Highest point of Prospect Hill
Greystanes Hill from the Water Tower Hill in 2008 showing its quarried face and the developing industrial area in the former Prospect Quarry
This summit is (by a metre) the highest point of Prospect Hill. At one time a trig point was situated on the highest point of this part of the ridge, but this location was about 40 metres to the west of the present ridge line and has been quarried away.
|
|
The 1983 Department of Lands map of Prospect shows the original site of the trig point and marks its height as 390 feet, which is equivalent to 119m. The current edition gives a figure of 122m and the accurate height was probably the Geoscience Australia figure of 121.67m (Prospect map). But that was the old summit. The present one is reported to be 117 metres above sea level and is thus five metres lower than the original summit (Holroyd 2008, p 31). The original triangulation pillar can be seen from here. For some reason it has been placed about 1.5 km away to the south-west on the opposite ridge of Prospect Hill.
I am calling this summit Greystanes Hill because the former trig point is named Greystanes on the NSW Lands map (Prospect map). The housing development in the valley of Greystanes Creek to the east of the ridge is named Nelson's Ridge. While this implies that the name is that of the ridge itself, I can find no reference that specifically gives this name to this part of the ridge. The summit lies in a designated Reserve called Marrong or Mar-rong Reserve. There is evidence from the early colonial settlement period suggesting that this was an Aboriginal name for the whole of Prospect Hill. (Collins 1791, Notebook C).
The ridge falls at first gently and then more steeply in a direction slightly west of south until the lowest part is reached and it starts to rise towards One Tree Hill. In the opposite direction it descends gently until it reaches the cutting through which Butu Wargun Way passes across the ridge. The west side of the hill is the stabilised rock face of the former quarry face. To the east the ridge descends through steep, rough scrub to Daruga Avenue, the highest road of the Nelson's Ridge housing development.
|
Greystanes Hill is contained within the Prospect Hill State Heritage Register Area which was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register on 17th October 2003 (Heritage, Prospect Hill).
|
Greystanes Hill from the south in 2008. It was vegetated with native eucalypts (mid-ground) and Monterey Pine (around summit) the latter planted in the 1960s and 1970s.
|
Greystanes Hill from the north in 2008. The blue fencing protects Butu Wargun Drive, of which only the cycleway was open. The cutting where the drive crosses the crest of the ridge can just be seen on the right.