2.2 HISTORICAL SUMMARY
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LITHGOW REGION
The development of the Lithgow region is associated with two main activities, the construction of a road across the Blue Mountains from Sydney to Bathurst between 1815 and 1830 and the subsequent construction of a rail line to connect these two areas in the 1860s and 1870s.
Associated with these two activities are two distinct forms of settlement.The first, associated with the development of the road, are the small towns of Bowenfels, Hartley and Hartley Vale. These towns were focused on the road to Bathurst and developed from a number of inns which were constructed to service the travellers along this road. The first inn in the area was Collit's Inn at Hartley Vale which was constructed in 1823. Subsequent development was to occur at Bowenfels, with the construction of a number of inns along the main road from 1832 (Cremin, et al, p3).
The character of the area at this time was predominantly pastoral and characterised by a small number of large land holdings such as Wallerawang,Cooerwull, the Hermitage and Esk Bank, which were settled by the Scottish immigrants James Walker, Andrew Brown, the Reverend Colin Stewart and Thomas Brown respectively.
The second form of settlement, which began with the passing of the Sydney to Bathurst rail line through the region, was characterised by the industrialisation of the Lithgow township. The activities of Thomas Brown at Esk Bank, saw the f
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