Blue Mountains, Australia, History

Info Blue Mountains History Plaza
Exploration & Development
3 Sisters, Blue Mountains, Australia.

Chronological chart

 

Key to colour coding
Transport, infrastructure
Exploration
Administration
Accommodation
Residential, agricultural
Mining
See also Development of:
Katoomba
 

18th Century

1788 First European settlement in Australia established at Sydney Cove.
1789 Lt. William Dawes reaches a point several miles north of Faulconbridge and Linden.
1793 Capt. William Paterson explores up Grose River to vicinity of Wentworth Ck
1794 Henry Hacking followed an unknown route, probably reaching Kings Tableland.
1794 Governor Hunter succeeds Phillip.
1795 John Wilson, around this time, probably reached vicinity of Hartley.
Matthew Everingham reached Mt Wilson.
1796 George Bass followed Burragorang & Cox's Valleys, reaching a high point with a commanding view of the Kanangra Plateau.
1798 John Wilson explored, via Burragorang & Wollondilly Valleys, to Mt Towrang, 12km short of Goulburn.

19th Century

1800 Governor King takes command.
1802 Francis Barrallier reached the Bindook Plateau, and a point 2km from the Great Divide.
1804 George Caley reached Mt Banks, just short of Darling Causeway.
1806 Governor Bligh, of "Bounty" fame, appointed to replace King.
1808 Bligh deposed in the Rum Rebellion. Ringleaders include Blaxland & Lawson.
1809 Lachlan Macquarie arrives to assume governorship.
1813 Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth crossed the Blue Mountains. Turned back at  Mt Blaxland, just short of the Great Dividing Range.
1813 George Evans followed the same route, continuing on to the Macquarie River near Bathurst.
1814-15 First road over the Mountains, and on to Bathurst, constructed by William Cox.
1815 Military depot established near Glenbrook Lagoon.
Cox's "Weatherboard Hut" Store opens at Wentworth Falls.
1816 Military depot moved to Springwood.
1823 Collitts' Inn opens in Hartley Vale
Lawson's Long Alley supersedes Cox's Rd at Mt York.
Archibold Bell discovers new route. Becomes Bell's Line of Road.
1824 Lapstone zig zag road (now Old Bathurst Rd) supersedes Cox's Rd.
1825 Barnett Levey granted 900 acres at Glenbrook; named Mount Sion.
1827 James' Hut opens for travellers at Woodford.
1827 John Mills' Weatherboard Inn offers better accommodation on 100 acres at Wentworth Falls.
1828 Maj. E Lockyer begins Lockyer's Pass at Mt York. Abandoned 1829.
1830 Pilgrim Inn opened at Mt Sion by James Evans
1831 Pembroke's Hut, Lawson
Scotch Thistle Inn opened by Andrew Gardener on 20 acres at Blackheath
Shepherd and His Flock Inn, west of Katoomba
1832 The Valley Inn opens in Valley Heights
The Woodman's Inn opens in Woodford, becomes Buss's Inn in 1855.
1833 Mitchell's Pass & Lennox's Bridge become main route up Lapstone Hill.
Victoria Pass (near Mt York) opened.
1835 Stockade, became Bull's Camp in 1842. Between Linden & Woodford.
1837 The Late Lord Byron Inn, Blaxland
1840 The Blue Mountain Inn, Lawson
1843 Kings Arms replaces The Woodman's Inn, Woodford.
1844 Blackheath Stockade. Mounted Police Station and Lock-up in 1849.
1845 Springwood Inn opens
Springwood Military Depot closed
1849 Toll Bar & house, Linden; also Broughton's Waterhole (Mt Victoria)
1855 Police lock-up and mounted patrol depot, Woodford
1857 Toll Bar Inn, Linden
1860+ Kerosene shale mining commenced in Hartley Vale.
Glen Shale Mine established in Megalong Valley.
The Engineer's Track constructed up the Grose Valley.
1863 Welcome Inn opens at Mt Victoria
1865 Kerosene shale discovered in the Wolgan Valley
1866 One Tree Hill Post Office opened at Mt Victoria.
1867 Railway opens to Weatherboard (Wentworth Falls).
1868 Railway reaches Mt Victoria
1869 Railway reaches Bowenfels, near Lithgow, via the Great Zig Zag.
1870 Kerosene Inn / Meads Farm opened at Little Hartley.
1870 Mt Wilson - land put up for auction.
"Everton" built at Faulconbridge by the Hon. John Meeks by local stonemason Paddy Ryan.
John Lucas MLA builds "Logi" above Lapstone Zig Zag.
Geoffrey Eager MLC converts Welcome Inn to a country residence, "Wyoming".
1872 "Katoomba Coal Mine" registered by John Britty North
1875 Eager's Platform, later Valley Heights, opened for Geoffrey Eager.
1876 Henry (later Sir Henry) Parkes applies for land in what would become Faulconbridge.
Charles Moore MLA, MLC constructs "Moorecourt" at Springwood.
1877 "Numantia" built by Sir James Martin, former premier of NSW, on a large property at what would become Faulconbridge.
"Alphington" built by Sir Alfred Stephen MLC on land purchased from Sir James Martin.
"Metchley", followed by "Western House", built by Prof. Charles Badham on land purchased from Sir James Martin.
Faulconbridge Platform opened near Henry Parkes' "Faulconbridge".
1878 The Imperial Hotel, said to be Australia's oldest tourist hotel, opened at Mt Victoria
1879 The Comet Inn, named after a brand of kerosene, opened at Hartley Vale.
1880+ John North began mining shale at Ruined Castle.
1884 The Bridle Trail (Six Foot Track) surveyed. Katoomba to Jenolan Caves.
1886 "Yester Grange" built by John Smith at Wentworth Falls.
1888 Fairfax family residence built at Mt Victoria. Later becomes Cooper's Hotel.
"Norwood" built at Blackheath
1890 "Lilianfels" constructed by Frederick Darley at Leura
1892 The Chalet built at Medlow Bath
"Braemar" built for James Lawson Snr, at Springwood.
1897 Old Mt Victoria Post Office opened.

 

 

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