Bruce's Walk is a bush track in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 100 kilometres west of Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.
Bruce's Walk is a bush track in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 100 kilometres west of Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.
Bruce's Walk originally began as a maintenance track in 1931. The Railway Department had agreed to supply electricity to the Blue Mountains Shire Council from the power station at Lithgow and a transmission line was put through from Blackheath to Lawson, with a track to provide maintenance access. The line went south from Blackheath, passed a little west of the Grand Canyon, through the bush east of Medlow Bath, across the ridges north of Katoomba, Leura and Wentworth Falls, across the gullies on the fringes of Bullaburra and into Lawson. The authorities then decided to promote the maintenance track as a walking trail, which was duly opened on 21 November 1931. The surveyor who planned the track was A.Bruce, as a result of which the track eventually became known as Bruce's Walk.
A pamphlet was published to publicise the walk, which passed through a variety of scenery, including glens and ridges. However, from World War II onwards, the track was forgotten and neglected. Parts of the track were also blocked off when the council constructed Lake Greaves in 1942 as a local water supply. Much later, however, a local walker named Dick Rushton found a copy of the pamphlet published in 1931 and set out to clear and mark the track. In 1980 he led a party of walkers along the section of track between Bullaburra and Wentworth Falls, and in 1983 he created a written guide to the track.
By 1986, Bruce's Walk had come to the attention of two other walkers, Jim Smith and Wilf Hilder, who organised a group of volunteers to clear the track between Bullaburra and Wentworth Falls. In the process, they found many artefacts and features, including signs, shelter caves, seats and picnic tables. This part of the track was officially opened on 24 May 1986, by Alderman David Lawton. The opening was attended by 118 people, including Dick Rushton, who was by then eighty years old. [1] (This opening was condemned by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Mayor of the Blue Mountains City Council.) Other stretches of the track, from Wentworth Falls to Medlow Bath, were also cleared by the volunteers and opened later in 1986. [2] The track, however, is still patchy and largely without signposts, and is not shown on the topographic map for the area. [3]
The Blue Mountains are a mountainous region and a mountain range located in New South Wales, Australia. The region borders on Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of centre of the state capital, close to the major suburb of 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. Officially 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.
Katoomba is the chief town of the City of Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, and the administrative headquarters of Blue Mountains City Council. Katoomba is situated on the Great Western Highway 110 km (68 mi) west of Sydney and 39 km (24 mi) south-east of Lithgow. Katoomba railway station is on the Main Western line.
The Blue Mountains National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 267,954-hectare (662,130-acre) national park is situated approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Sydney, and the park boundary is quite irregular as it is broken up by roads, urban areas and inholdings. Despite the name mountains, the area is an uplifted plateau, dissected by a number of larger rivers. The highest point in the park is Mount Werong at 1,215 metres (3,986 ft) above sea level; while the low point is on the Nepean River at 20 metres (66 ft) above sea level as it leaves the park.
Blackheath is an Australian town located near the highest point of the Blue Mountains, between Katoomba and Mount Victoria in New South Wales. The town's altitude is about 1,065 metres (3,494 ft) AHD and it is located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) west north-west of the Sydney central business district, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north-west of Katoomba, and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) south-east of Lithgow.
The Jamison Valley forms part of the Coxs River canyon system in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. It is situated approximately 100 kilometres west of Sydney, capital of New South Wales, and a few kilometres south of Katoomba, the main town in the Blue Mountains.
Lawson is a town in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Great Western Highway between Hazelbrook in the north east and Bullaburra in the west. Lawson has a station on the Main Western line. The town is also served by a public swimming pool and over the years has developed into the commercial hub of the mid-mountains area, which spans from Linden to Bullaburra, boasting a significant industrialised area as well as a shopping centre located on the south-eastern side of the highway.
Medlow Bath is an Australian small town located near the highest point of the Blue Mountains, between Katoomba and Blackheath. Its altitude is about 1,050 metres (3,440 ft) AHD and it is about 115 kilometres (71 mi) west-north-west of the Sydney central business district and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north-west of Katoomba. At the 2016 census, Medlow Bath had a population of 611 people.
The City of Blue Mountains is a local government area of New South Wales, Australia, governed by the Blue Mountains City Council. The city is located in the Blue Mountains range west of Sydney.
Wentworth Falls is a town in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, situated approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of the Sydney central business district, and about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) east of Katoomba, Australia on the Great Western Highway, with a Wentworth Falls railway station on the Main Western line. The town is at an elevation of 867 metres (2,844 ft) AHD . At the 2016 census, Wentworth Falls had a population of 6,076.
Leura is a suburb in the City of Blue Mountains local government area that is located 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the series of small towns stretched along the Main Western railway line and Great Western Highway that bisects the Blue Mountains National Park. Leura is situated adjacent to Katoomba, the largest centre in the upper mountains, and the two towns merge along Leura's western edge.
Bullaburra is a small town in the state of New South Wales, Australia, in the City of Blue Mountains. It is one of the towns that stretch along the route of the Main Western railway line and Great Western Highway which pass over the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. Bullaburra used to have a service station but it was demolished in 2008. Bullaburra is an Aboriginal word meaning clear day.
Medlow Bath railway station is a heritage-listed railway station located on the Main Western line in Medlow Bath in the City of Blue Mountains local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by NSW Government Railways and built from 1902 to 1922. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The station opened on 21 January 1880 as Browns Siding Pulpit Hill, and was renamed Medlow on 1 March 1883 and Medlow Bath on 1 October 1903.
Blackheath railway station is a heritage-listed former railway bridge and now railway station located on the Main Western line in Blackheath in the City of Blue Mountains local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed and built by NSW Government Railways and built from 1897 to 1985. It is also known as the Blackheath Railway Station Group. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The station opened on 28 December 1869.
Mount Solitary, a mountain that is part of the Blue Mountains Range, a spur off the Great Dividing Range, is situated within the Blue Mountains National Park, New South Wales, Australia. Mount Solitary is located approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Sydney, and a few kilometres south of Katoomba, the main town in the Blue Mountains.
The 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains was the expedition led by Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth, which became the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales by European settlers. The crossing enabled the settlers to access and use the land west of the mountains for farming, and made possible the establishment of Australia's first inland settlement at Bathurst.
Joseph Bennett & Son began publication of The Blackheath Beacon in November 1930 and ceased publication with its twentieth issue on 27 March 1931. It was published in Blackheath.
The Blue Mountains Library is a network of six branch libraries located within the City of Blue Mountains Council administrative area.
Medlow Dam is a heritage-listed major gated concrete-walled arch dam across the Adams Creek in the Blue Mountains region, located at Beauchamp Road, Medlow Bath in the City of Blue Mountains local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The dam was designed and built in 1907 by the NSW Department of Public Works. The dam's purpose includes is primarily for the potable water supply of the upper Blue Mountains region. The impounded reservoir is called Medlow Bath Reservoir. The dam is also known as Medlow Bath Dam, Lake Medlow Dam, Adams Creek Dam and Medlow Bath Reservoir. The property is owned by Sydney Water, a state-owned corporation of the Government of New South Wales. The dam was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.