Focal Point

From the President

Your NPA 

Environmental News

Features

Marine Scene

Western News

Biodiversity

Your Parks

On The Track

Letters
To The Editor

Reviews

Your National Parks

Climbing to the ridge tops from Mill Creek picnic area, Dharug National Park. Photo: Michael Peake

Alan and Bev Mitchell, from NPA Central Coast branch, led three walks into Dharug and Yengo National Parks in 2005. BILL MACKS and ALAN MITCHELL provide an overview of the walks. Walk 1: Historic roadways Walk 2: Western Commission Track Walk 3: Boronia and Matthews Ridges

Walk 1: Historic roadways
Encompassing Devines Hill, Shepherds Gully, Sternbecks Gully loop, Lower Macdonald Ridge, Finchs Line.
This walk commenced at the bottom of Devines Hill, the start of the Old Great North Road on the northern side of the Hawkesbury River. There was a reasonably long but easy climb which passed the historic sandstone-buttressed retaining walls, ramps and drains built by convict labour, which commenced on this section in 1829 under the supervision of Lieutenant Percy Simpson. Simpson was familiar with the very latest road building techniques being employed in Europe and set about using this knowledge to design and construct an engineering masterpiece. The walk continued up to the ridge where you pass from Dharug to Yengo National Park and then continued along the old Shepherds and Sternbeck Gully roads. The Sternbeck Gully road was built around 1830 to link Devines Hill with the MacDonald River valley. This was done because most people avoided the northern section of the Old Great North Road in favour of the route through the Macdonald River Valley. Sternbeck Gully road was later realigned to pass through Shepherds Gully.
We left the road near the top of Devines Hill and followed the ridge to the east where there were excellent views of the MacDonald River valley and the wilderness beyond. After retracing our steps we continued up the Old Great North Road to the Finchs Line track intersection. Finchs Line track was part of the original concept for the start of the Old Great North Road north of the Hawkesbury, but was abandoned because of its narrowness and steep grades in favour of the Devines Hill route. We continued down the Finchs Line track to return to Wisemans Ferry Road.

Walk 2: Western Commission Track
Including Old Great North Road, Devines Hill.
This walk commenced at Willow Glen on the Hawkesbury River, with a long climb up the Western Commission track to where it terminated on the Old Great North Road approximately 3 km south west of Ten Mile Hollow. There were numerous vantage points from which we enjoyed glorious views across the surrounding ridges and valleys. There were also many species of trees in this area including Corymbia eximia (Yellow Bloodwood) Corimbia gummifera (Red Bloodwood), and Eucalyptus punctata (Grey Gum), saligna (Sydney Blue Gum), pilularis (Blackbutt), and globoidea (White Stringybark). We then followed the Old Great North Road south west and continued past the Finchs Line track to descend Devines Hill and back to the Hawkesbury River.

Walk 3: Boronia and Matthews Ridges
This walk commenced at the Mill Creek picnic area. We headed around the Mill Creek circuit in a clockwise direction and climbed to the ridgetops, passing wonderful sandstone platforms. We left the Mill Creek circuit at the top of the ridge and headed north along Boronia Ridge, following the ridges around in an arc to the east to meet Matthews Ridge, which we followed south back to the Mill Creek circuit. On this ridge walk we were rewarded by the most wonderful display of Pimelia linifolia (Slender Rice Flower) which were abundant in their thousands, definitely the best display one could hope to see. Once back on the Mill Creek circuit we continued in a clockwise direction to drop down to the beautiful rainforest area of Biamea Creek from where we completed the walk back to the Mill Creek picnic area.

About the park
Dharug National Park is on the northern side of the Hawkesbury River, near Wisemans Ferry. The best known feature of the park is an impressive convict-built section of the Old Great North Road at Devines Hill.
The park has walking trails and a camping area at Mill Creek. There is another camping area at Ten Mile Hollow, only accessible by walking.
There are also two powerline access tracks in the park which can be followed by foot or on mountain bike. These are the Western Commission (or WBD) Track near Roses Creek and the Eastern Commission Track near Gunderman. Both are locked to motor vehicles.