Blue Mountains (New South Wales)

This article is about the mountain range in New South Wales, Australia. For other uses, see Blue Mountains (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Greater Blue Mountains Area, Blue Mountains National Park, or City of Blue Mountains.

Blue Mountains
New South Wales
The Three Sisters sandstone rock formation, one of the region's best-known attractions
Coordinates33°43′05″S 150°18′38″E / 33.71806°S 150.31056°E / -33.71806; 150.31056[1]
Population30,049 (UCL 2021)[2]
Area11,400 km2 (4,401.6 sq mi)
Location50 km (31 mi) NW of Sydney CBD
LGA(s)Blue Mountains
State electorate(s)
Federal division(s)
Localities around Blue Mountains:
Central West Central West Hunter
Central West Blue Mountains Greater Western Sydney
Southern Tablelands Southern Tablelands Macarthur
Blue Mountains Range
Blue Mountains
The characteristic blue haze,
as seen in the Jamison Valley
Highest point
Peakunnamed peak, north-east of Lithgow
Elevation1,189 m (3,901 ft)
AHD
Dimensions
Length96 km (60 mi) NW/SE[3]
Geography
Blue Mountains Range is located in New South Wales
Blue Mountains Range
Blue Mountains Range
Location of the Blue Mountains Range in New South Wales
CountryAustralia
StateNew South Wales
Aboriginal hand stencils in Red Hands Cave, near Glenbrook
Broken china from ruins near Asgard Swamp, where a coal mine was opened in the nineteenth century

The Blue Mountains are a mountainous region and a mountain range located in New South Wales, Australia. The region is considered to be part of the western outskirts of the Greater Sydney area. The region borders on Sydney's main metropolitan area, its foothills starting about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of centre of the state capital, close to Penrith.[4] The public's understanding of the extent of the Blue Mountains is varied, as it forms only part of an extensive mountainous area associated with the Great Dividing Range.[5] As defined in 1970, the Blue Mountains region is bounded by the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers in the east, the Coxs River and Lake Burragorang to the west and south, and the Wolgan and Colo rivers to the north.[6] Geologically, it is situated in the central parts of the Sydney Basin.[7]

The Blue Mountains Range comprises a range of mountains, plateau escarpments extending off the Great Dividing Range about 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) northwest of Wolgan Gap in a generally southeasterly direction for about 96 kilometres (60 mi), terminating at Emu Plains. For about two-thirds of its length it is traversed by the Great Western Highway, the Main Western railway line and the proposed Blue Mountains tunnel.[8] Several established towns are situated on its heights, including Katoomba, Blackheath, Mount Victoria, and Springwood. The range forms the watershed between Coxs River to the south and the Grose and Wolgan rivers to the north.[3] The range contains the Explorer Range and the Bell Range.[9]

Once considered impassable by settlers, the 1813 expedition by Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson opened up the interior to British settlement. Today, the Blue Mountains area includes the local government area of the City of Blue Mountains. Since the early 2010s, the region's biodiversity and infrastructure has been severely affected by massive bushfires of unprecedented size and impact.[10] In 2018 8.4 million people visited the Blue Mountains.[11] The Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands Basalt Forests is a prominent forest community within the ecoregion.[12]

  1. ^ "Mount Piddington". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 6 May 2015. Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Blue Mountains (urban centre and locality)". Australian Census 2021. Edit this at Wikidata
  3. ^ a b "Blue Mountains Range". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 6 May 2015. Edit this at Wikidata
  4. ^ Gregory's New South Wales State Road Map, Map 220, 11th Edition, Gregory's Publishing Company
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Macqueen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Blue Mountains". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Edit this at Wikidata
  7. ^ "Blue Mountains (New South Wales)" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Australia's longest tunnel will save commuters "up to 30 minutes"". 16 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Map of Bell Range, NSW". Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  10. ^ Cox, Lisa; Evershed, Nick (16 January 2020). "'It's heart-wrenching': 80% of Blue Mountains and 50% of Gondwana rainforests burn in bushfires". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  11. ^ Curtin, Jennie (19 August 2019). "More than eight million visited Blue Mountains National Park last year". Blue Mountains Gazette. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  12. ^ Blue Mountains Basalt Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion - profile Office of Environment & Heritage by NSW Government. Retrieved 9 September 2022.