Blue Mountains Sydney Australia
The Blue Mountains is a famous Australian mountainous range west of Sydney in Australia.Sydneys metro sprawl pushes up to the base of the famous mountain range at penrith and the hawkesbury areas.
The mountains officially start about 60 kilometres to the west of Sydney.The famous Blue Mountains National park starts near the western side of the Nepean River and all the way in the west to the trout laden Coxs River.
The mostly sandstone plateaus and deep gorges can descend to over 700 metres can also rise at its highest points to over 1,000 metres above sea level.Most of the Blue Mountains is listed in the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site which consists of a conservation area a well as seven national parks.
The Blue Mountains area also includes local government areas of the City of Hawkesbury, the City of Blue Mountains, the City of Oberon and with its most westerly city being Lithgow.
Of course the koori tribe were inhabiting the Blue Mountains areas prior to the “discovery” by white settlerrs from the united kingdom.One famous example of ancient aboriginal hand stencil art is Red Hands Cave, near Glenbrook.Nearby are axe sharpening grooves as well.
It is now known that the koori inhabitants used two main paths to move around through the mountain areas.The bilpin ridge was the most often used followed by the Cox`s river.The river paths were easier and lead to the farming area called the kanimbla valley.
Early settlers believed the rugged mountains were not passable due to the rugged terrain as well as the dense foliage they encountered.The governor at the time encouraged the population to think the mountains could not be passed to discourage escape attempts.This mindset worked for several years.
A former convict, John Wilson, is believed by some historians to have been the first man known to history to have crossed the Blue Mountains.He lived with the aboriginals and returned to Sydney in 1797 and claimed to have moved over 100 miles in a circuit round Sydney.
Wilsons descriptions of the areas were later proven to be fairly accurate but he may not have been recognised as the first one due to the authorities of the time seeking to confuse convicts on the possible escape routes they could use.He was killed by aboriginals after abducting one of their women.