Blue Mountains Explorer Monuments
Archaeology » Heritage sites» Blue Mountains Explorer Monuments
Location
west of Sydney

Country
Australia

Year of Research
1813

Culture
  • The Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, NSW, have been celebrated nationally as the locale of the pioneering 'First Crossing' by the three explorers Gregory Blaxland, William Charles Wentworth and William Lawson in 1813.

  • The area has several long recognised heritage sites, about a twelve in all, ranging from single monuments such as simple rock cairns, to more complex sites thickly populated with elaborate landmark structures and explanatory plaques.

  • Major sites in the Blue Mountains consists of Caley's Repulse, the Explorers' Tree near Katoomba, and Mount York.

  • Other sites and monuments are Mount Blaxland, the Explorers' Lamp at Lawson, the camp site cairn at Glenbrook and the Explorers' Monument at Penrith.

  • These sites are valued as the product of dominant narratives that stays remarkable for their endurance and persistence.

  • The sites are all associated with explorers or explorer myths. The sites are associated with 'original' events or reputed happenings, and with later commemorations and celebrations.