Blue Mountains Australia

The famous mountain range west of Sydney Australia is called the Blue Mountains.Nowdays Sydneys urban sprawl has pushed up to the base of the edge of the mountain range near at penrith and also in the 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 rugged Mountainous area also includes the City of Hawkesbury, City of Blue Mountains, and the small City of Oberon and remote western city of Lithgow which to this day is hostile country outside the city.

It is well known that there were thousands of years of habitation before white settlers moved into the area.They have left us their art as a reminder of their presence.The well known hand stencil art is in Red Hands Cave at.We have also found axe sharpening areas.

The local koori`s mainly used two different routes to move round the rugged hills and valleys.The trails were on the bilpin ridge and the other was near the present day Cox`s river.The river paths were easier and lead onwards to the farms of the kanimbla valley.

Initially, european settlers considered the sandstone mountains impossible to penetrate due to the variety of extreme weather conditions encountered as well as the thickness of the vegetative canopy.The myth of the difficulty was encouraged by the authorities in the hope of scaring the convicts away from thoughts of escaping.

A released former convict, John p Wilson, is now believed by many historians to have actually been the first white man to have managed to crossed the Blue Mountains.He also lived with local koori`s and came back in 1797.He is the forgotten man in Australian history books.

J.P.Wilson descriptions of the wild areas he supposedly visited later proved correct to explorers but he was never offically recognised at the time due to perceived class distinctions and the realistic desire of the authorities at the time who did not want to give convicts any hope of escape.Wilson was murdered by koori`s after stealing a local women.