Blue Mountains (Australia)

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For other mountains and mountain ranges, see Blue Mountain and Blue Mountains.
The Three Sisters, one of the Blue Mountains' best-known attractions.
The Three Sisters, one of the Blue Mountains' best-known attractions.

The Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, are found approximately 48 kilometres west of Sydney.[1] They are a range of sandstone geological structures that reach to at least 1,190 metres AHD (in the Lithgow area). The Blue Mountains are not, as the name suggests, a range of mountains but rather a plateau with rugged eroded gorges of up to 760 metres depth. A large part of the Blue Mountains is incorporated in the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site and its constituent seven national parks and a conservation reserve.

The Blue Mountains lie in the local government areas of the City of Blue Mountains, the City of Hawkesbury, the City of Lithgow and Oberon.

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[edit] History

Pulpit Rock, Blue Mountains
Pulpit Rock, Blue Mountains

The mountains were originally named by Arthur Phillip in 1788 as the Carmarthen Hills for the northern section near Sydney, and the Lansdowne Hills for the southern. However, Blue Mountains quickly became preferred as the popular name. [2] Although known by Indigenous Australians for thousands of years, the Blue Mountains were thought to be impenetrable by the early white settlers of Sydney, and were not crossed until convicts and other explorers found their way across. The most famous expedition was in 1813, by Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson. Rather than, like earlier explorers, following the river valleys—only to discover usually that they were terminated by vertical cliffs several hundred metres high—the trio followed the ridges to reach the plateau.

Neats Glen
Neats Glen

This 'first crossing' by Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth is a common misconception due to various monuments claiming this to be so. Indeed the only geographical reward they received for their efforts was the naming of three hills in the Kanimbla Valley northwest of Mount York. This crossing of the Blue Mountains has traditionally been regarded as a critical step that opened the west of New South Wales to European settlement; however, modern historians point out that until about the time the mountains were first crossed there was still ample land available closer to the coast. The oft-told tale, that the Blue Mountains were a crippling barrier to colonial expansion, is largely myth.

A road crossing the mountains was built in only 27 weeks by William Cox, at the behest of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, using 30 convict labourers and 8 guards and was completed in early 1815.

Coal and oil shale were mined near Katoomba up until after the Second World War.

[edit] Physiography

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

[edit] Geography

The blue haze in view, as seen in the Grose Valley
The blue haze in view, as seen in the Grose Valley

The name derives from the bluish tinge the range takes on when viewed at a distance, which is caused by the release of volatile oils from eucalyptus forests. (Most mountains and plains in the forested parts of Australia take on a similar hue: the Blue Mountains were a familiar sight to early British settlers in the Sydney district long before the bulk of the continent was explored by non-native people.)

The predominant natural vegetation of the higher ridges is eucalypt forest. Heath-like vegetation is present on plateau edges above cliffs. The sheltered gorges often have a temperate rainforest. 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.

Grose Valley seen from near Evans Lookout
Grose Valley seen from near Evans Lookout

The climate varies with height. At Katoomba (1,010 metres) summer daytime temperatures are usually in 20s with a few days extending into the 30s (Celsius). Night time temperatures are usually in the teens. In winter the temperature is typically about 12 or 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 48 inches (1,200 mm) with many misty days.

Wind Erosion Cave, Blue Mountains National Park
Wind Erosion Cave, 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.

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

“Criteria (ii) and (iv): Australia’s eucalypt vegetation is worthy of recognition as of outstanding universal value, because of its adaptability and evolution in post-Gondwana isolation. The site contains a wide and balanced representation of eucalypt habitats from wet and dry sclerophyll, mallee heathlands, as well as localised swamps, wetlands, and grassland. 90 eucalypti tax (13% of the global total) and representation of all four groups of eucalypts occur. There is also a high level of endemism with 114 endemic taxa found in the area as well as 120 nationally rare and threatened plant tax. The site hosts several evolutionary relic species (Wollemia, Microstrobos, Acrophyllum) which have persisted in highly restricted micro sites.” [3]

Neats Glen walking track
Neats Glen walking track

[edit] Tourist attractions

  • The Giant Staircase which runs down a cliff into the Jamison Valley beside the Three Sisters, offering access to extensive nature walks through the Valley.[4]
  • 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.
  • The Scenic Skyway: a glass-bottom aerial cable car that traverses an arm of the Jamison Valley at Katoomba.
  • The Scenic Flyway: the steepest aerial cable car in Australia, it is a 545 metre ride.
  • Jenolan Caves, a spectacular series of limestone caves that is regarded as one of the world's best, lies 45 kilometres (70 kilometres by road) to the south west of Katoomba.
  • The Zig Zag Railway: An old-fashioned railway with steam-powered engines near Lithgow.
  • Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum is the home of the oldest remaining roundhouse in New South Wales.
  • The Toy Museum at Leura is home to an interesting collection of toys and trains.
  • The Edge Cinema offers visitors a great view of the Blue Mountains. The Edge Movie, run every 45 minutes, is narrated by Hugo Weaving and is about the geography of this great National Park.
  • The Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum at Faulconbridge. The gallery is operated by The National Trust of Australia and is located inside the former Norman Lindsay homestead, Springwood. The gallery houses a wide variety of artwork including paintings, etchings, model sailing ship replicas and sculptures. The house and surrounding gardens featured in the film Sirens.
A view of the Blue Mountains from the Hydro Majestic Hotel
A view of the Blue Mountains from the Hydro Majestic Hotel

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[edit] Gallery

Grose Valley seen from Perrys Lookdown

Orphan Rock, near Katoomba

The Katoomba Scenic Skyway

The view from Cahills Lookout.

A panoramic view of the Blue Mountains

Autumn in the Blue Mountains.

View of the Jamison Valley from Echo Point, located at Katoomba

Grose Valley after a bush fire

[edit] Peaks

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gregory's New South Wales Sate Road Map, Map 220, 11th Edition, published by Gregory's Publishing Company
  2. ^ Project Gutenberg Australia
  3. ^ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list whc.unesco.org
  4. ^ Walks in the Blue Mountains National Park, Neil Paton, Kangaroo Press, 1987

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Coordinates: 33°43′05″S, 150°18′38″E