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Welcome to the City of Blue
Mountains website.
The Blue Mountains is a
mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia. It
borders on Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills
starting approximately 50 kilometres west of the
state capital. The area begins on the west side of
the Nepean River and extends westward as far as
Cox's River.
Consisting mainly of a sandstone
plateau, the area is dissected by gorges up to 760
metres deep. The highest point of the range is 1,190
metres above sea level. A large part of the Blue
Mountains is incorporated into the Greater Blue
Mountains Area World Heritage Site, consisting of
seven national park areas and a conservation
reserve.
The Blue Mountains area includes
the local government areas of the City of Blue
Mountains, the City of Hawkesbury, the City of
Lithgow and Oberon.
Demographics
According
to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there:
- Were 75,770 people as at 30
June 2006, the 28th largest Local Government
Area in New South Wales. It was equal to 1.1% of
the New South Wales population of 6,827,694
- Was a fall of 505 people
over the year to 30 June 2006. It detracted 0.9%
from the 58,753 increase in the population of
New South Wales
- Was, in percentage terms, a
decline of 0.7% in the number of people over the
year to 30 June 2006. In New South Wales the
population grew by 0.9%
- Was an increase in
population over the 10 years to 30 June 2006 of
890 people or 1.2% (0.1% in annual average
terms), the 95th highest rate of a Local
Government Area in New South Wales. In New South
Wales the population grew by 622,966 or 10%
(1.0% in annual average terms) over the same
period.
Main towns/villages
The urban part of the city
consists of a ribbon of close or contiguous towns
which lie on the Main Western railway line (served
by CityRail's Blue Mountains services) and Great
Western Highway between Emu Plains (a western suburb
of Sydney) and Lithgow (a coal mining town). About
70% of the city's area is within the Blue Mountains
National Park which lies north and south of the
ribbon of towns. The National Park is part of the
much larger Greater Blue Mountains Area World
Heritage Site and the city brands itself as "The
City Within a World Heritage National Park".
The two main towns are Springwood
(80 kilometres west of Sydney) and Katoomba (110
kilometres west). The towns of the lower mountains
(Lapstone, Glenbrook, Blaxland, Mount Riverview,
Warrimoo, Sun Valley, Valley Heights, Springwood,
Winmalee, Yellow Rock and Faulconbridge), tend to be
dormitory suburbs for Sydney. This is also the case,
to a lesser extent, for the towns of the mid
mountains (Linden, Woodford, Hazelbrook, Lawson and
Bullaburra) and the upper mountains (Wentworth
Falls, Leura, Katoomba, Medlow Bath, Blackheath,
Mount Victoria and Bell). The economy of the upper
mountains is dependent almost entirely on tourism.
The road to Sydney, the Great
Western Highway, is mostly dual carriageway but is
relatively slow due to the urban development and
hilly terrain. An electric train service integrates
into City Rail, Sydney's suburban rail network.
World
Heritage listing
The Greater Blue Mountains Area
was unanimously listed as a World Heritage Area by
UNESCO on 29 November, 2000. It thus became the
fourth area in New South Wales to be listed . The
area totals roughly 10,000 square kilometres,
including the Blue Mountains, Kanangra-Boyd,
Wollemi, Gardens of Stone, Yengo, Nattai and
Thirlmere Lakes National Parks, plus the Jenolan
Caves Karst Conservation Reserve.
The reason why this site was
chosen to be included on the World Heritage list is
quoted below:
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"Criteria
(ii) and (iv): Australia’s eucalypt
vegetation is worthy of recognition as of
outstanding universal value, because of its
adaptability and evolution in post-Gondwana
isolation. The site contains a wide and
balanced representation of eucalypt habitats
from wet and dry sclerophyll, mallee
heathlands, as well as localised swamps,
wetlands, and grassland. 90 eucalypti tax
(13% of the global total) and representation
of all four groups of eucalypts occur. There
is also a high level of endemism with 114
endemic taxa found in the area as well as
120 nationally rare and threatened plant
tax. The site hosts several evolutionary
relic species (Wollemia, Microstrobos,
Acrophyllum) which have persisted in highly
restricted micro sites." |
- Via Wikipedia
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City of Blue Mountains .info