NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie, enroute to Bathurst in 1815, first named the area that now contains Blackheath Hounslow, but on the way home he had a change of heart and renamed it to Black-Heath due to its `black wild appearance`. The town is one of the highest in the Blue Mountains, 1065m. Its altitude makes it an ideal home for cool-climate gardens, such as the Campbell Rhododendron Gardens, but its greatest claim to fame is Govetts Leap,a truly spectacular lookout on top of a huge escarpment. Blackheath is the only Blue Mountains town to overlook the north-easterly escarpment. The Gundungurra and Darug indigenous people lived here, but, as everywhere, the European incursions had devastaing consequences for them, mostly conflict, violence and smallpox. Blackheath is a pretty little town. It`s CBD is small and features some cool shops and cafes. Its most significant building is the art-deco Victory Theatre, now a large antique centre, which started life in 1915 as Neate`s Hall, a grand cinema and community hall with seating for up to 1000. It showed its last movie, On The Beach (fittingly, about the end of the world) in 1960.
The plaque at Govett's Leap dated 1938 has this inscription: `The Fall of Water was Named Govett`s Leap` from the Assistance of William Romaine Govett, Assistant Surveyor, `First Having Come Upon The Spot` in June 1981`. The term `Leap` is apparently an old Scottish word for a waterfall or cataract. It`s the biggest leap in the Blue Mountains at 180m. The lookout is at 980m elevation, plunging down to the valley at 330m. Enduring Blackheath folklore is that a bushranger named Govett, pursued by police, chose to ride his horse over the cliff to his death rather than be captured - supposedly fictional, or where there`s smoke there`s fire? Anyway, the real Govett (1807-1848) was surveying the Bathurst Road when he came upon the edge. It must have been a breathtaking sight. Charles Darwin thought so too. In 1836 he noted, in his journals, his awe at this tremendous chasm.
The Grose Valley below the lookout at Govetts Leap is packed with Blue Gum trees which grow up to 70m tall. Amazingly, this valley almost fell to loggers in 1931 for farming, but it was saved by bushwalkers who bought the land for 130 Pounds. The Blue Mountains National Park ensured its safety in 1959 and then World Heritage listing in 2000. The Grose River, which starts near Mount Victoria at 953m, runs into the Nepean/Hawksberry River(two names, same river) near Yarramundi and then to the sea near Palm Beach, the northern Sydney suburb.
The volunteer-run Campbell Rhododendron Garden covers 18ha and is situated at 1065 metres above sea level, providing the cool climate necessary for rhododendrons. It`s design intentionally belnds exotic species (rhododendrons obviously) with native Australian gums and bush. The Campbells were a local couple who were instrumental in creating and developing the garden in the 1970s and beyond. The Blackheath Rhododendron Festival is held here every year, and our timing was just right to be here when it was on.
600 steps down to Walls Cave
Human occupation in the region dating back thousands of years is proven by archeological evidence at Walls Cave which is down a well-constructed Grade 3 trail off Walls Cave Road in Blackheath. A 1km distance doesn`t sound like much, but it`s almost exactly 600 steps down to the cave, which makes the return trek very arduous. It`s worthwhile though. Greaves Creek at the bottom is very picturesque as you traverse it through Slot Canyon, and the cave itself is a massive overhang, carved out of the cliff face by thousands of years of erosion from the creek. There is no difficulty in seeing why the aborigines regarded this as a sacred place, what with the shelter of the cave and the placid pools of the creek. Stone tools and old fire hearths have been found here, dated 3,500 years ago, and, deeper, another hearth dated 14,000 years ago. If there was any art on the cave walls, we couldn`t see it. Far from commemorating the indigenous significance of this site, the cave is named after Ignatius Wall who briefly owned the land in the 1890`s. He probably took credit for `discovering` the cave. Greaves Creek itself falls from the heights of Blackheath into Lake Greaves before it gets to the cave. The creek then winds its way into the Grose Valley.