Shipley (1025m) The plateau was named by Robert Smith Longton who took up land there in 1892. He named it after his birthplace near Bradford in Yorkshire, England. Shipley is famous for its orchards. More info here: https://www.askroz.com.au/blog/origin-of-blue-mountains-town-names/
Blackheath (1065m) The location of Blackheath was named by Governor Macquarie while returning from the west in 1815. On his way out he had given it the name Hounslow, after Hounslow Heath in England, but reconsidering, he wrote in his journal: “This place having a black wild appearance I have this day named it Black-Heath.”… Read More: What is the history of Blackheath »
Medlow Bath (1050m) The location here of Brown’s Sawmill saw the first railway platform opened here in 1880 as Brown’s Siding, Pulpit Hill. This was changed to Medlow in 1883 to avoid confusion with another Brown’s Siding near Lithgow. The origin of the name Medlow is uncertain, the argument coming down to it being either… Read More: What is the history of Medlow Bath »
Katoomba (1017m) Early names given to this location include William’s Chimney and Collett’s Swamp, their origins unknown. From the mid-1830s there was also The Shepherd & His Flock Inn near Pulpit Hill to the west of present-day Katoomba, where Louisa Meredith spent“a tolerable night’s rest” on her way to Bathurst in 1839. With the arrival… Read More: What is the history of Katoomba »
Leura (985m) It is said that William Eyre, who subdivided this area at the end of the 1880s, intended to call the township Lurline after his daughter. However, when the railway station was opened in 1891 it was given the name of Leura. At the end of 1892 the prestigious Leura Coffee Palace (later to… Read More: What is the history of Leura »
Wentworth Falls (867m) In May 1815 William Cox, while building a road over the Blue Mountains, erected a “weatherboard hut” as a supply depot here. Subsequently, the locality became popularly known as The Weatherboard and that name was adopted by the inn which opened here in the mid-1820s (though its official name appears to have… Read More: What is the history of Wentworth Falls »
Bullaburra (769m) Much of the land here was originally owned by Sir Henry Parkes who named the locality The Village of Colridge. In the 1920s Arthur Rickard & Co. opened a large subdivision here and gave it the name of Bullaburra, an Aboriginal (not local) word said to mean “blue sky” or “fine weather”. The… Read More: What is the history of Bullaburra »
Lawson (732m) This location appears in early references as The Swamp or Christmas Swamp and, in the 1830s, as Twenty Four Mile Hollow. Following the opening of Henry Wilson’s Blue Mountain Inn in the mid-1840s the area became popularly known as Blue Mountain, a name adopted by the railway when a station was opened here… Read More: What is the history of Lawson »
Hazelbrook (674m) In the 1870s a private residence, Hazelbrook House (no longer in existence), was built by Edward Higgs on the south side of the railway line. When a railway station was opened opposite it in 1884 the name Hazelbrook was adopted. There is a popular view, unsubstantiated by other than oral evidence, that Hazelbrook… Read More: What is the history of Hazelbrook »
Woodford (607m) This location was first referred to as Twenty Mile Hollow. In the early 1830s an inn called The Woodman was opened. During the 1840s this inn became known as The King’s Arms and, when its last licensee William Buss took over in 1855, it was popularly referred to as Buss’s Inn. When the… Read More: What is the history of Woodford »