Wentworth Falls, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Wentworth Falls is a town in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales
located 100 kilometres west of Sydney
, and about 8 kilometres east of Katoomba
, Australia
on the Great Western Highway
, with a Wentworth Falls railway station on the Main Western line
. The town is situated at an elevation of 867 metres (2,844.5 ft). At the 2006 census
, Wentworth Falls had a population of 5,650.
. In July 1867, the first railway journey to the Blue Mountains left Penrith
and traveled through to Weatherboard Station, where the train terminated. In 1879, the village took its name from a nearby system of waterfalls, which in turn were named for William Charles Wentworth, one of the men that headed the exploration to cross the mountains in 1813 and a friend of John Jamison.
, Wiradjuri
and Gandangara people. Used as a gathering place for at least 22,000 years, the area contains a variety of cultural features, including engravings, axe-grinding grooves, modified rock pools and an occupation shelter. Ingar Picnic Ground, one of the most scenic picnic grounds in the Blue Mountains, is eight kilometres further east along Murphys Fire Trail. Further south along Kings Tableland are Sunset Lookout and McMahon’s Lookout, both of which provide long views as far south as Lake Burragorang
.
The Kings Tableland area also once hosted a deer park that closed down in the late 1980s, with the site subsequently falling into private ownership. Several deer were sighted around the area for some time until they were culled by National Parks
rangers. This area is also home to a privately-owned observatory
and is the site of the former Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, once a major facility for the treatment of tuberculosis
. Ownership of the site has shifted between Government and various private interests over the decades since it was closed in the 1980s. Sporadic development proposals for the former hospital have been the source of some local concern. The observatory in Hordern Street features three modern telescopes as well as a flat screen planetarium and is open on weekends and during school holiday periods.
Other points of interest and local institutions include the historic Grand View Hotel, the Wentworth Falls School of Arts, the Kedumba Gallery (found within the grounds of the Blue Mountains Grammar School
) and Wentworth Falls Lake, an artificial lake created early in the 20th century to provide water for steam locomotives. This is now a reserve and recreation area. The School of Arts is a popular venue for local community events and theatre productions and also houses the local library. Another landmark is Yester Grange, a heritage home in Yester Street. A sprawling, timber bungalow with extensive verandas, Yester Grange is now used as a function centre for events like wedding receptions and is not open to the public.
On the north side of the town is Pitt Park. The Bathurst Traveller, later renamed Weatherboard Inn, was built here in 1826. The site, adjacent to the railway station, is now the location of the village war memorial. Charles Darwin
was reported to have stayed there in 1836, walking from the inn along Jamison Creek to the cliff’s edge, about which he wrote ‘an immense gulf unexpectedly opens through the trees, with a depth of perhaps 1,500 feet’. The route he took was formally opened as Darwins Walk in 1986 and leads from Wilson Park opposite the School of Arts building to the northern escarpment of the Jamison Valley.
There are many natural lookouts in the area including Breakfast Point Lookout, Princes Rock Lookout, Wentworth Falls Lookout and Rocket Point Lookout. A track through the Valley of the Waters leads to Empress Falls, Sylvia Falls, Lodore Falls, Flat Rock Falls and, near the junction of Jamison and Valley of the Waters Creeks, the sheltered Vera Falls. One of the most popular walks in the area, the National Pass, skirts the top edge of the Valley of the Waters, along a narrow clay stone ledge perched halfway down the cliff, and then ascends the ridge via a series of sandstone steps built by Peter Mulheran and a group known as "The Irish Brigade" in 1908. The Conservation Hut is an information centre and restaurant in Wentworth Falls leased from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and serves as a starting point for several of these walks.
Wentworth Falls hosts several festivals and events, including the Wentworth Falls Autumn Festival in April, the Wentworth Falls Public School Art and Craft Show in May and the Task Force 72
Annual Regatta in either November or December.
Wentworth Falls is home to WFCC or Wentworth Falls Cricket Club. Established in 1892 it is one of the Blue Mountains' longest serving cricket clubs.
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...
located 100 kilometres west of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, and about 8 kilometres east of Katoomba
Katoomba, New South Wales
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. It is on the Great Western Highway 110 kilometres west of Sydney and 39 kilometres south-east of Lithgow. Katoomba railway station is on the...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on the Great Western Highway
Great Western Highway
The Great Western Highway is a highway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs 210 km from Sydney to Bathurst.Starting as Broadway at the intersection of City Road near the fringe of the Sydney CBD, and becoming Parramatta Road to Parramatta itself, the Great Western Highway heads due west from...
, with a Wentworth Falls railway station on the Main Western line
Main Western railway line, New South Wales
The Main Western Railway is a major railway in New South Wales, Australia. It runs through the Blue Mountains, Central West, North West Slopes and the Far West regions.- Description of route :...
. The town is situated at an elevation of 867 metres (2,844.5 ft). At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Wentworth Falls had a population of 5,650.
History
Originally called The Weatherboard after the ‘Weatherboard Inn’ built in 1814, a year later the town was named Jamison’s Valley by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in honour of the colony's leading private citizen, Sir John JamisonJohn Jamison
Sir John Jamison was an important Australian physician, pastoralist, banker, politician, constitutional reformer and public figure....
. In July 1867, the first railway journey to the Blue Mountains left Penrith
Penrith, New South Wales
Penrith is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Penrith is located west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Penrith...
and traveled through to Weatherboard Station, where the train terminated. In 1879, the village took its name from a nearby system of waterfalls, which in turn were named for William Charles Wentworth, one of the men that headed the exploration to cross the mountains in 1813 and a friend of John Jamison.
Description
Kings Tableland, at the south-east corner of Wentworth Falls, contains areas of major archaeological importance, including the Kings Tableland Aboriginal Site. This area is highly significant to the DarugDarug people
The Darug people are a language group of Indigenous Australians, who are traditional custodians of much of what is modern day Sydney. There is some dispute about the extent of the Darug nation. Some historians believe the coastal Eora people were a separate tribe to the Darug...
, Wiradjuri
Wiradjuri
The Wiradjuri are an Indigenous Australian group of central New South Wales.In the 21st century, major Wiradjuri groups live in Condobolin, Peak Hill, Narrandera and Griffith...
and Gandangara people. Used as a gathering place for at least 22,000 years, the area contains a variety of cultural features, including engravings, axe-grinding grooves, modified rock pools and an occupation shelter. Ingar Picnic Ground, one of the most scenic picnic grounds in the Blue Mountains, is eight kilometres further east along Murphys Fire Trail. Further south along Kings Tableland are Sunset Lookout and McMahon’s Lookout, both of which provide long views as far south as Lake Burragorang
Lake Burragorang
Lake Burragorang is the water storage impounded by Warragamba Dam. It collects the waters of the Coxs, Kowmung, Nattai, Wingecarribee, and Wollondilly Rivers. It is the major water storage for Sydney, Australia...
.
The Kings Tableland area also once hosted a deer park that closed down in the late 1980s, with the site subsequently falling into private ownership. Several deer were sighted around the area for some time until they were culled by National Parks
National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales)
The National Parks and Wildlife Service is part of the Office of Environment and Heritage - the main government conservation agency in New South Wales, Australia....
rangers. This area is also home to a privately-owned observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
and is the site of the former Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, once a major facility for the treatment of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. Ownership of the site has shifted between Government and various private interests over the decades since it was closed in the 1980s. Sporadic development proposals for the former hospital have been the source of some local concern. The observatory in Hordern Street features three modern telescopes as well as a flat screen planetarium and is open on weekends and during school holiday periods.
Other points of interest and local institutions include the historic Grand View Hotel, the Wentworth Falls School of Arts, the Kedumba Gallery (found within the grounds of the Blue Mountains Grammar School
Blue Mountains Grammar School
Blue Mountains Grammar School , established in 1918, is an independent school over two campuses, in Wentworth Falls and Valley Heights, New South Wales, Australia. Classes are run from Pre-Kindergarten/Transition to Year 12 . The school is an Anglican, co-educational day school...
) and Wentworth Falls Lake, an artificial lake created early in the 20th century to provide water for steam locomotives. This is now a reserve and recreation area. The School of Arts is a popular venue for local community events and theatre productions and also houses the local library. Another landmark is Yester Grange, a heritage home in Yester Street. A sprawling, timber bungalow with extensive verandas, Yester Grange is now used as a function centre for events like wedding receptions and is not open to the public.
On the north side of the town is Pitt Park. The Bathurst Traveller, later renamed Weatherboard Inn, was built here in 1826. The site, adjacent to the railway station, is now the location of the village war memorial. Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
was reported to have stayed there in 1836, walking from the inn along Jamison Creek to the cliff’s edge, about which he wrote ‘an immense gulf unexpectedly opens through the trees, with a depth of perhaps 1,500 feet’. The route he took was formally opened as Darwins Walk in 1986 and leads from Wilson Park opposite the School of Arts building to the northern escarpment of the Jamison Valley.
There are many natural lookouts in the area including Breakfast Point Lookout, Princes Rock Lookout, Wentworth Falls Lookout and Rocket Point Lookout. A track through the Valley of the Waters leads to Empress Falls, Sylvia Falls, Lodore Falls, Flat Rock Falls and, near the junction of Jamison and Valley of the Waters Creeks, the sheltered Vera Falls. One of the most popular walks in the area, the National Pass, skirts the top edge of the Valley of the Waters, along a narrow clay stone ledge perched halfway down the cliff, and then ascends the ridge via a series of sandstone steps built by Peter Mulheran and a group known as "The Irish Brigade" in 1908. The Conservation Hut is an information centre and restaurant in Wentworth Falls leased from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and serves as a starting point for several of these walks.
Wentworth Falls hosts several festivals and events, including the Wentworth Falls Autumn Festival in April, the Wentworth Falls Public School Art and Craft Show in May and the Task Force 72
Task Force 72
Task Force 72 is an international association of Radio controlled model boat builders, all building in the common scale of 1:72 .- History :...
Annual Regatta in either November or December.
Wentworth Falls is home to WFCC or Wentworth Falls Cricket Club. Established in 1892 it is one of the Blue Mountains' longest serving cricket clubs.
External links
- Blue Mountains, NSW, aerial video around Wentworth Falls