Party: Lauren, Michael, Claire, Tony, Yang, Anqi, Li-Jia and I
Photos: Yang and I
Overview:
Belgravia St
– quite a lot of Banksia
Mark’s Tomb
Overhang
– some did a loop over the top
Tuckers Lookout
Sentinel Pass
Colosseum
– Stone table
Valley Farm / Murphys Track loop
Michael and I explore alternate pass.
Sunbath
– Lots of Sheoaks
Hydro
Lunch
Three Brothers
Flying Fox
Rock climbers track to Three Brothers.
Old pool site
Maxines Bower
Glen Rosa Track
Cave Church
Hydro
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Lauren, Michael and I had a sleep-in compared to everyone else who utilised a combination of train and bus to make it up into the mountains. After dumping our bikes into the tray and grabbing a few lemons off the tree we headed to Medlow station. We pulled up beside Michael’s motorbike just before a bus pulled up. Having only received a message from Li-Jia (that she had slept in), we where expecting four to get off the bus… however it was only Claire who emerged from the bus doors…
I soon got a message from Yang, and then Tony that the rest of the group was stranded at Katoomba… apparently they had got onto the bus that terminated at Katoomba; no matter. Assuming sunshine waiting positions in front of the Hydro Majestic we waited about 20mins for their bus to arrive.
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The Hydro Majestic has quite a rich history… After discovering gold in 1851 (@Ophir), Edward Hardgraves received a land grant at Brown’s Siding (Medlow Bath was originally known as «Brown’s Siding or Brown’s Sawmill Siding and then plain
Medlow in the 1880’s») where he constructed a «grand home» with an elaborate garden (later inherited by his son William).
«The caretaker and gardener at the
Hargraves estate, Murdo McLennan, constructed many of the walking tracks» we would soon be visiting.
(left) Cliff walls, Hydro Majestic, Medlow Baths [circa 1900], (right) «Mr Hargreaves in the cave near main Baths»
«In 1891 the elegant Belgravia Hotel
opened [and was built?] … [to the north of] the Hargraves property… [and] Alfred Tucker and
his wife Annie Jane» set up residence in a nearby cottage.
After selling off his shares in a Sydney department store, in 1901 Mark Foy purchased Hargraves House with the vision of creating Australia’s first health (hydrotherapeutic) resort. In 1903 he acquired the Belgravia Hotel and the pre-fabricated Casino Ballroom was
imported from Chicago.
With guest wings Belgravia (after the former Belgravia), Hargravia (after «Hargraves House, initially on the site of the hotel») and Delmonte, the Hydro Majestic was opened «in the midst of a snowstorm on 4th July 1904.»
«Following the
opening of his establishment Foy successfully petitioned the government
to change the locality name from Medlow to Medlow Bath» [other sources say the name was changed in 1903]
«The inner workings of the resort were all thoroughly modern and included
a steam-driven generator imported from Germany. This generator produced
electricity for the resort and the neighbouring township of Medlow
Bath. In fact the Hydro Majestic had working electricity four days
before the city of Sydney. The resort also had its own water supply,
steam laundry, freezing works, sewerage treatment works and a telephone
system connected to the Sydney exchange.»
«The establishment did not thrive as a health resort; after a couple of
years it became the Hydro Majestic Hotel and it then enjoyed great
success.» A number of famous guests stayed in the hotel «such as Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle whose novel The Lost World was inspired by the vast wilderness environment that the Hydro was set in.»
In October 1913, Foy «sold the property to businessman and NSW parliamentarian James Joynton Smith».
«In 1942 the Hydro was taken over by the U.S. Defence Department and
turned into a hospital for American casualties from the battles of the
Coral Sea and South Pacific.» The «US soldiers convalescing at the hotel [must have had]… excess … time and ammunition». Instead of getting out of bed they would shoot the light bulbs, roll garden statuary of the cliff, set up mouse traps on seats and indeed ‘disposed of’ Foy’s imported goat herd!
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It wasn’t long before the rest of our party arrived. After looking at some maps and deciding on a route, we headed down the street named after the Belgravia and then followed a tracked named after the Wonderland Park guesthouse (run by Tucker’s widow <name?>).
The track was surrounded by a good number of large banksia and was quite overgrown to begin with, but after a while it opened up significantly… someone had (perhaps a little overboard) cleared a meter each side of the walking track!
An old sign alerted us to our turnoff and we where soon within the stone confines of Mark’s Tomb. The name for this natural feature comes from the fact that Foy’s will stated a tomb should be constructed; provision being made for six coffins. «The floor to be slabbed with thick billiard table quality slate and … be surrounded by an eleven foot … wall with a strong iron-barred gate… . An acre of [surrounding] land to be fenced with two barbed wire fences eleven foot apart; the space between to be planted with native shrubs».
Next we visited an overhang that has probably been used as a climbers base. Before moving on, we found a hammer and some rusty chains. The group split here, with some of us doing an exposed traverse around the cliffline and the others heading back up to the track junction where we would regroup.
Sour Current (Leptomeria acida) – I only found out that these where good for eating after the walk!
Once everyone was reassembled, we headed out to what I think is Tuckers Lookout (it was marked in a few different places, depending on what map you looked at) which offered a good view of the Megalong and some power-lines resembling the old flying-fox.
After a short break, we continued down Sentinel Pass. There is some old walking infrastructure here and in one darker sectioned has been widened.
«there is a marvellous early 1900s photo titled ‘Between the Tunnels’ in Mary Shaw’s book ‘Historic Megalong Valley’ of a lady standing on the stairway just above this second tunnel in flowing floor length dress, …»
Once down through the cliff-line we headed to the Coliseum. We paused for a moment to absorb in our surroundings, a spectacular curved overhang with a waterfall trickling down in the focal point. There was the remains of some elaborate stone work, again the work of Murdo McLennan.
«Even more impressive is a photo, included in Mary Shaw’s book, taken soon after the completion of the ‘Coliseum’ which shows the full extent of the stonework; again the work of Murdo McLennan»
Instead of reversing our route, the vote was to continue down into the valley through some temperate rain forest thus completing a loop. The end part of this was sunny, well defined, and graded quite low (maybe to accommodate a horse and cart?).
We split up again to ascend through the cliffs; some returning the same way and others taking a more adventurous off-track route involving some free climbing – or optionally tree climbing – followed by a jump over a crack.
We again regrouped, and after walking past a concrete ring (the remains of a sunbath) followed the cliffs through an area of sheoaks, arriving at the back of the Hydro where we planned to have lunch.
One of our group decided to call it a day, but they where replaced by Li-Jia, who despite missing the start of the walk, decided to join us for the second half!
After some eating, drinking and food sharing we headed off to have a look at the Three Brothers where we again had a long break at a lookout.
To vary things a little we did a little bush bashing along the cliff-line instead of taking the track.
We soon reached the remains of an old Flying Fox. This was used each morning to ferry produce up from the Valley Farm Foy had set up in the Megalong; «on it was a racecourse, stables, diary farm
and a piggery. The farm grew corn, turnips and oats.» Access tracks where improved and each afternoon «kitchen scraps were sent down [to feed] … the pigs».
Again curiosity got the better of us and we explored some rock climber tracks which led us back to the Three Brothers. Taking the main track this time we headed off to find
Maxines Bower. We definitely didn’t take the most optimal route here ending up in a bit of a swamp where I believe the majority got wet feet. The water also proved to dissolve some glues as the sole on one of Yang’s shoes fell off!
We where soon back on track and after a couple of slips in a creek-crossing, we located the ‘bower’ shortly after. As far as I can tell this overhang was named after Mark and Elizabeth’s daughter Maxine (born in 1902). I am no geologist, but its formation looks to be very similar to that of Cox’s Cave; my guess is that both overhangs formed via chemical erosion through a fault in the rock.
Everyone managed an exposed traverse onto a sunny rock platform which offered a great opportunity for a group (the new! group) photo.
We continued along the Glen Rosa Track (apparently named after a Spanish lady who worked at the Hydro), pausing for afternoon tea and some shoe repairs. Around the corner at the Coliseum Lookout, we watch what look like a rock plunge down, but just above the tree line its trajectory flattened and a bird soared over the tree tops.
Continuing up now we stopped to fix a second loose shoe sole and soon arrived at
Church Cave (also known as Chinamans Cave or Medlow Cave). This overhang was used by Hargraves to entertain guests and permission was also granted for Church of England services as early as 1894.
Cave Church – 1898
Returning to the Hydro we gathered at the train-stop (bus-stop) and thought about heading somewhere for dinner, but most people wanted to head back to Sydney.
I said bye as I would be staying in the mountains to help out at
CWBC‘s abseil and prusiking training day.Thanks to everyone for a fun day. Welcome to the new SUBW members!
In 1888 Mark Foy junior married a lady whom he may have met in his childhood, Annie Davy.
It seems the heartache was not over for Annie. In 1898
Mark Francis Foy, eldest son of Mark Foy junior, was born in London.
Some sources state this first son was born of Elizabeth Dominca Foy (nee
Tweedie) who Mark Foy married in St Mary’s Cathedral, Hobart, Tasmania
on the 19th of September, 1900, two years later. As the Foy’s
were staunchly Catholic, an anulment must have been sought and granted. Annie died at Bournemouth a
place renowned for its Baths and treatments for people suffering from
Consumption at that time. A will, sealed and lodged in 1899 offers some
insight;
Foy, Annie, formerly wife of Mark Foy, of Crescent-road, Bournemouth, died 26th May, 1921. Next of kin wanted. £13,368 NEXT OF KIN. (1922, July 4). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20556969
Some of what Mark Foy may have been experiencing during
these events can be glimpsed in him retiring from full time work at Mark
Foy’s in 1898 to ‘pursue other interests’ and his zeal for acquiring
land in the Blue Mountains to begin building in 1902 what would become
the Hydro Majestic Medlow Baths;
Elizabeth gave birth to their child Maxine in 1902, the
same year this huge ‘healing’ edifice was opened. In 1903 Alice S R
(called Sheleagh) was born and his second son, Francis Jefferson, in
1908.
References:
Alan Wells – http://www.pnc.com.au/~wells/Medlowbath.html
http://www.bluemts.com.au/info/towns/medlow-bath/
http://www.blackheath-nsw.com/Medlow_Bath.html
http://www.mtwilson.com.au/images/stories/Bushwalking_Group/2012_Newsletters/Tracks_Below_Hydro_Majestic_Medlow_Bath_September_2012.pdf
Church Cave – http://www.statemine.org.au/docs/BMHJ2.pdf
http://www.hydromajestic.com.au/home/our-history
http://www.pittwateronlinenews.com/mark-foy-history.php
http://www.megalongcc.com.au/Megalong%20History%20&%20Heritage/belgravia_hotel.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydro_Majestic_Hotel
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/16615090
Mark’s Tomb – http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/42727571
http://www.megalongcc.com.au/Heritage/MarkFoy.htm
Track Notes:
Tom Brennan – http://bushwalkingnsw.com/walk.php?nid=234, http://bushwalkingnsw.com/walk.php?nid=737, etc. Some good sketch maps here!
David Noble – http://www.david-noble.net/blog/?p=8158
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