In 1813 the possibility of extending the struggling settlement of New South Wales further than the Blue Mountains was realised when Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson followed the ridges and saw the western lands. Within two years a road had been built over the mountains by convicts under the leadership of William Cox. Unfortunately the easterly ascent and westerly descent of the road left a lot to be desired. Easier and more practicable ways were sought.
On the eastern escarpment William Lawson had already built another road up the mountains in 1824, but this was steep and dangerous. This road is now called Old Bathurst Road.
In the early 1830s the Surveyor-General, Major Thomas Mitchell, was responsible for the changes made to the road on the eastern and western escarpments. The eastern approach to the mountains was by way of Lapstone Hill. The early travellers over Cox’s Road had much difficulty climbing the steep hill. Water erosion was also a problem on this steep ascent.
In 1832 Mitchell had already begun the Pass which was to bear his name. This new way up the mountains would eliminate sharp, dangerous curves and be a more gentle gradient. For the new way chosen by Mitchell, it was necessary to build a bridge over Brookside Creek. The road could then cross the gully and swing back in a U-shape. This would accommodate the turning area of the large wagons and drays that used the mountain road. Without a bridge, the road would have to be continued further up the gully.
But bridge builders were hard to find in the colony. At this stage in Australia’s history, no bridge of any permanent nature had been constructed on the mainland. The man chosen by Mitchell to build this bridge was David Lennox. He was born in Scotland in 1788 and had arrived in Australia as a free settler in June 1832 on the ship Florentina. Four years earlier his wife had died. This may have been the reason for Lennox’s emigration to Australia. He may also have heard of the encouraging prospects for skilled workers in the new colony.
A chance meeting in Sydney was apparently the start of his friendship with Mitchell. Lennox was employed on the construction of a stone wall in front of the new Legislative Council Chambers in Macquarie Street, Sydney, when Mitchell was supposed to have first met him. Lennox, a master mason, already had nearly twenty years experience in bridge building back in England. It was this experience that Mitchell was so keen and quick to use. In October 1832, Lennox became Sub-Inspector of Roads. Mitchell desired a stone construction that would withstand fire and flood, the destroyers of so many wooden structures in the colony. An area near the bridge site possessed the required sandstone in good quantities and it made an ideal quarry.
Twenty convicts were placed in Lennox’s charge. Early each morning, wearing leg-irons, they were marched under military guard from the government stockade at Emu Plains to the bridge site. The leg-irons remained on during the day and the convicts returned to the stockade in the late afternoon. They possessed little, if any, masonry skills but Lennox proved not only to be a skilled bridge builder but also a capable teacher, passing on his skills. A constable and an armed sentry were also provided to guard the convicts as they worked.
