Great Western Highway

The road that leads to the western areas of New South Wales has always gone through Prospect. This road developed from the track that ran between Sydney and Rosehill in 1788. The track was extended further west in 1789 when Captain Tench discovered the Nepean River. When William Cox commenced to build the road from Emu Plains to Bathurst in 1814, Prospect became part of the connection between the city and the western plains. Between 1900 and 1908, the Prospect part of the road was made of blue metal cobbles about one and a half to two inches square, compacted by horse drawn rollers and later by steam engine driven rollers. Every mile or so there was a heap of cobbles used for repairs. The blue metal was produced at the Emu and Prospect Road Gravel and Metal Gravel Company quarry at Prospect. During the 1920s the road was asphalt, but very narrow. Going east from Greystanes Road there were deep ditches either side, ten yards wide and ten yards deep, with chain wire safety fences. In 1928 the Great Western Road was proclaimed the Great Western Highway and came under control of the newly established Main Roads Board. During the 1930s the road was still very quiet, made of bitumen, with a single lane either way. The children from the nearby farms walked along the Highway to school without being in any danger from traffic. By 1944 the Western Highway was becoming a busy thoroughfare. The inadequacy of the old road became apparent as car ownership increased and more people used the road. Ronald Hicks, who lives to the east of the Prospect Reservoir gateway, describes the area of the road near his house in this way ‘…up around where we were there was lots of bends in the original road and lots of accidents and over the years there had been many people killed on that section of the road, the bendy section, but they put this new section through and it’s a straight road, which eliminated a lot of those deaths -- and put us on a sort of side track...’. The new section of straight road runs from the Prospect Hotel to Reservoir Road, and was constructed in 1968. The Prospect section of the Great Western Highway is now six lanes wide.

MILEPOSTS

During Governor Macquarie’s term of office milestones were placed one mile apart from Emu Plains to Sydney. In 1846 they were replaced with the present ones, the contractor being Michael McCormack. In 1942, in case the Japanese invaded, the names and distances were chiseled out and then put back in 1945.

Many of the stones have fallen prey to development, vandalism or motor accidents, but Prospect still has 3 stones in a row.

The first when travelling from west from Greystanes Rd is on the left just past the Fox under the Hill Golf Club. The second one, on the corner of Ponds Road and the Highway, was moved from its original position on the Old Western Highway when the new highway was built in 1968. The third is just before Flushcombe Road.

Great Western Highway deviation showing St Bartholomew’s Church and Graveyard
in the top (L) corner
Photo Courtesy Roads and Traffic Authority NSW