushcare Group and facilitated by Blue Mountains City Council. Thirty-six people braved the hot conditions of the day to attend the event.
The walk commenced from the Lapstone Zig Zag and proceeded to Lucascville Station and then down to the Knapsack Bridge, where the afternoon concluded at the lower Zig Zag points and Skarrat Park. The presenters of the walk included Warwick Tafe (Knapsack Creek Bushcare Group), David Payne (KCBG & Glenbrook Historical Society) and Tim Miers (Glenbrook Historical Society). All of these people have a strong interest in the railway engineering and history of the area. They also volunteer their time with Bushcare to improve the amenity of the area. One of the walks attendees, Warren Page, a previous RAAF employee, also contributed his engineering knowledge and provided some very interesting facts on the defense history of the area.
Tim Miers addressing the group
The walk was highly successful, many of the attendees being long time residents of the Glenbrook Lapstone area. This event gave an opportunity to raise the profile of these historic sites to the general community as well as raising awareness of the extensive achievements that have been made in regenerating the bushland of this area by both the community, BMCC and the BMURCP. Positive comments were received by several of the attendees. The numbers might have been higher; however, some people chose not to come due to the heat.
The group within the Zig Zag Cutting
Some of the highlights included Warwick Tafe sharing his detailed engineering knowledge on the track structures, and also forwarding site plans which he had drafted of the historic rail route from Emu Heights to Glenbrook (this is a valuable resource!). David and Tim's knowledge of railways was given added bonus of stories of the historical background as well as historical pictures of the landscape and rail engines. Tim's interest in local history extends from growing up in the area in the 1930s. We were also fortunate to have Warren Page share his engineering and defence background with us. The afternoon's events were also spiced up with the siting of a brown snake!
The historic Knapsack Bridge
The motivation for holding an event like this came from the Knapsack Creek Bushcare Group working around the Knapsack Bridge for a number of years. Some of the members of have a great interest in the historic rail and road structures of the Lapstone/Glenbrook area, and it was decided that an event like this would give more meaning of this site to Bushcare participants as well as raise the profile to the general public. A similar walk held two years ago was also quite successful.
Promotion of the event included fliers given to the Glenbrook and Penrith tourist information centres and local railway stations, community notice boards, advertising in BM Gazette and Penrith Press and advertising through the bushcare network.
Nathan Summers
Bushcare Officer, BMCC
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