Week 415
LANE COVE NATIONAL PARK
The Lane Cove River
rises near Thornleigh, just west of north of the city CBD, and runs for
about 15 km south until it merges with the Parramatta River near Woolwich. The
middle reaches
of the river are in the Lane Cove National Park, between the suburbs of Ryde and
Chatswood. The
park is densely wooded (and was one of the first areas logged by the early
settlers) and peaceful,
with delightful picnic spots and walking trails.
1. Fullers
Bridge (1918) carries Delhi Rd traffic across the river, just downstream
of the weir where the Park's entrance is. Some 70m beyond
the bridge is the site where the bodies of Dr Gilbert Bogle and Mrs
Margaret Chandler were found on the 1st of January 1963. Their deaths
have not yet been explained.
2. Under the bridge.
3. A chestnut teal on the weir wall.
4. Looking upstream from the weir.
5. Dancing light.
6. Bracken growing from the rock.
7. These rowing boats are for hire at the boat shed, but only on weekends and public holidays.
8. Near the entrance to the
Park one finds these stone steps and tables, said to be the remnant of
the picnic area laid out here by one
Harry Smith, a local businessman, in the 1890s. The stone comes from a
nearby quarry from whence Smith also got the stone for his
house, Curzon Hall, in nearby Marsfield.
9. There is something strangely evocative about these stone works.
10. Kookaburra in a tree...