The Wishing Well

Have you ever driven down the Castlereagh Highway, from Mudgee towards Lithgow and wondered, as you sailed by, at the Wishing Well sign that stands near the top of Cherry Tree Hill?  Next time you are heading south up the steep climb to the top of the hill, pull over (there is safe parking) and put your walking shoes on.

 The final version of the well.

The walk from the side of the modern highway is short - only a couple of minutes - and takes you down the embankment onto the old highway.  Not far down, you will come to the well mentioned in the sign.  Said to have been first built in 1848, on the site of a soak beside the road, and improved at various times over the next century, it was finally bypassed when the Castlereagh was enlarged and upgraded.

 The line of the old highway, down which visitors can walk to the well.

 There are so many little pieces of history like this one - once a part of the daily lives of those who came before us, but now relegated to hidden nooks or corners, as the need for speed re-aligns the highways, and even the byways, that take us from point A to point Z in ever shorter times.

 The railing above the well shows where the new highway climbs Cherry Tree Hill

Those quicker trips mean, though, that we miss out on points B through Y.  Perhaps it might be worthwhile, on your next trip, to check the map, and leave an hour or two earlier.  Having chosen a route with potential, hop onto the internet and search out the local historical societies or museums - most places have these wonderful, volunteer run organisations that are dedicated to preserving the stories of their area and their forebears.

 Despite the re-alignments and associated drainage on the top side of the highway, clear water still seeps from the well.

Take one of the byways that was built for horse or bullock team, and drive slowly.  The old highway from Buladelah to Coolongolook is one such road, as are the old roads that lead north from various parts of the Hawkesbury river to converge on the old villages of Laguna and Wollombi.  In a land that could become as dry as Australia does, any permanent source of water was highly valued.

On other roads I have come across such soaks that have been improved so as to offer a watering point for the bullocks and horses and humans who plodded their way through the wilderness.  Few of them were as ornate as the well on Cherry Tree Hill - one on the steep hill between Fernances Crossing and Bucketty is merely a horizontal gouge chiseled across the face of the sandstone, catching the water seeping from the cliff above.