Lower Blue Mountains Colonial Heritage Driving Tour - Tour 1

Blue Mtns Visitor Information

www.bmcc.nsw.gov.au

The Blue Mountains Colonial Heritage Driving Tours are separated into three sections: lower mountains, mid-mountains and upper mountains, visiting over 20 colonial sites throughout the Blue Mountains. It is a tour that was designed to be accessed by car and can be taken as a series of day trips. Please note that although the tours are intended to have easy access some sites may need to be reached by walking tracks in natural areas and have limited disability access. The Blue Mountains Heritage Advisory Committee has developed and peer reviewed this heritage tour with a focus on the colonial history of the Blue Mountains. It documents the European occupation of the sites only, and this does not therefore, represent a complete history of the places, or represent the perspectives of Dharug and Gundungurra Traditional Owners in relation to the colonial impacts on these sites.

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Dharug and Gundungurra as the Traditional Custodians of Blue Mountains Ngurra (country).

Since time immemorial, the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples have lived in and cared for Ngurra and have in turn, thrived in the timeless generosity and care of their Ngurra. Ngurra takes in everything within the physical, cultural and spiritual landscape - landforms, waters, air, trees, rocks, plants, animals, foods, medicines, minerals, stories and special places. It includes cultural practice, kinship, knowledge, songs, stories and art, as well as spiritual beings, and people: past, present and future. Today, the Dharug and Gundungurra peoples retain this deep cultural and spiritual connection with Ngurra.

The world of the Dharug and Gundungurra, inhabited since the creation time, was dramatically and irrevocably changed in the early 1800’s, with the arrival of European explorers. It does mark the beginning of the colonists’ expansion, assuring the survival and success of the British colony, but it also marks a starkly different beginning for the Dharug, the Gundungurra, and the Wiradjuri as competition for good land between the original owners and the colonists, was inevitable.

The period after the crossing of the Blue Mountains, was characterised by the almost complete dispossession of the Dharug, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri from their Ngurra, despite a fierce and heroic war of resistance. It is also a story of loss beyond measure, survival, reawakening, reclaiming, and of unbroken and timeless connection to Ngurra, which has never been ceded nor surrendered.

Blue Mountains City Council pays respect to Elders past and present while recognising the strength, capacity and resilience of past and present Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Blue Mountains region.

To truly honour the past and respond to the future in an honest and meaningful way, the Council of the City of the Blue Mountains (Council) recognises the past and ongoing injustices from dispossession, displacement, disadvantage and discrimination experienced by the Dharug and Gundungurra people, and the broader Aboriginal community in what is now the Blue Mountains Local Government Area (LGA).

For more Information on the Blue Mountains City Council’s respect and commitment to the local Aboriginal community see the Statement of Recognition and Commitment

Trip Itinerary