Indigenous History The land is the traditional land of the
Dharug Aboriginal people. The land was a seasonal camping area thanks to its proximity to the
Nepean River. A meeting place of the Oryang clan of
Springwood was located on the river downstream of Lapstone.
Early history Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth were the first Europeans to explore the Lapstone area, climbing up the Lapstone Hill and reaching
Glenbrook Lagoon on 12 May 1813 on their successful trek across the
Great Dividing Range. The first road was built by
William Cox and a gang of convicts, up the Lapstone Hill through Lapstone and across the Blue Mountains, about 1815 (a plaque on the site of the old Cox Road can be seen off Governor Drive at the M4 junction). The first reference to "Lapstone Hill" (Which covers an area larger than modern Lapstone) was in a letter from 1822. Cox Road was replaced by "The Western Road" across
Lennox Stone Bridge and up the Lapstone Hill in 1833 and, following the railway in 1867, "The Great Western Highway". The highway is now the main road up Lapstone Hill and across the Blue Mountains.
Name The town contains the presence of tertiary gravels. Caused by the uplifting of an ancient river by the Lapstone
Monocline. These water worn stones resemble those used by cobblers to work the leather when making shoes. The first known reference to the name was from Elizabeth Hawkins when she traveled to
Bathurst in 1822. Writing: "We now began our ascent up the first lapstone hill, so called from all the stones being like a cobbler's lapstone". However it is unlikely this is referring to the location of the modern lapstone. The name has been used for several places on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Mountains over time. Typically referring to wherever the main route up the Blue Mountains was.
Lapstone Zig Zag The Lapstone Zig Zag line (or "little" zig zag) opened near Glenbrook in 1867. The ascent of Lapstone Hill, on a gradient of 1 in 30-33, was built up the side of the range with comparatively light earthwork. It included the substantial seven-span sandstone
Knapsack Viaduct, which later had work performed upon it to carry the Great Western Highway along it, after the deviation of the railway was placed through Glenbrook Gorge. The line travelled from the viaduct along part of what is now the Great Western Highway then along part of what is now Governors Drive before entering a cutting. Here trains 'switched back' to travel up the middle road to Lucasville Station, which was built by
John Lucas to access his property at Lapstone, which is now the housing estate between the Great Western Highway, the RAAF base, and Knapsack Gully. Remains of the platform can still be seen at this location. The line then traversed the eastern end of Knapsack Street before swinging onto what is now the Great Western Highway. The top and middle roads of the zig zag, along with the portion over Knapsack Viaduct are all part of a walking trail along the old alignment, which includes a memorial to
John Whitton, the engineer in charge of railway construction in the early years of NSW, considered by many as 'The Father of Railways in NSW', at the Emu Plains end of the walk.
Lapstone Hill Tunnel painter
Arthur Streeton in ''Fire's On'' (1891,
Art Gallery of New South Wales). A new route was opened on 18 December 1892 to avoid the Lapstone Zig Zag. After crossing the viaduct, the line continued along the previous bottom road of the Zig Zag to where the switching station was, before continuing along and curving around to the west to travel under the ridge line in a single track tunnel. The line then traversed what is now a service road off Barnet Street before rejoining the original alignment off the Zig Zag which is now the Great Western Highway. The tunnel emerges approximately 260 metres west of the intersection of the
Great Western Highway and Mount Street Glenbrook at the end of the service road, and had a total length of 660 metres. The tunnel can still be seen from neighbouring bush tracks., and Blue Mountains City Council plan to reopen the tunnel as part of a walkway between Glenbrook and Lapstone. The new tunnel was hailed as a major improvement in allowing, but problems with ventilation, along with water from the creek that had to be deviated at the eastern end, and natural seepage led to trains getting stuck. The Lapstone Tunnel was finally closed and replaced on 24 September 1913. The abandoned Lapstone Tunnel was used by the nearby
RAAF base during World War II as storage for munitions and mustard gas. The RAAF laid a concrete floor for better storage and access. After the war, the tunnel was used for a period of time to grow mushrooms. This was known as the Spur-line and was in operation from 1911 to 1913, the line and cutting now forming a part of a nature walk through Darks Common. The Glenbrook Tunnel, 282 metres in length, came into operation on 11 May 1913 and is still used today.
Lapstone Hill Hotel The land occupied by the present RAAF base (which is not within the bounds of modern day Lapstone, but is within the bounds of the larger "Lapstone Hill") was originally owned in the 1870s by
John Lucas (1818 - 1902). He built a country retreat on the land called "Lucasville" close to his private Lucasville railway station but sold the property to Charles Smith. Smith built his own house, called "Logie", higher up the hill above the railway and Lucas's little cottage. Smith died in 1897. The "Logie" house and estate were inherited by his son Colin. In 1921, "Logie" and its estate were bought by
Herwold Kirkpatrick and his brother-in-law. Kirkpatrick was a well known architect and from the late 1920s he set out to transform the Logie Cottage and grounds into a luxury Hotel. The Lapstone Hill Hotel was officially opened in 1930 and was a major art deco luxury hotel. The grounds of some 6 hectares (15 acres) were planned with lawns, flowers, fruit and vegetable gardens, with water pumped from the
Nepean River far below. The hotel had views of the Nepean River and offered views of the Sydney metropolis. The hotel was extremely fashionable throughout the 1930s. The hotel was noted for adverting the benefits of the mountain environment on people's health and attracted many people from Sydney who wanted to escape city life. In 1930 the first
Talkie movie in Australia premiered at Lapstone Hotel. In 1949 the Lapstone Hill Hotel and grounds were offered to the Commonwealth Department of Defence as a new headquarters for the RAAF's
Eastern Area Command, the
RAAF Base Glenbrook. No personnel actually lived in the 57 rooms of the former hotel during the first twenty years of RAAF use, but in 1982 a new administration block was opened and the former hotel became entirely the officers' mess: about 35 officers were then accommodated in the upper story. Downstairs suites are used for visiting VIPs and were created in 1994 by the architect Robert Staas and the interior designer Elizabeth Mackie, retaining the art deco theme
New Lapstone Hotel The New Lapstone Hotel was built in the 1950s further up the
Great Western Highway at
Blaxland, after the Lapstone Hill Hotel and grounds were purchased by the RAAF. The hotel was called "The New Lapstone Hotel" until the 1980s. Today the hotel is known as "The Lapstone Hotel". It was renovated in 2007 after being purchased by the Lewis Group of Hotels. == Modern Lapstone ==