Ten facts you probably didn’t know about the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia.
- The blue haze, which gives the area its name, comes from little droplets of oil released by eucalyptus trees combining with dust particles and water vapour.
- The mountains part of the name is a complete misnomer – the area is actually a plateau with a few deep incisions.
- Faulconbridge, the home of the famous Norman Lindsay Gallery, has the longest town name in the English language without a letter being repeated.
- The Katoomba Scenic Railway is, according to the Guinness Book Of Records, the steepest railway in the world. Its maximum gradient is 52 degrees.
- Along the Great Western Highway from Katoomba there is a tree that still has the initials of Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson, the first Europeans to cross the Blueys, carved in it.
- The local myth of Govett’s Leap waterfall – that it was named after a bushranger that decided to ride on over instead of being caught – is utter nonsense. The dull truth is that it gets its name from a surveyor.
- The main town in the Blue Mountains, Katoomba, was known as ‘Crushes’ until 1877.
- Conventional wisdom says the village of Leura is supposedly named after the Aboriginal word for ‘lava’. Given the distinct lack of volcanoes in the area, this seems somewhat dubious.
- Gregory Blaxland, the self-styled leader of the expedition across the Blue Mountains, decided to find the route because the Governor of New South Wales wouldn’t allow him to have extra land on the coast for his sheep.
- The area’s traditional July Yulefest began in 1980 after a group of Irish tourists complained about Christmas in Australia being too hot. A local hotel owner offered to recreate the tree and trimmings northern hemisphere Christmas, complete with a snowman.
Copyright David Whitley
