The Knapsack Bridge at Lapstone/Glenbrook of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, has a series of reasonably interesting remnants consisting of a memorial, ruins of a gate keepers cottage, a disused train platform and of course the grand bridge itself; the Knapsack Gully Bridge.
Both Aboriginal and Colonial History is strong in this area.
John Lucas was a self-made man. Born in Camperdown in 1818, he was trained as a carpenter, but diversified later first as an inn-keeper and then as a building contractor. After two years as a magistrate, he entered politics in 1860, he was a member of the lower house for Canterbury, Hartley and then Canterbury again almost without a break until 1880, when he was appointed to the Leglisative Council. He remained an MLC until his death in 1902 at the age of 83.
Lucas's political career was erratic. With a well-earned reputation for 'mischief and obstruction', a 'bullying manner' and a 'heavy lumbering way', coupled with dubious land-dealings and a notorious claim for compensation amounting to 15 times the value of his resumed land beside Darling Harbour, Lucas was an ambivalent public figure. He was, however, genuinely interested in the protection of open space, was a trustee of the Royal National Park and was instrumental in saving Belmore Park in Sydney and in reserving parkland in country towns throughout the state. He was also regarded in the late 1870s as ‘distinguished for the attention he has paid to inland communication’.
While Minister for Mines under Robertson in 1875-7, Lucas purchased land for a country retreat adjacent to the top road of the Lapstone ZigZag, opened in 1867 for the first trains to reach the Blue Mountains plateau. There he built his house Lucasville. The house, which was situated just to the east of the present RAAF base, has disappeared, but traces of its gardens and access paths are still visible to the west of the ZigZag walking track.
For the convenience of himself, his family and his guests, Lucas used his political clout to have a railway station built on top road. Lucasville Station opened in 1877 and the substantial concrete platform, with rock-cut steps leading west into Lucasville grounds, is still highly legible. There was also a station building which is visible in a distant photograph, but this has now vanished. Unlike Numantia at Faulconbridge, Lucasville was a public platform (for which the government paid), and it was probably used initially also by visitors to Ulinbawn and to W.C. Want's house above Knapsack Gully, although Breakfast Point halt 700 metres to the south gave an alternative.
Lucasville station was located on the dead-end extension of top road, where the trains ended their ascent or began their descent of middle road, stopping and changing direction. Engines of heavy goods trains going to Sydney had to be put into back gear when entering Lucasville station to ensure that they did not plunge into Knapsack Gully about 400 metres ahead.
The Lapstone ZigZag was abandoned in 1892 when the first Glenbrook deviation was opened. Lucas therefore lost his convenient rail link to his country retreat for the last ten years of his life. The station was presumably then allowed to decay.
The history of the house after John Lucas's death in 1902 is not clear. Two of his four sons were prominent wine merchants in Sydney and two were also controversial public servants, appointed by their father's patronage. All four sons and a daughter survived the widowed Lucas and may have inherited and used the house. It was destroyed in a bush-fire, but the date is uncertain.
Source: New South Wales Heritage Register.
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