‘Mitchell’s Road’ was built in 1832 as a realignment of the Great Western Road. This was the ‘Great Roads’ period of the Colony led by Surveyor General Thomas Mitchell with major roads built to the north, south and west of Sydney. Mitchell’s new road lines improved alignments by removing dangerous bends to create a straighter and more direct route.

Road making as an engineering skill developed in Great Britain during the early nineteenth century. In 1819 Thomas Telford (1757-1834) emphasised the need for drainage, minimum convexity, and the use of cut and fill to reduce steep gradients.

Mitchell’s Road surface consists of irregular or squared interlocking sandstone, with packing using irregularly shaped pieces. In 2010, this remnant of a ’Telford type road’ was uncovered during highway upgrades in the Lawson town centre.

Mitchell’s Road was a major item impacting the ’prosperity of the Colony’.  It later became the main route to the goldrush areas around Mudgee and Bathurst after 1851. The road was also a vital agent for the establishment and development of the Blue Mountains villages, several of which grew up around early roadside inns.

‘The Great Western Road, from Lapstone to Mount Victoria’, Sue Rosen and Associates for Blue Mountains City Council, September 2016

Address: Honour Avenue, Lawson

Open to the public: The interpretive area is open to the public.

Council area: Blue Mountains City Council

Further reading:

‘Photographic Archival Recording, Mitchell’s Road, Wentworth Falls, Volume 1’, Stedinger Associates, March 2012