Blue Mountains
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Categories: World Heritage Sites in Australia | Mountain ranges of Australia | Mountains of New South Wales | Blue Mountains, New South Wales | Mountain peaks of the Blue Mountains | Physiographic sections
Image:Blue Mountains Panorama.jpg
A panoramic view of the Blue Mountains
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.
HistoryThe 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. 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. PhysiographyThe 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. GeographyImage:Malapanarama.jpg
The blue haze in view, as seen in the Grose Valley
The name derives from the blueish 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. Many Bushcare Groups carry out bush regeneration to restore and protect the bushland areas on public lands within the City of Blue Mountains. 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. 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. Image:2007 0805klklk0325.JPG
Three Sisters from Echo Point. The 'cave' (which is accessed by the bridge) is called Honeymoon Point
“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 eucalypt taxa (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 taxa. The site hosts several evolutionary relic species (Wollemia, Microstrobos, Acrophyllum) which have persisted in highly restricted microsites.” Quoted from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list On 21 June 2007 the Climate Action Network Australia, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the NSW Conservation handed the World Heritage Committee a Petition seeking in danger listing for the site due to the likely effects of climate change. The Petition called for measures to be adopted including reduction of GHG emissions by developed countries in order to protect World Heritage. This is the sixth danger-listing petition to be filed with the Committee, which has failed to acknowledge the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to ensure that World Heritage Sites are transmitted to future generations, as required by the World Heritage Convention. Nations that have signed the UN World Heritage Convention have a legal duty to cut emissions. The sites the groups seek to have added to the "in danger" list are the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, Sagarmatha National Park (which includes Mount Everest), Nepal, Belize Barrier Reef, Belize, Huascaran National Park, Peru and Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, US/Canada border. Tourist attractionsImage:Skyway-at-Blue-Mountains-Katoomba.jpg
The Katoomba Scenic Skyway
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