Lamington Old Graded Track System

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Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby dtbaker » Tue 30 Mar, 2021 12:07 am

Are there any sketch maps showing the old graded pathways around lamington? I'm just curious about how extensive it was in the past.

Not looking for anything accurate, just rough stuff or which tracks may have been connected long ago.

I have the attacked sketch but it's a little difficult to tell the difference between the type of dots on the map to know what was officially graded or not.

Thanks
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby ofuros » Tue 30 Mar, 2021 10:02 am

You already have the sketch map...There's also a old O'Reilly's Tourist track map covering only the Greens Mts side of Lamington.
There is a overall wider view 1947 Lamington map which doesn't have a lot of detailed info.

I think that's as good as it got 70 odd years ago. Others on the forum may prove me wrong though. :wink:
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby dalehikes » Tue 30 Mar, 2021 1:10 pm

There were many maps produced up to the 70's that detailed the abandoned system in one way or another.

1940, 47, 50, 55, 60, 62, 65, 69, 70, 75, 76. These are all individual and do not include revisions.

I have compared all of them to create a complete picture of what once existed.
After measuring them all I calculate that there is around 40km of abandoned track!

I was in an area with apparent abandoned track on Sunday, however there were no traces in sight, which leads me to believe it was blazed rather than graded.
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby Lyrebird » Tue 30 Mar, 2021 2:27 pm

I was in an area with apparent abandoned track on Sunday,

There are several on the Darlington Range side of the Coomera River complete with stone edges (is that was traces are?). I've tried following a few of them over the years but they all ended at old landslides or impenetrable scunge and lawyer vine. Fun times, but not a day for wearing fancy new hiking clothes; on each occasion I emerged looking like the Creature From the Black Lagoon :lol:.
I have compared all of them to create a complete picture of what once existed.

Would you be willing to share, or provide some source details if they're publicly available? I'm also interested in what was once there and what remains to be seen. Up to you of course, since you did all the hard work :)
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby dalehikes » Tue 30 Mar, 2021 9:35 pm

Lyrebird wrote:
I was in an area with apparent abandoned track on Sunday,

There are several on the Darlington Range side of the Coomera River complete with stone edges (is that was traces are?).
I have compared all of them to create a complete picture of what once existed.

Would you be willing to share, or provide some source details if they're publicly available? I'm also interested in what was once there and what remains to be seen. Up to you of course, since you did all the hard work :)


By traces I just mean any evidence at all that there were tracks, IE rocks, cut out earth, signposts...

I'll try out together something when I've got time at home. Some maps make it look like a mess of tracks and it's hard to know which ones were real and which ones were drawn on accidentally.
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby Lyrebird » Tue 30 Mar, 2021 9:56 pm

Gotcha, I thought I might have missed a technical term. Always happy to learn :mrgreen:
Many thanks in advance for any info you've got. I think the tracks themselves may have been a bit of a spaghetti, as witnessed in the area around Orchid Bower and Lyrebird Lookout where there are numerous footpads pointing in the same general direction. There are at least two sets of signposts through there from the thirties that I'm aware of, and possibly there are more. Likewise downstream of Yerralahla/Blue Pool, where there are some remnants of a track system and a lot of subsidiary bypasses. I'm not sure how formal the lesser trafficked parts of the track system actually was.
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby coimon » Wed 31 Mar, 2021 8:35 pm

dalehikes wrote:1940, 47, 50, 55, 60, 62, 65, 69, 70, 75, 76. These are all individual and do not include revisions.


I've seen a number of these, but not all. Am interested to hear where you sourced / got access to them - are they readily available in public records, for example? Cheers.
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby ofuros » Thu 01 Apr, 2021 4:15 am

National Library of Australia, Gold Coast & the State Library @ Southbank seem to have a few in their collections...
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby dalehikes » Thu 01 Apr, 2021 8:59 am

ofuros wrote:National Library of Australia, Gold Coast & the State Library @ Southbank seem to have a few in their collections...


The national and states libraries and archives are where they are scattered. As well as getting my hands on some genuine ones through auctions or antique book stores.
I've had all of them scanned in hi-res for my own records. It has definitely been a time consuming task!
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby Lyrebird » Thu 01 Apr, 2021 7:03 pm

The national and states libraries and archives are where they are scattered.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look.
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby tas-man » Wed 13 Sep, 2023 4:33 am

Bumping this topic . . . with a scan of my 1960's O'Reilly's Tourist Map with some of my first jaunts there marked and dated. I remember following a track from Fountain Falls across the ridge down to the Coomera River which was still easily traversed apart from occasional landslips, but that was in the 1970's!
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O'Reilly's 1960's Tourist Map
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby tas-man » Wed 13 Sep, 2023 5:01 am

Bump again . . . here's part of my 1969 Lamington National Park map showing the old tracks between O'Reillys and Binna Burra.
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby tas-man » Wed 13 Sep, 2023 3:58 pm

Another bump . . . I found my latest Lamington NP map dated 1982 where the tracks no longer maintained are now only red dotted lines with notes that these tracks are closed. It is a pity the track over the Darlington Range is no longer a reality as I remember this as very interesting terrain to traverse back in the day.
Laming NP 1982.jpg
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby Lyrebird » Fri 15 Sep, 2023 7:33 pm

Thanks very much for sharing those. A fair bit of that track is still there, although it’s not maintained. I think that maintaining it to a National Park standard just got too hard; the West Canungra Creek track was shut for years in the 1990s because of slips.
The old Border Track section that duplicated the Pensioner Track is also still traffic able, though it has a lot of tree falls.
EDIT: Just having a good look at your 1969 map on the big computer, and I'm interested to see there's a 'track not used' marked from Bimboolba Lookout running south along the park boundary past Chungaracool Cave. Has anyone been this way?
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby ken333 » Sat 16 Sep, 2023 5:26 pm

Thanks for the maps. The Gold Coast Bushwalk Club used to walk those tracks in the 1990s. They became very difficult to follow over the years with land slips, lantana, wait-a-while etc. We used to have 1 group starting at Binna Burra and another at O'Reilly's and take the 'middle ridge 'traverse' and meet at lunch-time and swap car keys. There was a major slip just downstream of Fountain Falls a few years ago that filled the gorge up to half way up the falls. It might have all washed away by now.
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Re: Lamington Old Graded Track System

Postby dtbaker » Mon 06 Nov, 2023 1:51 pm

ken333 wrote:few years ago that filled the gorge up to half way up the falls. It might have all washed away by now.


It's still a bit messy down there
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