Fourteen journeys over the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, 1813-1841
Mackaness, George, 1882-19681965
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Subject: For the first 25 years of the colony of New South Wales a much dissected eastern spur of the main dividing range proved an impassible barrier to any westward extension of the settlement. Rising steeply from the western bank of the Nepean, flanked on the north by the even steeper ridge of the Kurrajong and on the south by a region of stony rises and tangled gorges, it seemed penetrable only through the cliff-sided valleys of the Grose and Warragmba. Explorer after explorer, however, found these valleys much more difficult than the hills above them. The Grose Valley, indeed, and many of the branch valleys terminate in cliffs as steep as those which border them. It was not until Blaxland or William Lawson devised the plan of climbing the ridge itself and keeping along its top instead of dropping into the valleys that a route across it was found: the spur once traversed to Mount York, the Cox valley could be entered and a passable track discovered over the real main range to the western rivers. To this day only two routes lead west from Sydney - Blaxland's over the Blue Mountains, followed by road and rail and Bell's line over the Kurrajong, and along the northern side of the Grose Valley, which for many years had been a rough stock route, but is now one of the great western highways. The present volume is an attempt to gather and describe the first-hand narratives of members of fourteen parties who recorded their experiences over the track which led to the opening of the great pastoral lands western New South Wales. Inside front cover.
Main title:
Fourteen journeys over the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, 1813-1841 / collected and edited by George Mackaness.
Author:
Imprint:
Sydney ; Melbourne [etc.] : Horwitz-Grahame, [1965]
Collation:
273 p. illus., ports. 25 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographies.
Dewey class:
994.02
Language:
English
BRN:
2107