AUGUSTUS EARLE (1793-1838)
One Tree Hill (1, 112m - 3, 648ft)
Australia
In Blue Mountains, watercolor on paper, 1820, National Library of Australia.
One Tree Hill (1,112m - 3, 648ft) is the highest point of The Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, about 100 kilometers west of Sydney It is a sandstone mountain range and form part of the Australian Cordillera that runs roughly east and southeast of the Australian coast for about 3,000 kilometers. The name "Blue Mountains" also refers to the City of Blue Mountains (or Blue Mountain Communal Council), a local government in the chain; or at the Blue Mountains National Park. The Blue Mountains are deep gorges, up to 1,000 meters. They occupy an area of 1 436 km2.
The Blue Mountains are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.
The Blue Mountains were considered impenetrable by early settlers in Sydney, and were only crossed in 1813 by Blaxland, Wentworth, and Lawson. Rather than following the rivers, like previous explorers, who ultimately found only vertical cliffs, they decided to follow the ridges and high parts of the plateau. The first crossing of the Blue Mountains is generally considered one of the major steps in the opening of New South Wales to European settlers. However, there were already important areas accessible near the coast. The fact that the Blue Mountains have been a major impediment to settler expansion is largely myth.
A road, completed in early 1815, to cross the region was built in just 27 weeks by William Cox, on the orders of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, employing 30 convicts and 8 guards.
Coal and oil were mined near Katoomba until the Second World War.
The artist
Augustus Earle was a London-born travel artist...
- Augustus Earle (short biography)
- Augustus Earle (complete biography)
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
