Blue Mountains walking tracks

The Blue Mountains walking tracks are heritage-listed picnic areas, walking tracks and rest areas located in the Blue Mountains National Park, west of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. They were built from 1880 onwards. The property is owned by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. The facilities were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

History The Blue Mountains National Park regained the top spot as the most popular New South Wales national park for domestic visitors in a 2014 survey. It received 4.2 million visitors in 2014, relegating Royal National Park to second place.Trembath, 2015

Description The following walking tracks form part of the heritage-listed items. The State Heritage Inventory (SHI) number below is the reference to the item number in the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) s.170 Register. Tab No. SHI No. Item name Location Image 3900010 Causeway to Red Hands Cave 3900033 Grotto Tracks 3900043 Florabella Pass and 3900048 Kings Cave Track 3900088 Princes Rock Track 3900099 Den Fenella Track Wentworth Falls 3900112 Jamison Creek Corridor/Darwins Walk Wentworth Falls 3900115 Valley of the Waters Track Wentworth Falls 3900120 National Pass Wentworth Falls 3900138 Federal Pass / 3900140 Giant Stairway Katoomba 3900152 Orphan Rock Track [closed] Katoomba 3900153 Prince Henry Cliff Walk Katoomba/Leura 3900157 Track from Lilianfels Park to Lady Darleys Lookout Katoomba 3900197 O'Sullivan's Road Katoomba 3900215 Grand Canyon Track 3900217 Point Pilcher Track Blackheath/ 3900223 Perrys Lookdown to Blue Gum Forest Blackheath 3900232 Engineers Track Grose Valley (Darling Causeway to Nepean River) 3900241 Bruce's Walk to 3900247 Six Foot Track Katoomba to Jenolan Caves 3900272 Lawsons Long Alley Mount Victoria 3900273 Lockyers Road Mount Victoria 3900276 Berghofers Pass Mount Victoria 3900277 Section of Bells Line of Road 3900282 Kanangra Walls Cattle Track 3900320 Megalong Valley Aboriginal Routes Katoomba 3900321 Mount Victoria Escarpment Complex Mount Victoria 3900328 Mount York Roads Complex Mount Victoria 3900329 Wentworth Falls Complex 3900330 Cox's Road Complex to Mount York 3900331 Parkes Garden Tracks Complex Faulconbridge 3900332 Wolgan Railway Complex Newnes railway which is now a rail trail 3900333 Upper Grose Valley Aboriginal Passes – Complex Blackheath 3900334 Track to Base of Govetts Leap – Complex Blackheath 3900335 Tracks to Ruined Castle – Complex Katoomba 3900336 Grose Valley Cliff Edge – Complex Blackheath

Heritage listing As at 16 January 2017, the overall complex of Blue Mountains regional walking tracks was of National significance. It is distributed among dozens of individually designed cultural landscapes. These landscapes were planned for recreational purposes, at first by wealthy gentlemen on their private estates and later by community based trusts who administered grants from the NSW Government. There exists a full range of original construction types and track fabric and associated features such as shelter sheds, wells, railings and signage from the 1870s private tracks to the efforts of the Blue Mountains National Park Trust in the 1960s.

The blending of man-made and natural features in track construction was done in ways that reflect the aesthetics, technology and environmental values of the time. Many of the constructed features transcend their purely utilitarian functions and have considerable aesthetic appeal. The solutions of the early trustees and track makers to complex problems of design, particularly drainage issues and the use of stone have significant research value today. Due to the proximity of the reserves to Sydney and the early provision of mass transport links between Sydney and the Blue Mountains, the region's walking tracks have been the most significant facilitators of contact between urban Australians and the natural environment.

The Blue Mountains tourist industry grew largely to service people who desired an engagement with nature on the walking tracks. The tracks have been an important factor in the growth of conservation values in the community. Walkers have left a resource of written records, photographs and memories recording their impressions and emotional and spiritual experiences on the tracks that has historic significance as a record of Australians' changing relationships with nature. These relationships continue to evolve after over 100 years of continuous use of many tracks. People walking the tracks today can enjoy feelings of continuity and empathy with the walkers of the past as they use the same historic structures.Smith: 143

Blue Mountains walking tracks was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

See also

Greater Blue Mountains Area

References

Bibliography

Attribution

External links