Hat Hill Road at Blackheath leads out to several places
where there are superb views over the valley of the Grose River and its
tributaries. Among these is Perry’s Lookdown, a popular place with visitors
since the 1880’s. There are three identified lookouts – Perry’s Lookdown
itself, Docker’s Lookout and what has become known as Monument Lookout. Beyond
the third lookout the track descends steeply into the valley, providing access
to the Blue Gum Forest and the
walking tracks which radiate from it.
You’ll enjoy reading an article from the Illustrated Sydney News (NSW: 1853 -
1872), Saturday 16 February 1884, page 14, 15 titled “Our Trip to Binda Caves” (now called Jenolan Caves) during which
the party visited Perry’s Lookdown. Search the newspaper files at http://trove.nla.gov.au .
Immediately opposite the main lookout is the
dramatic Mt Banks, so named by
George Caley in November 1804 in honour of his patron, Sir Joseph Banks, when
his attempt to cross the Blue Mountains came to an end on the brink of those
cliffs. See this reference here
for more information about Caley’s expedition. The mountain is capped by a
small area of basalt which has somewhat fortuitously preserved a remnant of the
Hawkesbury Sandstone and a complete section of the underlying Narrabeen Group
sediments of the Sydney Basin.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service has
provided a rather scarce facility in the form of a small overnight camping area which is particularly
useful for those doing the longer walks.
Monument
Lookout is the site of memorial to a group of 4 teenagers
who died in the vicinity in a bushfire in 1957. See the story in The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995),
Monday 2 December 1957, page 1.
View my Blue
Mountains videos on my YouTube site here
. This includes a video on the lookouts at Perry’s Lookdown here . I have three other playlists - on gem hunting/mining, Glen Innes and New Zealand.
https://johnsbluemountainsblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/links-to-all-blog-entries-and-relevant.html
All Blue Mountains blogs and videos
All New England and other Geology blogs and videos
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