Forest Road

The first road in Lugarno would probably have been a track from Belmore Road (then also an un-named track) to Thomas Lawrence's grant, although it is likely that Lawrence visited his farms at Lugarno and near Alford's Point by boat. A track may have been cut through Lugarno to give access to the water mills, used to grind grain, operated by John Lucas on the Woronora River and Mill Creek, which were established in 1825.

Early maps show a road, often marked as Government Road, lying in a straight line from Edith Bay on the Georges River to Belmore Road. This road was apparently surveyed from the comfort of a chair in the government offices in Sydney. It is quite impractical, especially in its descent to Georges River. This straight line did serve a useful purpose however, as the boundary between land grants.

Forest Road was built as part of Surveyor-General Major Thomas Mithell's road to the Illawarra, to replace the original route to the Illawarra from Sydney through Liverpool, Campbelltown and Appin to Wollongong.

In 1830 the residents of Kiama had petitioned the Colonial Secretary to construct an official road to prevent the continuation of disputes and litigation over the use of tracks on private land. The Colonial Secretary instructed the Survyor General Major Thomas Mitchell to mark out a road to the Illawarra.

Mitchell pointed out "that the cliffs which enclose the District on the land side, especially towards the Sydney extremity are such as to render the formation of a road a work of great difficulty and expense."

However in 1831 Mitchell proposed a route for the direct road to the Illawarra, which would "cross the lowest ford at Cook's River, and Georges River by a ferry, and follow a ridge down the coast mountain."

Mitchell concentrated on improving the road through Appin, until in 1843, after further instructions from the Colonial Secretary, he marked "a direct line of road to the Illawarra along a continuous range which I had ascertained to be the one eligible amongst many others for this purpose, from a detailed survey of all the ranges made many years ago by Assistant Surveyor Govett."

Between the head of navigation of the Woronora River and Bulli on the Illawarra coast the line marked out did not cross a single watercourse, and was remarkably straight, according to Mitchell, who estimated it was twenty miles shorter than the old route.

The construction of a dam across the Cook's River at Tempe in 1839, with a roadway built over the top of it, provided direct access to the St. George district from Sydney.

"Of the road between the dam on Cook's River and this crossing place for a punt, (at present) on Georges River, [at Lugarno] had been for some time much wanted to afford access to a fine portion of country, the western part of which is already well cultivated, and this I intend soon to lay out in the best direction that the ground, which is undulating, admits of...The passage of Georges River may be established at once by a punt, as I have found at the very best point for this general line to Illawarra old landing places on each side, and a road of access now passable for carts, and which leads southward to where I propose to cross the Woronora."

Forest Road was one of the last of the roads to be constructed by convicts. Overseer O'Hara led the road gang, and it is said that when the convicts were freed on the completion of the work, many of them chose to settle in the St. George area.

The road generally followed the ridges, so as to avoid crossing creeks and swamps, but following a line that gave easy gradients.

A hand-winched ferry was established at Lugarno by Charles Roman, who tendered to pay the Government rent for the right to operate the ferry and charge tolls. The Surveyor-General reported on the 1st July, 1843 that the ferry was in place, and that work could continue on the road to Wollongong.

Surveyor Darke proposed a new line of road to the illawarra, and this was cleared of timber to within two miles of the line down Bulli in July 1844. Although this road was not made (i.e. earthworks completed, stone filling and drainage allowed for) some use of it was made by the public. Contractors commenced forming the road on September 14, 1846, and completed it in August 1847. The lack of a good road from Bulli mountain to Wollongong meant that there was little traffic.

It would appear that Sir Thomas Mitchell's Line of Road to the Illawarra was not legally reserved and gazetted, although it was surveyed and marked out. There was no pressing need for this to be done, as most of the land affected was either unoccupied or Crown Land in 1843.

In 1861 Surveyor Dearing was asked to survey the road from Cook's River to Georges River. He found that the road was used by 150 vehicles a day, principally carting wood.

The road was in a wretched state "storm waters pouring down the ruts made by heavily laden drays with narrow wheelbases have formed chasms some 8 foot deep in places" and had made the road "quite impassable, and [it] could not be repaired but at heavy cost" at the Cook's River end of the road, and so a new line of road was laid out.

Of Lugarno Surveyor Deering says "I examined the road leading down to the Ferry at Georges River, and found it quite impracticable, on account of its steep gradients for any dray traffic. A much better line with an easy descent may be had, by diverging to the westward at 7 miles 60 chains as shown on the plan, thus making the crossing place to the westward of the old ferry and the Woronora River, and also getting on the opposite side of Georges River an easier ascent."

An objection to the road was recieved from Spencer West, the only resident in Lugarno at that time. He thought that the proposed alteration to the road leading to the ferry crossing was impractical, and that "Mr. Deering's line will run through the best portion of my land, which land consists of a small portion of good land." It is interesting to note that Surveyor Deering described this land as grazing land (i.e. not agricultural land). Spencer West was informed that he was mistaken, and that the road would not take his land.

The road as surveyed by John Williams Deering was confirmed as a Parish Road on the 6th February, 1862, and a Roads Trust was subsequetly set up to maintain the road. It would have had the power to levy rates on landowners, and tolls on the users of the road. Meetings of the Road Trust were held at the Blue Post Inn at Gannons Forest (Hurstville). The name of the road is shown on many official documents as the Illawarra Road until the end of the nineteenth century, however it was usually known as the Gannons Forest Road until the 1880's when it was commonly called Forest Road.

The Lugarno Ferry was re-established as notified in the Government Gazette of 10th June, 1887. About this time the Casual Labour Board (which provided work for the unemployed) had the road to the ferry cleared and formed. This was the road "to the punt formed in the old days by the Convicts" according to Surveyor Knibbs, in other words, Sir Thomas Mitchell's line of road of 1843, not Surveyor Deering's line of 1861. It appears that the ferry was moved from its original location on Edith Bay to a point west of this, where the ferry gates now stand, at this time. Mr. George Pope says that grooves in the rocks at Edith Bay mark the original ferry crossing.

Following a further survey in November 1889 by Surveyor Knibbs, a small deviation was made near where the entrance to Evatt Park is now. An agreement with the then owner of the land, Robert Levingston led to this land becoming the official road while Levingston recieved the land that was the reserved road (i.e. Old Forest Road between Brewer Place and Ponderosa Place). The new route of the road was gazetted on 11th November, 1890.

The slight curve in the road from near the junction of Belmore Road to near Grandview Crescent was surveyed in September 1912 by surveyor J. A. Harrison. Land for the road (one chain wide) was taken from Lusby's grant, however the reserved road (also one chain wide) was retained by the Crown, accounting for the width of the footpaths up Chivers Hill, and also the parking area at the Chivers Hill shopping centre. Other parts of the reserved road survive in Brewer Place, Ponderosa Place, Old Forest Road, Elm Street, and the vacant land from Barbara Place to the Jan Hadfield Reserve.