The long forgotten Berghofers Pass at Mount York

After exploring the historic Coxs Road and Lockleys Road at Mount York, I head to another of the historic mountain crossings around Mount York. Berghofers Pass (originally called Berghofer Pass) was built in 1912 when the Victoria Pass – which was completed in October 1832 – was closed. Victoria Pass was reopened in 1920 and both routes were used until Berghofers Pass was officially closed in 1934 (although local resident David Lovegrove claimed that trucks continued to use Berghofers Pass until the late 1950s). It was forgotten for decades before becoming a bushwalking route.

Constructed by John Berghofer, Berghofers Pass offered a much gentler climb up the mountain compared with the steep Victoria Pass.

A deviation of considerable importance of the Bathurst road between Mount Victoria and Little Hartley the portion erroneously called Victoria Pass, but really Mitchell Pass, named after Sir Thomas Mitchell— is nearing completion, and will be open for traffic in February 1912.

The steep hill, Mitchell Pass, has long been a source of trouble to all vehicles, a flying survey was made by Mr. Gee about 20 years ago, with the object of reducing the grade. He discovered a path along the rugged hillside, but as the work of making a roadway was one of some magnitude, the matter was allowed to lapse. Five years ago Mr. Berghofer a gentleman of considerable influence in Blue Mountains circles, and then president of the Blaxland Shire Council, gave the matter his serious attention.

Having heard of the survey made by Mr. Gee, after a very strenuous search, crawling on hands and knees around the sheer face of the cliff, he at last located the surveyor’s marks and urged upon the Government the great advantage of of making the road along this new path, especially so with the enormous increase of traffic that was going along the Bathurst Road.

Lithgow Mercury, 1912

Still open to bushwalkers, dog-walkers, mountain bikers (this one’s for you, Craig!) and horse-riders, the Berghofers Pass route is parallel to the original Victoria Pass, which is now the Great Western Highway. Normally you’d hear the traffic from the two-lane Great Western Highway above, but today it’s almost eerily quiet. Closed due to the risk of “critical structural instability”, there’s no traffic traversing the mountain via the historic Victoria Pass route.

It’s a gentle descent along the old road which is still in great condition, with some views to the north over the Hartley Valley.

Along the road are many signposted and well-preserved examples of the original stonework, including a number of stone drains and a water trough (fed by a natural spring) which would have “not only have satisfied the thirst of human and animal traffic using the pass but, most probably, also the demands of many passing motor vehicles”.

Berghofers Pass has historical significance at the State level as one of the longest intact lengths of hand made road in NSW. Its construction, just prior to WWI, using mainly manual labour, horse drawn transport, and stonemasonry techniques little changed from the convict era makes Berghofers Pass one of the last intact roads in the state to be built prior to the introduction of mechanised techniques and modern materials. Designed to cater for early low-powered cars, Berghofers Pass provides important evidence of part of the history of road making and road transport in NSW.

Blue Mountains Heritage Register Review

The construction of Berghofers Pass included a number of stone walls, including an almost 7 metre high dry stone wall which has has local historical significance as “the tallest dry stone wall of its type in the region” – surpassed in height only by the ashlar walls of the Victoria Pass above.

About halfway along the old road is a plaque dedicated to Johannes Wilhelm Berghofer, who arrived in Australia in 1855 at the age of 15 with his four siblings. Anglicizing his name to John Berghofer on his arrival, Berghofer become a naturalized Australian citizen in 1878 and a prominent entrepreneur and politician. As a result of World War I, strong anti-German sentiment in Australia led to hostility toward Berghofer due to his German heritage, and a sign bearing Berghofer’s name was defaced during the war.

For over the first kilometre, the gentle nature of the winding road provides no real indication that it’s a pass through an imposing cliff-line. This gradually becomes more obvious as steep cliffs rise above Berghofers Pass on the left, with a sheer drop to the valley on the right.

It also becomes more obvious why – despite the road’s gentle grade – it fell into disuse. As well as improvements that were made to Victoria Pass and more powerful vehicles that could cope with its steeper grade, the numerous bends, embankments and culverts of Berghofers Pass required constant maintenance.

Towards the bottom there are more views from the road – and more drains! In total Berghofers Pass has 11 culverts with either prefabricated cement or ceramic pipes.

Carved into the sandstone cliff is a vertical line marking the boundary line between the Shires of Blue Mountains and Blaxland; Blaxland Shire was incorporated into the City of Lithgow in 1977.

The original high stone walls of Victoria Pass are soon visible above, as Berghofers Pass converges with the highway; it feels a little strange to be standing in the middle of the Great Western Highway with not a car in sight!

You can do this fairly short bushwalk in about an hour: it offers some nice views and interesting local history. Jim Smith described Berghofers Pass as one of his favourite walks in the area in his classic book “How to See the Blue Mountains“.

Getting to Berghofers Pass

The top of Berghofers Pass is near the junction of Berghofer Drive and Mount York Road, opposite the Lawsons track head. There’s plenty of parking just off Berghofer Drive. It’s 1.3km from the Great Western Highway and 19km (20min drive) from Katoomba. You could also start from the Great Western Highway at the bottom, but there is very little parking and stopping here is not recommended (and probably not legal).

More information

• Blue Mountains Heritage Register Review – Berghofer’s Pass [PDF]
• Lithgow Mercury – The Berghofer Pass: Story of the Deviation (3 January 1912)