Southern Highlands, New South Wales - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Southern Highlands, also locally referred to as the Highlands, is a geographical region and district in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Australia and is 110 km south-west of Sydney. The entire region is under the local government area

Local Government Area

A local government area is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory....

of the Wingecarribee Shire. The region is also considered a wine region

New South Wales wine

New South Wales wine is Australian wine produced in the state of New South Wales, Australia. New South Wales is Australia's most populous state and its wine consumption far out paces the region's wine production...

.

The region specifically is the area centered around the commercial towns of Mittagong

Mittagong, New South Wales

Mittagong is a town located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. At the 2006 census, Mittagong had a population of 7,460 people. The town can be seen as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. The town is close to Bowral, Berrima,...

, Bowral

Bowral, New South Wales

-Attractions:Bowral is perhaps the best known of the towns and villages of the Southern Highlands, and in recent years has become the commercial centre of the Wingecarribee Shire. Bowral is known for its boutiques, antique stores, gourmet restaurants, and rich coffee culture.Bowral is home to the...

, Moss Vale

Moss Vale, New South Wales

Moss Vale is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. It has a population of 7,339 and is sited on the Illawarra Highway, which connects to Wollongong and the Illawarra coast via Macquarie Pass...

, Bundanoon

Bundanoon, New South Wales

Bundanoon is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. In 2006, Bundanoon had a population of 2,035 people...

and Robertson

Robertson, New South Wales

Robertson is a small town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town is located on the edge of an elevated plateau about 35 km from the coast. At the 2006 census, Robertson had a population of 1,206 people.Robertson is known for its high annual...

as well as the historic town of Berrima

Berrima, New South Wales

Berrima is an historic village in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The village, once a major town, is located on the Old Hume Highway between Canberra and Sydney. It was previously known officially as the Town of Berrima...

. Smaller villages like Burradoo, Colo Vale

Colo Vale, New South Wales

Colo Vale is a Northern Village of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. It is situated 2 km north-west of Aylmerton, 5 km from the Hume Highway and 12 km drive to Mittagong....

, Yerrinbool

Yerrinbool, New South Wales

Yerrinbool is a Northern Village of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in the Wingecarribee Shire, and is accessible from the Hume Highway and is about 12 km drive from nearby Mittagong. It is 6–8 km by foot to Hill Top as the crow flies. It was previously officially...

, Exeter, Welby

Welby, New South Wales

Welby is a small town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town is located 1 km west of Mittagong and houses the local Southern Highlands RTA office. At the 2006 census, Welby had a population of 777....

and many more that make up the Wingecarribee Shire are spread in between and around these main centres and serve mostly as residential areas.

The Highlands geographically sits between 500m and 900m above sea level on the Great Dividing Range

Great Dividing Range

The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...

. Moreover, like other regions along this plateau such as the Blue Mountains to the north and the Australian Alps

Australian Alps

The Australian Alps are the highest mountain ranges of mainland Australia. They are located in southeastern Australia and straddle the Australian Capital Territory, south-eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria...

to the south, the Southern Highlands is known for its cool temperate climate.

The Southern Highlands as a region is part of the larger Capital Country Region

Capital Country

Capital Country is the name of one of the 16 regions of New South Wales, Australia. This geographical division is made for improving commerce, specifically tourism, in the state....

with the Highlands forming the northern part of the region and the Southern Tablelands

Southern Tablelands

The Southern Tablelands is a geographic area of the State of New South Wales, Australia. This area is located west of the Great Dividing Range.The area is characterised by flat country which has generally been extensively cleared and used for grazing purposes...

forming the southern part of the region.

Demographics

The Southern Highland's council

Local Government Area

, Wingecarribee Shire, is home to approximately 44,379 (2006) residents and is growing at a rate of 2.1% per annum. Majority of the residents (84.5%) are Australian-born with the minority of the population being (15%) born overseas, primarily Europe. The population density of the Highlands is 16.5 persons/km².

The centre of population of the Highlands is based in the twin-towns of Bowral

Bowral, New South Wales

and Mittagong

Mittagong, New South Wales

which is home to a population of approximately 19, 500.

Illawarra Fly Tree Top Walk, Robertson

The Illawarra Fly Tree Top Walk, also known as Illawarra Fly is located south-east of Robertson

Robertson, New South Wales

in the area known as Knights Hill. The facility is a 500m long and 25m high walk facility that opened in mid 2008. The project is similar to the Otway Fly Tree Top Walk in Victoria, Australia. The project consists of a 1500m walk. Moreover, 500m of the 1500m walk is 25m high among the Blackwoods

Australian Blackwood

Acacia melanoxylon, commonly known as the Australian Blackwood, is an Acacia species native in eastern Australia. The species is also known as Sally Wattle, Lightwood, Hickory, Mudgerabah, Tasmanian Blackwood or Black Wattle . This tree species grows fast and tall, up to 45 m height...

and many other trees of the temperate rainforest of the Budderoo National Park

Budderoo National Park

Budderoo is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 99 km southwest of Sydney, best known for the timber boardwalk through the Minnamurra rainforest...

and Illawarra Escarpment

Illawarra escarpment

The Illawarra Escarpment is the fold created cliffs and plateau eroded outcrop mountain range west of the Illawarra coastal plain south of Sydney, Australia, enclosing the region known as the Illawarra which stretches from Stanwell Park in the north to Kiama, Gerringong and the Shoalhaven river in...

. In addition, the project has a 45m high lookout along with the walk that offers panoramic views far south to Bass Point and as far as north to Bundeena

Bundeena, New South Wales

Bundeena is a village on the outskirts of southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bundeena is located 29km south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the Sutherland Shire....

which is part of south of the Sutherland Shire

Sutherland Shire

The Sutherland Shire is a Local Government Area in the Southern Sydney region of Sydney, Australia. Geographically, it is the area to the south of Botany Bay and the Georges River...

. Other views include Wollongong, Lake Illawarra

Lake Illawarra

Lake Illawarra is a large coastal lagoon located in the city of Wollongong about 100 km south of Sydney, New South Wales.The lake receives runoff from the Illawarra escarpment through Macquarie Rivulet and Mullet Creek, and has a narrow tidal entrance to the sea at Windang...

, Tasman Sea

Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...

, Shellharbour, Kiama and other localities of the South Coast

South Coast, New South Wales

The South Coast refers to the narrow coastal belt from Sydney in the north to the border with Victoria in the south in the south-eastern part of the State of New South Wales, Australia. It is bordered to the west by the coastal escarpment of the Southern Tablelands, which is largely covered by a...

, as well as various localities of the Southern Highlands, the Illawarra Escarpment

Illawarra escarpment

and Budderoo National Park

Budderoo National Park

Budderoo is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 99 km southwest of Sydney, best known for the timber boardwalk through the Minnamurra rainforest...

Fitzroy Falls

Fitzroy Falls is a waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

found in the Morton National Park

Morton National Park

Morton is a national park in New South Wales , 170 km southwest of Sydney.The most notable attractions are the Fitzroy Falls, just off the main road from the Highlands to Kangaroo Valley and Pigeon House Mountain west of Milton. The park consists mostly of a flat plateau dissected by steep...

near the Highlands' village of the same name, Fitzroy Falls

Fitzroy Falls, New South Wales

Fitzroy Falls is a locality in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. It was previously known as Yarrunga but was renamed after the 81-metre waterfall located there...

, and located near Kangaroo Valley

Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales

Kangaroo Valley is a valley along the Kangaroo River in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia, located west of the seaside in the City of Shoalhaven...

. The Fitroy Falls reserve offers lookouts of the waterfall and of panoramic views of the Morton National Park

Morton National Park

. The waterfall and village is located near the lake Fitzroy Reservoir.
The waterfall's and lake's reserve includes lookouts, bushwalking trails and picnic areas. (For more information, see Fiztroy Falls
Fitzroy Falls, New South Wales
Fitzroy Falls is a locality in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. It was previously known as Yarrunga but was renamed after the 81-metre waterfall located there...

).

Joadja

Joadja, New South Wales

Joadja is a ghost town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire.It was a thriving mining town between 1870–1911. It was home for approximately 1100 people, many of Scots ancestry, and was connected to the nearby town of Mittagong by a narrow gauge railway that...

is a historic abandoned ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

about 32 km west of Mittagong

Mittagong, New South Wales

. The town was established in the 1870s by the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company as Joadja valley's walls contained a vast reserve of shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

. Notably, the town back in its time was one of the most populous towns in the Highlands. However, at the turn of the century when the shale ran out, the town's population began to dwindle and the town would be eventually abandoned by the early 1900s.

Joadja at its height had a post office, theatre, general store, bakery, school of arts, refinery, railway line, miner's cottages and many other buildings. Notably, it was one of the first rural towns in New South Wales

New South Wales

to be connected to the telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

.

Joadja's legacy still remains with many of the historical buildings remaining in ruin such as some of the miner's cottages, a school house, church, cemetery and refinery devices such as shale ovens. These ovens are protected and are on a World Heritage listing.

(For more information, see Joadja
Joadja, New South Wales
Joadja is a ghost town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire.It was a thriving mining town between 1870–1911. It was home for approximately 1100 people, many of Scots ancestry, and was connected to the nearby town of Mittagong by a narrow gauge railway that...

).

Wineries

The Highlands in the last decade has become a small yet significantly growing wine

New South Wales wine

and cellar door

Cellar door

The English compound noun cellar door is commonly used as an example of a word or phrase which is beautiful in terms of phonaesthetics with no regard for semantics...

region in New South Wales

New South Wales

. It is believed that temperate climate, high annual rainfall as well as quality basalt soil makes it a perfect place for Viticulture

Viticulture

Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...

. There are many reputable wineries and vineyards that are located in the Highlands such as Centennial Winery, Bou-saada Winery, Cuttaway Hill Estate Winery, Southern Highland Wines, Eling Forest Winery and Blue Metal Winery. Some of these wineries have won awards nationally as well as internationally for the optimum quality of their wines.

The cultivated that are primarily grown in the region is chardonnay

Chardonnay

Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make white wine. It is originated from the Burgundy wine region of eastern France but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand...

, riesling

Riesling

Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...

and sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon blanc

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French word sauvage and blanc due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in South West France., a possible descendant of savagnin...

Berrima

Berrima, New South Wales

is a village located 10 km west of Bowral

Bowral, New South Wales

and 14 km south west of Mittagong

Mittagong, New South Wales

that once served as the main town of the Highlands. Notably, the region of Bowral, Mittagong and Berrima and various villages including the Northern Villages used to be known as the Berrima District. Berrima contains many historic buildings including the historical Berrima Gaol and Courthouse which is in use today and many other historical buildings.

(For more information, see Berrima
Berrima, New South Wales
Berrima is an historic village in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The village, once a major town, is located on the Old Hume Highway between Canberra and Sydney. It was previously known officially as the Town of Berrima...

)

Bradman Museum, Bowral

Bradman Museum is a tribute museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

to Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman who grew up in and spent his life in Bowral

Bowral, New South Wales

until his death. The museum contains artifacts of Bradman's life and also serves as a museum of cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

and contains historical cricket memorabilia. The museum is located adjacent to Bradman Oval where the Australian Cricket Team

Australian cricket team

The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...

play a friendly game annually.

Manor Houses

The Southern Highlands has a reputation of being an upscale area due to its upscale-style accommodation which include reputable resorts such as Craigieburn, Briars, Berida Manor House and Peppers Manor House. Each of these places are historical and have an historic significance to the local area.

Bowral CBD

Bowral

Bowral, New South Wales

is considered the commercial centre of the Highlands and may be the most well-known towns of the Highlands. Bowral is well known for its boutiques, rich coffee culture

Coffee culture

Coffee culture describes a social atmosphere or series of associated social behaviors that depends heavily upon coffee, particularly as a social lubricant. The term also refers to the diffusion and adoption of coffee as a widely consumed stimulant by a culture...

, gourmet

Gourmet

Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...

restaurants, Corbett Gardens

History of Bowral

Bowral is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It has a history spanning nearly 200 years.- Pre-colonial times :The Bowral area during pre-colonial times was a part of land that belonged to the Tharawal Aboriginal Tribe...

and renowned Springetts Arcade

History of Bowral

. The town is also home to the Sir Donald Bradman or Bradman Museum.

Brigadoon in Bundanoon

Brigadoon is a cultural Scottish Festival that occurs one day annually in April at Bundanoon every year. The festival celebrates Highland

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

Scottish culture where Bundanoon becomes the fictional Scottish town of Brigadoon

Brigadoon

Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Songs from the musical, such as "Almost Like Being in Love" have become standards....

. Festivities of the day include; massive band parades playing various Scottish instruments such as bagpipes

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

; Scottish dancing such as Highland dancing and scottish country dance

Scottish country dance

A Scottish country dance is a form of social dance involving groups of mixed couples of dancers tracing progressive patterns according to a predetermined choreography...

; and highland games

Highland games

Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &Highland games are events held throughout the &(-è_çà in Scotland and other countries as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain...

such as caber toss

Caber toss

The caber toss is a traditional Irish athletic event practised at the Irish Highland Games involving the tossing of a large wooden pole called a caber. It is said to have developed from the need to toss logs across narrow chasms to cross them. In Irishtown the caber is usually made from a Larch tree...

and stone put

Stone put

The stone put is one of the main Scottish heavy athletic events at modern-day Highland games gatherings. Similar to the shot put, the stone put more frequently uses an ordinary stone or rock instead of a steel ball...

. In addition, Scottish cuisine

Scottish cuisine

Scottish cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with Scotland. It has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, but shares much with wider European cuisine as a result of foreign and local influences both ancient and modern...

is available during the festival such as Scots pies

Scottish cuisine

and haggis

Haggis

Haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' , minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach.Haggis is a kind...

Tulip Time in Bowral

Tulip Time is a historical flower festival

Flower Festival

"Flower Festival" is the artists first compilation album with a spring theme. The CD has warm pieces of music by artists who have matched their songs to the theme, the season of flowers...

in Bowral where nearly 100,000 tulips that are planted in Bowral's Corbett Gardens

History of Bowral

bloom into flowers in late September and early October. The first festival started in 1961. The festival usually lasts 14 days and includes various activities such as band parades, house and garden fairs, food and wine fairs and many other activities.

The festival donates proceeds to various charities and this year will be sponsoring Westmead Children's Hospital. In the past, the festival has supported local churches, hospitals, youth centres, elderly centres and disadvantaged people of the community.

Small Events

Wingello

Wingello, New South Wales

Wingello is a village in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It is about equidistant between Sydney, the capital of NSW, and Canberra, the nation’s capital. It has a station on CityRail's Southern Highlands line...

hosts Sled Dog

Dogsled racing

Sled dog racing is a winter dog sport most popular in the Arctic regions of the United States, Canada, Russia, and some European countries. It involves the timed competition of teams of sleddogs that pull a sled with the dog driver or musher standing on the runners...

Trials in June.

Newspapers

The Southern Highland News The local tri-weekly newspaper based in Bowral
Bowral, New South Wales
-Attractions:Bowral is perhaps the best known of the towns and villages of the Southern Highlands, and in recent years has become the commercial centre of the Wingecarribee Shire. Bowral is known for its boutiques, antique stores, gourmet restaurants, and rich coffee culture.Bowral is home to the...

. It was first established in 1958. It is owned by Fairfax's
Fairfax Media
Fairfax Media Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The group's operations include newspapers, magazines, radios and digital media operating in Australia and New Zealand. Fairfax Media was founded by the Fairfax family as John Fairfax and Sons, later to become John...

Rural Press
Rural Press
Rural Press Limited was an Australian media company which owned approximately 170 newspaper and magazine titles, The Canberra Times being the most prominent. These were predominantly in rural Australia, though it also owned a number of agricultural publications in the United States and New Zealand...

. It caters for the entire Wingecarribee Shire.
The Highlands Post The free local advertising newspaper that is owned and run by Southern Highland News. It is delivered to all villages and towns of the entire Wingecarribee Shire.

Radio

Highland FM (previously 2WKT Radio)107.1 FM. The local FM community radio station that is based in Bowral
Bowral, New South Wales
-Attractions:Bowral is perhaps the best known of the towns and villages of the Southern Highlands, and in recent years has become the commercial centre of the Wingecarribee Shire. Bowral is known for its boutiques, antique stores, gourmet restaurants, and rich coffee culture.Bowral is home to the...

.
2ST Radio 102.9 FM. A commercial radio station that is based in Bowral
Bowral, New South Wales
-Attractions:Bowral is perhaps the best known of the towns and villages of the Southern Highlands, and in recent years has become the commercial centre of the Wingecarribee Shire. Bowral is known for its boutiques, antique stores, gourmet restaurants, and rich coffee culture.Bowral is home to the...

and Nowra
Nowra, New South Wales
Nowra is a city in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. Located SSW and approximately by road south of the state capital of Sydney, it has an estimated population together with its twin-town of Bomaderry of 34,479. It is also the seat and commercial centre of the City of Shoalhaven...

.
2WYR92.5FM 92.5 FM. The local community Youth radio station that is based in Moss Vale
Moss Vale, New South Wales
Moss Vale is a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. It has a population of 7,339 and is sited on the Illawarra Highway, which connects to Wollongong and the Illawarra coast via Macquarie Pass...

.

External links

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