editor – Page 13 – Simply Australia

11 January 202017 December 2022

There’s a Fire! (song)

Written and sung by Jim Low from the CD, Across the Blue Mountains

11 January 202017 December 2022

There’s a Fire!

written and sung by Jim Low. See the lyrics

Like many parts of Australia, the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney in New South Wales has experienced the savage bushfires sweeping the country. Homes have been destroyed and businesses and livelihoods were lost when fires impacted on the villages in the north and west of the Mountains in the last days of 2019. Thousands of hectares of precious world heritage National Park have been ravaged and sadly countless numbers of our precious wildlife have perished.

Lower Blue Mountains bushfire aftermath [photo © Jim Low]

8 January 2020

BLUE TRAIL 24: RANGE AND CROKER’S FIRE TRAILS

Far South Blue Mountains National Park

From the Taralga to Wombeyan Caves Road, 2WDs or 4WDs can access a fascinating variety of landscapes. Near this trail junction, sunlight filters through the ribbon gums, reflecting into a Lilliputian world of spider webs, colourful fungi and pools.

Reflections in a waterhole down the hill from the Range-Croker’s fire trail junction
[photo: © Christine Davies]

For thousands of years the Gundungarra people inhabited areas of the southern Blue Mountains like this one. Important trading routes were described in legends that reinforced the geographical features by which generations of indigenous people navigated through densely vegetated bushland. The most significant surviving Gundungarra legend, the Gurangatch and Mirrigan story, describes a route from the Wollondilly River to Jenolan Caves and Duckmaloi Walls.

No doubt, stories about many other areas like this one were lost when the European invasion displaced the traditional Gundungarra lifestyle from the southern Blue Mountains. The Croker’s area is like an area north of Medlow Gap where part of the surviving legend is placed – Mirrigan creates a waterhole by forcing his snout upwards through the soil after tunnelling.

Sunlight on a spider web near the Range fire trail [photo: © Christine Davies]

At atmosphere of peace exists here. But the abundance of termite mounds, the intricacy of the spider webs and the constant tumbling of dead or wind affected branches into the waterholes are testament to constant change.

© Don Morison

8 January 20208 January 2020

BLUE TRAIL 23: OLD POST OFFICE AND GRANITE COUNTRY, Hartley

The beautiful old Post Office at Hartley was constructed in the 1840s when this village was one of the most important settlements on the western road from Emu Plains to Bathurst. Its significance declined when bypassed by the first railway in 1869. Later the National Parks and Wildlife Service was able to take over the site and protect the 19th century features.

The old Post Office and Court House (background) define the 19th century dignity of Hartley [photo: © Christine Davies]

In the Greater Blue Mountains, well preserved natural landscapes based on sandstones, shales, limestones and marbles are prominent. Our granite landscapes have been mostly transformed by agriculture, Evans Crown Nature Reserve is a rare exception.

Gerard from Lithgow explores the Kew-y-ahn Heritage Walk (published by kind permission of Gerard’s mother) [photo: © Christine Davies]

Much as it has been influenced by human activities, the granite zone around Old Hartley Post Office remains impressive. In 2013, NPWS opened the Kew-y-ahn Heritage Walk, a short trail giving access to a prominent granite outcrop above the village. The Post Office building itself is now a well patronised café, offering both snacks and lunches. Development of walking tracks to allow better appreciation of the overall site continues.