Blue Mountains New South Wales
The Three Sisters, sandstone rock formations that are one of the best-known attractions in the region.
Population:	162,000
Area:	11400 km² (4,401.6 sq mi)
Location:	50 km (31 mi) north-west of Sydney CBD
LGA:	Blue Mountains, City of Hawkesbury, City of Lithgow and Oberon Council
State District:	Blue Mountains, Penrith, Bathurst, Hawkesbury, Londonderry and Riverstone
Federal Division:	Macquarie, Lindsay, Greenway and Calare
Localities around Blue Mountains: Central West Central West Hunter Central West Blue Mountains Western Sydney Southern Tablelands Southern Tablelands Macarthur

The Blue Mountains is a mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia. It borders on Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting approximately 50 kilometres west of the state capital.^[1] The area begins on the west side of the Nepean River and extends westward as far as Cox's River^[2].

Consisting mainly of a sandstone plateau, the area is dissected by gorges up to 760 metres deep. The highest point of the range is 1,190 metres above sea level. A large part of the Blue Mountains is incorporated into the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site, consisting of seven national park areas and a conservation reserve.

The Blue Mountains area includes the local government areas of the City of Blue Mountains, the City of Hawkesbury, the City of Lithgow and Oberon.

[edit] History

Aboriginal hand stencils in Red Hands Cave, near Glenbrook

When the Europeans arrived in Australia, the Blue Mountains had already been inhabited for several millennia. Proof of this can be found in many places. In the Red Hands Cave, a rock shelter near Glenbrook, the walls contain hand stencils from adults and children^[3]. On the southern side of Queen Elizabeth Drive, at Wentworth Falls, a rocky knoll has a large number of grinding grooves created by rubbing stone implements on the rock to shape and sharpen them. There are also carved images of animal tracks and an occupation cave. The site is known as Kings Tableland Aboriginal Site and dates back 22,000 years.

Arthur Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales, first glimpsed the extent of the Blue Mountains from a ridge at today's Oakhill College, Castle Hill. He named them the Carmarthen Hills, 'some forty to sixty miles distant..." and he reckoned that the ground was "most suitable for government stock". This is the location where Gidley King in 1799 established a prison town for political prisoners from Ireland and Scotland. The same view that Arthur Phillip enjoyed in his day can be enjoyed today.

The native Aborigines knew two routes^{[citation needed]} across the mountains: Bilpin Ridge, which is now the location of Bells Line of Road between Richmond and Bell, and the Cox's River, a tributary of the Nepean River. It could be followed upstream to the open plains of the Kanimbla Valley, the type of country that farmers prize.

European settlers initially considered that fertile lands lay beyond the mountains, as was China in the belief of many convicts, but that this didn't matter much, since the mountains were impassable.^[4] This idea was, to some extent, convenient for local authorities. An "insurmountable" barrier would deter convicts from trying to escape in that direction.

A former convict, John Wilson, may have been the first European to cross the Blue Mountains. It is also believed that Mathew Everingham, 1795,^[5] may have also been partly successful based on letters he wrote at the time which came to light in the late 1980's. Wilson arrived with the First Fleet in 1788 and was freed in 1792. He settled in the bush, living with the Aborigines and even functioning as an intermediary between them and the settlers. In 1797 he returned to Sydney, claiming to have explored up to a hundred miles in all directions around Sydney, including across the mountains. His descriptions and observations were generally accurate, and it is possible that he had crossed the mountains via the southern aspect at the Cox's River corridor, guided by the Aborigines.^[6]

Neates Glen, outside Blackheath

Governor Hunter was impressed by Wilson's skills and sent him on an expedition with John Price and others in January 1798. The party crossed the Nepean River and moved south-west towards the present site of Mittagong. There they turned west and found a route along the ridge where today the Wombeyan Caves Road is located. In the process they found a way to go west of the mountains, by going around them instead of across them. In March of the same year, Wilson and Price ventured to the Camden area, and then continued further south until they discovered Thirlmere Lakes, finally almost reaching the present site of Goulburn.

It is possible that the accomplishments of this expedition were suppressed by Hunter, who may not have wanted convicts to know that there was a relatively easy way out of Sydney.^[7] Wilson was killed by Aborigines after abducting one of their women for his personal use, but he had accomplished much as an explorer. He was never recognised as the first person to cross the mountains, possibly because his Cox's River journey could not be verified, while his route west of Mittagong may have been the "long way around" for a colony that had its eyes fixed on the sandstone fortress west of the Nepean.

Route of the Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth Crossing of 1813

Between 1798 and 1813, many people explored various parts of the mountains, from the Bilpin Ridge to the southern regions, today the site of the Kanangra-Boyd National Park. Still, they did not find a definite route across the mountains.

Official credit for crossing the Blue Mountains was eventually given to Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth. Following an exploratory trip in 1811, Blaxland, who wanted more grazing land, reasoned that the mountains could be crossed by following the ridges (thus creating the myth that the ridges were the easy way, when the easy way was in fact Cox's River).^[8] Accompanied by Lawson and Wentworth, he set out on May 11, 1813, and the party succeeded in crossing the mountains by May 31. They ventured as far as to what is now Mount Blaxland, just west of Cox's River. On their return to Sydney, Governor Lachlan Macquarie granted them 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) of land each as a reward for their accomplishment.^[9]

In November 1813, Macquarie sent the surveyor George Evans on an expedition to confirm the discoveries made by Blaxland and his party. He was also told to see if there existed enough arable land to justify settlement. The issue had become more urgent because the colony was in the grips of a drought.

Evans and his party reached the Fish and Macquarie Rivers, and the site of Bathurst.^[10] On July 7, 1814, construction of a road across the mountains was begun by William Cox. The work was at the behest of Governor Macquarie. 30 convict labourers and 8 guards completed the road on 14 January 1815 after 27 weeks of hard work.^[11]

Since the Blue Mountains are rich in coal and shale, mining for these resources began not long after the building of the first road. J.B. North ran a shale mine in the Megalong Valley in the 19th century,^[12] and other operations were set up in several places. Locations for mining activities included the Jamison Valley, the upper Grose Valley, Newnes, Glen Davis and the Asgard Swamp area near Mount Victoria. Shale mining failed in the long run because it was not financially viable.

[edit] Etymology

The characteristic blue haze, as seen in the Jamison Valley

Following European settlement of the Sydney area, the area was named the Carmarthen and Lansdowne Hills by Arthur Phillip in 1788. The Carmarthen Hills were in the north of the region and the Lansdowne Hills were in the south. The name Blue Mountains, however, was preferred^[13] and is derived from the blue tinge the range takes on when viewed from a distance. The tinge is caused by mie scattering which occurs when incoming ultraviolet radiation is scattered by particles within the atmosphere creating a blue-greyish colour to any distant objects, including mountains and clouds.^{[citation needed]} It is widely, but incorrectly, believed that this is created by light reflecting off vapours from eucalypt leaves.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Physiography

The Blue Mountains area is a distinct physiographic section of the larger Hunter-Hawkesbury Sunkland province. This is in turn a part of the larger East Australian Cordillera physiographic division.

[edit] Climate

The climate varies with altitude. At Katoomba (1,010 m) summer daytime temperatures are usually in the 20s with a few days extending into the 30s (Celsius). Night-time temperatures are usually in the teens. During the winter the temperature is typically around 12 to 13°C in the daytime with −3°C or so on clear nights and 2 to 3°C on cloudy nights. There are two to three snowfalls per year. In the lower mountains, however, the climate is significantly warmer.

Annual rainfall is about 1,050 mm in the Upper Blue Mountains ^[14] with many misty days.

[edit] Geography

Grose Valley seen from Perrys Lookdown.

The predominant natural vegetation of the higher ridges is eucalyptus forest. Heath-like vegetation is present on plateau edges above cliffs. The sheltered gorges often contain temperate rainforests. There are also many hanging swamps with button grass reeds and thick, deep black soil. Wollemia nobilis, the "Wollemi pine", a relic of earlier vegetation of Gondwana, is found in remote and isolated valleys of the Wollemi National Park.

Wind Eroded Cave, Grose Valley, Blue Mountains National Park.

The main natural disasters to afflict the area are bushfires and severe storms. In recent years the lower mountains has been subjected to a series of bushfires which have caused great loss of property but relatively little loss of life. The upper mountains had not had a major fire for some decades until December 2002 (the Blackheath Glen Fire) and November 2006 when an extensive blaze in the Grose Valley threatened several communities including Bell and Blackheath (the Lawson Long Alley Fire). This latest fire burned for almost a month but was extinguished without loss of human life or property. A program of winter burning seems to have been quite successful in reducing fires in the upper mountains.

[edit] World Heritage listing

The Greater Blue Mountains Area was unanimously listed as a World Heritage Area by UNESCO on 29 November, 2000. It thus became the fourth area in New South Wales to be listed ^[15]. The area totals roughly 10,000 square kilometres, including the Blue Mountains, Kanangra-Boyd, Wollemi, Gardens of Stone, Yengo, Nattai and Thirlmere Lakes National Parks, plus the Jenolan Caves Karst Conservation Reserve.

Upper Wentworth Falls as viewed along the National Pass walking track near the town of Wentworth Falls.

The reason why this site was chosen to be included on the World Heritage list is quoted below:

[edit] Tourist attractions

• The Edge Cinema offers visitors a panoramic view of the Blue Mountains.
• The Giant Staircase^[17] walking track runs down a cliff into the Jamison Valley, near the Three Sisters, providing access to nature walks through the valley.^[18]
• Jenolan Caves, a series of limestone caves south west of Katoomba.
• The Katoomba Scenic Railway, the steepest railway in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records, and originally part of the Katoomba mining tramways constructed between 1878 and 1900. The cable railway line descends 415 metres through sandstone cliffs, via a rock tunnel with a maximum gradient of 52 degrees. Also, at this location is the Scenic Skyway, a glass-bottom aerial cable car that traverses an arm of the Jamison Valley, and the Scenic Flyway, the steepest aerial cable car in Australia.
• The Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum at Faulconbridge, operated by The National Trust of Australia and is located inside the former Norman Lindsay homestead, Springwood.
• The Toy Museum at Leura.
• Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum.
• The Zig Zag Railway: A steam-powered railway near Lithgow.

[edit] See also

• Aboriginal sites of New South Wales (includes Blue Mountains)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Blue Mountains, New South Wales

• Blue Mountains on WikiTravel
• A photo tour of the area near Katoomba and Blackheath
• Blue Mountains Tourism, based in Lithgow and Oberon
• Various Blue Mountains info, based in Katoomba
• Official Blue Mountains National Park Web site
• Blue Mountains Family History Society

Coordinates: 33°43′05″S 150°18′38″E / 33.71806°S 150.31056°E / -33.71806; 150.31056