Bush Explorers Encyclopaedia
Name:
Pipeline Track
Description:
Pipeline Track is the name of a rough walking track linking Newnes to Glen Davis via the Wolgan River and Green Gully. In early 1906 The Commonwealth Oil Corporation (COC) operated kerosene shale mines at both locations and built a telephone service between the Gullies (Glen Davis, Capertee) and Wolgan (Newnes) along with a 6 mile road over the Wolgan Capertee divide, joining the two valleys. In 1906 there were up to 100 men working in Newnes but there was no general store so “a cart carrying items for sale travelled twice a week from The Gullies (Glen Davis) to Wolgan (Newnes)”. Ref: ‘Airly’ Rylstone Express 25th May 1906 p. 5.
The section of track most people walk today from GR 448 264 to GR 447 273 to the east of the original track is the route used in 1937 by National Oil Pty Ltd. (NOP) to install the petrol pipeline from Glen Davis to Newnes Junction. The authors have walked and documented the section of the original road and telephone service. The original road has a particularly steep section where it makes a sharp turn at GR 448 263. The 1905-6 road would have been negotiable by horses.
Historical references include
1 The Survey Plan M13826, dated 9th May 1908, records on the eastern side of Green Gully, ‘Horse Track to Glen Alice’.
2 Ref: Interview with Dick Bird, 29th January 2010, local usage name 1940s & 50s, The Bridle Track.
3 In Carne, Joseph, Geology and Mineral Resources of the Western Coalfield, 1908 there is a picture, facing page 225 of men and horses ‘on the bridle track near Greens Gully, Capertee Valley looking west through Canobla Gap’.
4 In 1937, National Oil Pty Ltd was set up at Glen Davis to produce petrol from kerosene shale. A four inch diameter pipeline was constructed from Glen Davis to Newnes and onto Newnes Junction on the Main Western Line to transfer the petrol to rail. Ref: Skidmore, J A. Mineral Oil Industry in NSW, 1995, p. 254.
Signage placed by the NPWS at various sections of the track have used different spellings, such as The Pipeline Track, Pipeline Track and Pipeline Pass Track. Ref: sighted 13 January 2010.
Maps:
- Ben Bullen and Mount Morgan
Grid Reference:
- 426 263 to 463 314
Location:
Wollemi National Park
Status:
Protected
Related Names:
Walks:
- GOS2.07: Petries Gully Circuit
- GOS2.08: A special side canyon in Petries Gully
- GOS2.10: The Pipeline Track
Photos:
