A RICH AND COLOURFUL HERITAGE
The Heritage of the Blue Mountains region falls into three categories: Aboriginal, Convict and Colonial. All three are abundantly rich, intensely fascinating and delightfully tangible. With protected Aboriginal sites, amazing convict relics and some of Australia's oldest surviving buildings, the Blue Mountains is a Heritage novel you won't want to put down.

ABORIGINAL
The late Australian author Kit Denton's poem 'There is a Language spoken here' paints a mystical picture of a timeless Blue Mountains. His words excite the spirit and evoke all of the emotions. The Wonderland sincerely thanks Kit for allowing us to publish this beautiful work.

There is a language spoken here
As old as mammoths, and as strange.
There are words and phrases here
First Spoken when an early dawn
Came green and smoke-shot on this mountain range
Thrust from the furnace of the world,
Heaved up in a fantastic fiery yawn
And thrown and hurled into the sky to cool.
It is the language of this land
And much of it is spoken without words
The stick-men understood; some understand even today,
Some of the last-left traces
Of the Kedumba men and others,
Sometimes you see, when broad black television faces
When they speak true and you feel the glowing heat, find the fire within, know that they are brothers.
That man, these tribes, this land - a family,
The old, the first born tongue is clear,
Its consonants are now
As they have always been, rung
From rough rock, sounded like bells
And timpanis and gongs
From craig faces and great trees and wells
Of water in long gorges, billabongs
And clear and pebble-clicking creeks,
Fire -grass and tinder-paper leaves
Crackle and rustle in the ancient tongue
This mountain country speaks
And spoke when the idea of Time was green;
And still will speak when all of Time has been.

The Mystical Land of Gondwana
Once upon a time - in the mystical land of Gondwana - everything was beautiful, peaceful and pristine. Some 150 million years after their fiery creation, Gondwana's timeless Blue Mountains are little different. Her massive canyons, towering escarpments, lush rainforests and fertile valleys still fulfill their priceless promise of serenity and splendour.
As the Aboriginal stickmen knew 40,000 years ago, the Blue Mountains are one of the world's most precious places and her renowned World Heritage Wilderness is one of Australia's national treasures.
It took 25 years of colonial settlement for the explorers to find a trail across what was then called 'the impenetrable barrier' of the Blue Mountains. It will take you just 90 minutes to follow their footsteps to the top - then a few fabulous days to see, feel, smell and touch all her many wonders.

The Legend of the Three Sisters
The Mountains' most famous site of Aboriginal significance comprises the world famous icons of the Three Sisters - a rock formation viewed and photographed each year by millions of visitors. Below is the popular legend.

Long ago in the Blue Mountains there lived three little Aboriginal sisters. They were Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo, whose Witch Doctor father was called Tyawan. Only one creature was feared by all - the Bunyip who lived in a deep hole.
When Tyawan had to pass the hole, he would leave his daughters safely on the cliff behind a rocky wall. One day, waving goodbye to his daughters, he descended the cliff steps. On top of the cliff a big centipede suddenly appeared and frightened Meenhi, who threw a stone at it.

The stone rolled over the cliff and crashed into the valley.
Birds, animals and fairies stopped still as the rocks behind the three sisters split open, leaving them on a thin ledge. The angry Bunyip emerged to see the terrified sisters in the valley,
Tyawan saw the Bunyip close to his daughters so he pointed his magic bone at the girls and turned them to stone. They would be safe there until the Bunyip had gone and then Tyawan would return them to their former selves.
The Bunyip then chased Tyawan who found himself trapped, so he changed himself into a Lyre Bird. Everyone was safe, but Tyawan had dropped his magic bone. After the Bunyip had gone, Tyawan searched and searched for his bone - and he is still searching.
The Three Sisters stand silently watching him from their ledge, hoping he'll find the bone and turn them back to Aboriginal girls.

As you look at the Three Sisters, you can hear Tyawan - the Lyre Bird - calling his daughters as his search for the lost bone continues.

ABORIGINAL SITES
All Aboriginal sites in the Blue Mountains are controlled by the National Parks & Wildlife Service of NSW which, in order to protect them, unfortunately only permits one important site to remain open. This is Red Hands Cave in the National Park at Glenbrook.

ABORIGINAL EXPERIENCE
Just north of Penrith, Muru Mittigar Aboriginal Cultural Centre is a true indigenous experience with a cultural museum, native nursery, art gallery and retail shop - giving visitors the opportunity to participate and interact with members of the Aboriginal community.
The museum shows visitors the tribal areas, the diversity of Aboriginal culture, the local Dharug tribe, Aboriginal art and traditional artefacts, while the outdoor amphitheatre displays entertaining and informative rituals of Aboriginal tribal dance, with guests invited to perform. Didgeridoo and boomerang throwing workshops are a significant part of the Muru Mittigar experience.
The nursery specialises in growing indigenous native provenance stock, with many plants used for rehabilitation at Penrith Lakes.

CONVICT
The famous explorers Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson - who successfully found a route accross the Blue Mountains in 1813 - were accompanied by convict labour.
The penal colony of the mainland - then known only as New South Wales - was home to thousands of felons who had been transported 'Downunder' from Great Britain to serve their time either working for the Government or as free labour for wealthy gentry.
As Sydney Town grew, the need for grazlng and farmland became imperative to the colony's very survival. Hence the crossing of the Mountains had been vital as it opened up millions of acres of fertile land. Convicts then played an enormous role in the development of all forms of infrastructure west of the Great Divide.
Chain gangs - under the watchful eyes of British soldiers - toiled in the sun and freezing winters to build and maintain the Coxs Road over the Mountains to Bathurst. Many fine relics of this harsh era are readily found today.

The Wonderland's Touring Guide (elsewhere on this website) will take you on a tantalising journey along Coxs Road. But to sum up, you can see the entire village of Historic Hartley with its imposing sandstone courthouse; old gunpowder storage caves at Woodford; the beautiful convict built Lennox Bridge at Lapstone; amazingly preserved sections of Coxs Road at Linden and Mt York (where convict pick marks are clearly visible); and alleged convict graves adjacent to the Explorers Marked Tree near Katoomba at Pulpit Hill - so named because religious services were conducted there for convicts on Sundays.

COLONIAL
In tandem with the convicts, large colonial properties were developed in the Mountains from the early 1820s; the oldest surviving group of buildings being those of what was known as the Woodford Academy between Springwood and Hazelbrook. The oldest surviving single building is Collitt's Inn (1823) at the base of Mt York in Hartley Vale. Several colonial Governors, including the famous Mr Lachlan Macquarie, stayed there on their travels.

Nearby, Hartley Historic Village is without doubt the Mountains' and Australia's finest example of colonial heritage, dating to the 1840s.

As the Blue Mountains developed, wealthy businessmen and landowners built some spectacular homes and hotels, mainly at the top of the range. Displaying beautiful colonial architectural heritage are famous propereties such as the Carrington Hotel at Katoomba; the Hydro Majestic Hotel, The Chalet Guesthouse and the Old Post Office - all at Medlow Bath; the old Fairfax home and the Hotel Imperial at Mt Victoria; the Comet Inn at Hartley Vale; Caves House at Jenolan; the Norman Lindsay Gallery & Museum at Faulconbridge and Abercrombie House just outside Bathurst.

Heritage in the western foothills, at Lithgow, also embraces the fascinating ruins of Australia's first blast furnace, plus the glorious Esbank House and also the towering sandstone viaducts of the world renowned Zig Zag Steam Railway. On the edge of Bathurst you'll find the amazing old gold towns of Hill End and Sofala. Many of the fabulous Gold Rush era buildings remain intact, adding yet more value to our region's priceless and colourful Heritage.

Photos: Historic Hartley Courthouse, Red Hands Cave at Glenbrook, the Carrington Hotel at Katoomba and Arch Vale Trout Farm at Lithgow.