Crossing History’s Mountains: The Historic Values of the Greater Blue Mountains

Abstract

The Greater Blue Mountains holds a special place in the making of the Australian nation. It is a location of demonstrable and outstanding national historical significance. With its iconic profile and famous heritage, it has long been recognised as an area that was foundational to the building of the Australian nation. The Greater Blue Mountains region is a place of outstanding Australian national heritage value and a unique repository that spans early convict and pastoral history, economic and technological growth, tourism, wilderness and political movements, science, culture and creativity. The region has played an outstanding role in the conceptualization of Australia’s national history and its national legends. As the location of prime historical events in Australia’s early European history, it reflects the early convict settlement and early nationalist sentiments. Its pivotal economic history is widely acknowledged and of enduring significance. Australia’s most influential national historians have identified the European history of the Blue Mountains as a region where the nation’s key historical ‘turning points’ have taken place. The Blue Mountains Crossing of 1813 has become a mainstay of school history textbooks over Australia’s first century of federated nationhood. Australia’s best-known poets, novelists, artists and others have popularised its heritage. Indicating its significance in Australian history, Australia’s most prominent and highly regarded historians have detailed its historic significance, including Australia’s premier Commonwealth historian, W.K. Hancock (1930), followed for example, by Manning Clark (1993), Russell Ward (1958), John Hirst (2000), and Martin Thomas (2004). This paper discusses the historical significance of the Greater Blue Mountains following a number of historical themes from 1788, through the colonial and modern periods. The Greater Blue Mountains meets several, and possibly all, of the assessment criteria for National Heritage and historical values, and illustrates their inter-relatedness in drawing a rich picture of the national story.