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. 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. 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. Geologically, it is situated in the central parts of the Sydney Basin.
Major General Lachlan Macquarie, CB was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie served as the fifth Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821, and had a leading role in the social, economic, and architectural development of the colony. He is considered by historians to have had a crucial influence on the transition of New South Wales from a penal colony to a free settlement and therefore to have played a major role in the shaping of Australian society in the early nineteenth century.
The Nepean River, is a major perennial river, located in the south-west and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Nepean River, and, continuing by its downstream name, the Hawkesbury River, almost encircles the metropolitan region of Sydney.
William Cox was an English soldier, known as an explorer, road builder and pioneer in the early period of British settlement of Australia.
The Dharug language, also spelt Darug, Dharuk, and other variants, and also known as the Sydney language, Gadigal language, is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Yuin–Kuric group that was traditionally spoken in the region of Sydney, New South Wales, until it became extinct due to effects of colonisation. It is the traditional language of the Dharug people. The Dharug population has greatly diminished since the onset of colonisation. The term Eora language has sometimes been used to distinguish a coastal dialect from hinterland dialects, but there is no evidence that Aboriginal peoples ever used this term, which simply means "people". Some effort has been put into reviving a reconstructed form of the language.
The Gandangara people, also spelt Gundungara, Gandangarra, Gundungurra and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Their traditional lands include present day Goulburn, Wollondilly Shire, The Blue Mountains and the Southern Highlands.
Appin is a town on the south-west fringe of Sydney in the Macarthur Region in Tharawal country near its boundary with Gandangara country, New South Wales, Australia in Wollondilly Shire. It is situated about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south of Campbelltown and 35 kilometres (22 mi) northwest of Wollongong.
The Oaks is a town in the Macarthur Region of New South Wales, Australia in Wollondilly Shire on the south western edge of the Sydney Basin. The Oaks is located 82 kilometres (51 mi) south-west of Sydney via the Hume Highway, 13 kilometres (8 mi) west of Camden and 290m above sea-level. At the 2016 census, The Oaks and the surrounding area had a population of 2,525.
The Kowmung River, a perennial river that is part of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, is located in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia.
The Battle of Richmond Hill, also known as the Battle of the Hawkesbury and the Richmond Hill Massacre, was a battle of the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars, which were fought between the Indigenous Darug people and the New South Wales Corps.
The Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars (1794–1816) were a series of conflicts where British forces, including armed settlers and detachments of the British Army in Australia, fought against Indigenous clans inhabiting the Hawkesbury River region and the surrounding areas to the west of Sydney. The wars began in 1794, when the British started to construct farms along the river, some of which were established by soldiers.
The Bathurst War (1824) was a war between the Wiradjuri nation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Following the successful Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth expedition to find a route through the "impenetrable" Blue Mountains in 1813, this allowed the colony to expand onto the vast fertile plains of the west.
Bull Cave is a heritage-listed art site at Darling Avenue, Kentlyn, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. It is also known as Bull's Cave and The Bull Cave. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 28 August 2017.
St Helen's Park is a heritage-listed former school, experimental farm, private residence and guesthouse and now homestead located at St Helens Park Drive, St Helens Park, City of Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by George Allen Mansfield and built in 1887 by George Lusted. It is also known as St. Helen's Park and Egypt Farm. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Criminal activity in New South Wales, Australia is combated by the New South Wales Police Force and the New South Wales court system, while statistics about crime are managed by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Modern Australian states and cities, including New South Wales, have some of the lowest crime rates recorded globally with Australia ranked the 13th safest nation and Sydney ranked the 5th safest city globally. As of September 2018 the City of Blacktown (495.1) and City of Penrith (475.7) had the highest rates of violent crime per 100,000 in Sydney. Rural areas have comparatively high crime rates per 100,000 with rural shires such as Walgett Shire (1350.3) and Moree Plains Shire (1236.2) having some of the highest violent crime rates in the state. The overall NSW crime rate has been in steady decline for many years.
From the late 1700s until the end of the 19th century, the British Empire established, expanded and maintained a number of colonies on the continent of Australia. These colonies included New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland. Many of these were initially formed as penal settlements, and all were built on land occupied by Indigenous Australians. In order to keep the large number of transported convicts under control, enforce colonial law and fight the Australian frontier wars, British military elements, including the British Army, were deployed and garrisoned in Australia. From 1790 to 1870 over 30 different regiments of the British Army consisting of a combined total of around 20,000 soldiers were based in the Australian British colonies.
Major James Wallis was an Anglo-Irish military officer who served in the 46th Regiment of Foot. Wallis saw service in Dominica, New South Wales, and India. During his deployment in New South Wales, he commanded a detachment of grenadiers which committed the Appin Massacre of 1816, and was later promoted to the post of Commandant at the convict settlement of Newcastle from 1816 to 1818. Wallis is also noted for producing a number of historically significant sketches and paintings during his colonial military career.
Colebee was a Boorooberongal man of the Dharug people, an Aboriginal Australian people from present-day New South Wales. Colebee and fellow Dharug man Nurragingy received land grants in recognition of their assistance in guiding British military forces in punitive expeditions against insurgent Gandangara and Darkinjung people in 1816.
Cannabaygal, also known as Cannabayagal, Conibigal, Carnimbeigle or Kannabygle, was a warrior of the Gandangara people during the early stages of British colonisation of the Camden region in New South Wales. He was considered as one of the main leaders of local resistance to British occupation in the latter stages of the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars. He was killed in the Appin Massacre during a campaign by James Wallis in 1816 to subjugate the Gandangara people. His corpse was gibbeted in a tree and later beheaded, with his skull being sent to Scotland for anatomical study.
