Community News & Events

Upper Blue Mountains

Thank you for taking time to visit our Community page. At Ray White Blackheath we are passionate about our local area and are excited to bring you this new addition to our web-site.

West of Katoomba on the Great Western Highway are the villages of Medlow Bath, Blackheath and Mt Victoria. These villages are nestled tranquilly in areas of great natural beauty surrounded on both sides by World Heritage listed National Park.  The Upper Blue Mountains are known for lookouts with stunning escarpment and valley views, exhilarating bush walks, quaint guesthouses, beautiful gardens, art galleries, great restaurants and cafes. The more adventurous visitors and locals also enjoy the many canyoning, rock climbing, camping and bush walking options in the area,  for more information on great local bush walks go to;

Blue Mountains Heritage Centre
Phone: (02) 4787 8877
Fax: (02) 4787 8514
Email: bluemountains.heritagecentre@environment.nsw.gov.au
Street address: Govetts Leap Road, Blackheath NSW
Postal address: Blue Mountains Heritage Centre, PO Box 43, Blackheath NSW 2785
Opening hours: 9am – 4.30pm, seven days
www.environment.nsw.gov.au/contact/blackheath.htm

Blackheath Village is the highest village in the Blue Mountains at 1065 meters above sea level and receives snow in winter. This historic town is located 114kms from Sydney and is one of the best places to stay if you want to enjoy the highlights of the Blue Mountains. Some of the most spectacular views in the Blue Mountains are in Blackheath, the best lookouts to take in the incredible vistas of this World Heritage Area are Govetts Leap, Evans Lookout and Hargreaves Lookout, other lookouts off Hat Hill Road are Pulpit Rock, Perrys Lookdown and Anvil Rock.

To experience that best that Blackheath has to offer come and enjoy the Blackheath Rhododendron Festival which is held annually on the first weekend in November. The village comes alive with a grand parade through the streets and open gardens with spectacular displays of Rhododendrons and Azaleas. The Campbell Rhododendron Gardens at the northern end of the town in Bacchante Street have 45 acres of gardens and are a spectacular sight in spring, well worth a visit.

If you are interested in the history of Blackheath it was originally named “Hounslow” by Governor Macquarie on his original trip through the area to Bathurst. However, he renamed it on his return journey in 1815 after the colour of the native shrubbery in the area. Macquarie recorded in his journal: “This place having a black wild appearance I have this day named it Black-Heath.” Also, according to folklore, a bushranger named Govett rode off the cliff at the end of Govetts Leap Road rather than be captured by the authorities. This story however is not verified by historical sources – the name Govetts Leap draws on the definition of leap: “The sudden fall of a river to a lower level” (OED) and is named after William Romaine Govett, an assistant to the Surveyor General of NSW at the time, who first came upon that spot in June 1831. Although the bushranger story is much more exciting!

An finally one of the town’s proudest features ,on the outside of the famous Victory Theatre antiques centre, spanning the entire Western wall is a large, colourful mural designed by local artist Jenny Kee. The mural was painted in 1985 by members of the local community on behalf of the Blackheath Area Neighbourhood Centre. The painting features native Australian flora and fauna and was recently refurbished by the community. Jenny Kee  is now involved in a similar mural project at Blackheath Primary School drawing on the talents, enthusiasm and hard work of  the students of Blackheath Primary and their parents. What a great project!

I hope you enjoyed our Upper Blue Mountains information page. We will be updating the Community tab regularly with Community Events, Places to Visit and more so keep checking in.