Jungo Rest Area to West Pymble on Aussie Great North Walk

The amphitheatre in this park is the site of the first quarry, which has been renovated into a rather attractive public space by the Eloura Bushland Natural Park Trust. A bush-horror drama, ‘Spook’ was made by Tesha Media Productions in 1988 in cooperation with the Elouera Bushland Trust was based here, around an old shack — it’s worth a look - on what’s called ‘Joe’s Mountain’

Climbing this slope up to Thornleigh, you are walking along the path of a small, and now mostly underground, creek: the Zig Zag Creek. I have wondered for ages which name came first, the creek or the railway? The Thornleigh Zig-Zag Railway, a 1.2 km branch-line off the Strathfield to Hornsby line, was built in 1884 and was one of only four in NSW. Its track ran from where we are about now in 3 large sweeps up to Thornleigh station.

In January 1994 an extremely high intensity bushfire started in the Browns Waterhole area. This apparently spread south-east along the valley burning approximately 87% of the Lane Cove Park. Almost certainly the result of arson, the fire was intensified by adverse weather conditions. Even worse, this fire was followed only 11 months later (December 1994) by another large-scale fire in the northern section of the Lane Cove Valley (the Fox Valley area) that burned a further 8% of the total park area. The combined severity and size of the 1994 fires means that only 5% of the Lane Cove National Park is recently unburned. Many of the trees have burnt-out trunks where bushfires reached the central heartwood. When the outer part, the sapwood, survives, so does the tree.

On 22nd June 1830, two police constables, Thorn and Horne, were on duty in the Windsor Road when bushrangers attacked them. A gunfight ensued and Thorn shot and killed one of the attackers who turned out to be the notorious (and wanted) leader of the so-called North Rocks Gang, one John MacNamara. Thorn was rewarded with the gift of 640 acres (260 hectares) along what is now Pennant Hills Road, which one of his descendants, George Henry Thorn developed for settlement in the 1840s. The railway followed in 1880s with our zig-zag track as an important spur. When the station here opened in 1886, it was given the name Thornleigh to honour John Thorn.

There are plenty of small cafes and coffee shops as you pass through Thornleigh -- pick up drinks and snacks here.

The carvings, by the track workers, include an arrow and name ‘Lorna Pass’ and a caricature of the then Premier of NSW: Bertram Stevens. On the Great North Walk.

Conscript Pass dates back to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Out-of-work men were employed on funds raised by local communities to build these trails. The workers found time to carve names, initials and even some political cartoons.

The Baden-Powell Campsite is located here -- beautifully situated in 36 hectares of parkland adjoining Lane Cove National Park, the Scout Centre offers flexible training facilities and cabin style accommodation in a bushland setting only 25 kms from the centre of Sydney. Visit
http://www.nsw.scouts.com.au/uploads/subsites/bpsc/

Lorna Track and Conscript Pass are now part of the Great North Walk running from Thornleigh Oval to the Lane Cove River. These walks were built during the Great Depression of the 1930s as a means of offering employment to those who had none. The funds were provided by contributions organized by a local lady, Lorna Brand.

Take care along this part of the Great North Walk as there are many rocks and small obstacles. There are also some fantastic trees and bushes as well as plants affected by floods in the Lane Cove River and its tributaries.

The first big landowner was not Irish but German: Johann Henri Rhule, later Reely. But most settlers here were from Ireland. The Connolly and Bourke were both Michaels, or speaking as if in that earlier and much more derogatory world — the ‘Micks’; they bought blocks in North Turramurra and established very successful orchards growing fruit for the main Sydney town. Other families were less affluent but still just as grateful to be out of Ireland. Their life was hard: the huge gums that we now treasure had to be removed, stumps and all. For water, they had to hand-dig their wells, whilst the women had the daily tasks of cooking, hauling and heating water for all uses in massive coppers fuelled by hand-collected firewood. Although in the fruit season there was traffic by ferry and horse and dray to Sydney

Brown's Waterhole is at the end of Kissing Point Road in South Turramurra.
There has probably been a flying-fox colony (or ‘camp’) near Browns Waterhole since around 1900 and also perhaps a second camp further upstream — higher up the valley of the Lane Cove River.” Flying foxes roost in the large trees around the waterhole, preferring to gather together in the middle and higher branches within these high canopies. Grey-headed flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) choose roost sites near to food. They have a preference for moist eucalypt forests or casuarina forests, but they also live in melaleuca swamp forest and even in mangroves. They prefer woods and forests near to water although it doesn’t matter whether it’s fresh or saline. Diaries and other written notes from the 1950s and early 1960s confirm flying fox camps at Browns Waterhole. In the 1980s, Ku-ring-gai Council listed Stoney Creek Reserve (in Gordon — about 6 km downstream from Browns Waterhole) as being of highest ecological value. 1987 saw the initiation of the Habitat Restoration Project that used volunteer labour provided by the Ku-ring-gai Bat Colony Committee Inc.

The Ku-ring-gai (or Guringai) people have a word like ‘Turramurra’ that seems to mean big hill. And I’ve often wondered about the exciting-sounding ‘Kissing Point’ — there’s another street in Ryde that shares it. I’ve been told that the Ryde street’s name derives from the early British colonists who thought of the bumping of the bottoms of their laden barges on the Parramatta River as ‘kissing’ the fords that crossed the river

Lane Cove National Park is well signed and becomes steadily better maintained as you walk southwards. After De Burgh's Bridge (Ryde Road) there is a choice of walking on the north or south bank.

Rose Seidler House: built by renowned architect Harry Seidler for his parents between 1948 and 1950, this is often described as one of the most uncompromising modernist houses in Australia, offering panoramic views of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Open Sundays (+61 2 9989 8020) and located at 71 Clissold Road, Wahroonga, NSW about 3 km from the Great North Walk.