Aboriginal and European history along Jacks Track

Jacks Track (or Jacks Gully Trail as it’s also known) provides a route from St Albans up into Yengo National Park, where it meets the Womerah Range Trail. It provides access to one of the area’s original trig stations, and there are a number of indigenous heritage sites in the gullies and ridges along the trail. There’s no information on-line about how the trail got it’s name – most likely after one of the original setters who purchased the land where the track starts in the valley. Or perhaps from “the notorious Branch Jack”, the leader of a band of Aboriginal people who raided farms along the Colo and Hawkesbury, before escaping into the mountains.

The first 500m of Jack’s Track is through private property, so permission should be sought – but the firetrail appears well-used by locals, and until a few years ago formed part of the Convict 100 mountain biking competition route. The trail ascends somewhat steeply and unrelentlessly!

Being early Spring, the display of wildflowers provides a good excuse for an occasional stop. (And after the previous weekend off-track Big Yango walk, it’s much more enjoyable looking at the “Egg and Bacon Plant” from a track than pushing through kilometres of the prickly shrub!)

Once Jacks Track reaches the ridge, there’s a nice vantage point over the Macdonald River and vast expanse of Yengo National Park to the north.

A sign indicates that the track is now entering the national park (technically, the national park boundary was about 1km furthe back, but the trail re-enters the corner of another private landholding along the very start of the ridge.

It’s now fairly level and easy walking along the firetrail; I veer off to the right and follow a gentle spur up to a high point, where there is an old trig station. Twenty years ago there was a walking track up to the trig, but clearly not enough people visit the lonely TS KIEF any more…

After ascending up the north-eastern side of the hill, I take a more direct route directly north back to the firetrail, which is a bit steeper and requires a bit of scrambling. I rejoin my friends on the trail, who clearly think scrambling up to an abandoned trig is a fairly futile exercise. They may have a valid point. Fortunately I didn’t attempt to descend to the south-west, where there are some impressive cliffs and overhangs between the firetrail and the top of the hill.

Along one of the dry creeks is a deep waterhole, with a set of Aboriginal axe grinding grooves. While I refrain from filling up my water bottle, knowing the locations of these water sources must have been vital information for the Aboriginal people traversing this fairly arid landscape.

It’s pleasant walking along the firetrail, with the occasional glimpse into the many valleys and gullies that drop off to the north.

Within a couple of these gullies are two Aboriginal rock art sites, containing both red ochre and charcoal drawings and hand stencils. It’s likely in the vast and relatively remote Yengo (and Wollemi) national parks that we have only “discovered” or recorded a fraction of the Aboriginal sites.

We continue along the firetrail, exploring a few more of the ridges and gullies… and wildflowers.

There are no shortage of caves and overhangs to explore off the main trail, with some interesting weathered formations.

Jacks Track finishes at the Womerah Range Fire Trail; turn left and it’s 12.3km (one-way) to St Albans Road, and to the right it’s 35km to the Putty Road. The Womerah Range Trail also divides two conservation areas, with Yengo Natonal Park on the northern side and the Parr State Conservation Area on the southern side.

It’s a slightly easier walk back, being mostly downhill- and the weather has cleared a little, offering some better views from the end of the ridge over the Macdonald Valley.

Our walk has taken most of the day with numerous off-track forays into gullies and along ridges; the length of the 48km Womerah Range Trail can be done as a 2-3 day bushwalking or mountain-biking trip.

Getting to Jacks Track

The start of Jacks Track is 2.3km from St Albans along Upper Macdonald Road; it’s a 72km drive (1:30min) drive from Hornsby or 97km (2 hour) drive from Sydney, crossing the Hawkesbury River via the Webbs Creek Ferry.