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Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
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The Katoomba Colliery Scenic Railway c1935

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

The Katoomba Colliery Scenic Railway c1935

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Blue Mountains City Library

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Echo Point Katoomba Katoomba coal tramway

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Phillips, Harry

Professional photographer who did much to make the Blue Mountains famous between 1900 and 1930.

Blue Mountains City Library

Katoomba

Built on the traditional land of the Gundungurra people, the settlement on the western road over the mountains was a lonely outpost until the 1870s when it was named Katoomba and became a mining and tourist town. With the advent of the motor car, Katoomba became even more popular with holiday makers and honeymooners, as well as residents willing to commute to Sydney by train.

Katoomba coal tramway

Part of the vanished mine heritage of Katoomba, John Britty North's tramway hauled coal and shale from the Megalong valley along an extensive tramway system of which today's Scenic Railway is only a small part.

Echo Point

Situated in Gundungurra and Darug country, Echo Point emerged as a major tourist destination in the 1920s and today attracts around 1.4 million visitors a year. Combining a 'holiday playground' atmosphere with the sublime, Echo Point is a compelling site for thinking about the many different ways of seeing that have shaped the Blue Mountains landscape: Indigenous, Romantic, commercial and environmental.

Railways

Tourism

Katoomba

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Chief town of the Blue Mountains with a name which means 'falling together of many streams' or 'waters tumble over hill'. It grew after the construction of the western railway from Sydney enabled a prosperous coal and shale mining industry and brought tourists to see the scenic beauty of the area.

Scenic Railway

Katoomba railway originally constructed for coal and oil shale mining, now recognised as the world's steepest railway and a major tourist attraction.

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