Three Sisters (Blue Mountains)

Interesting facts

Early colonial visitors called the headland Tri Saxa Point, Latin for three stones; it was renamed Echo Point in 1890.

Chief Ranger Jim McKay proposed the Giant Stairway in 1914, but work begun in 1916 stopped a quarter of the way down because cutting steps proved too costly.

Work resumed in 1932, and the stairway, a mix of steps cut into the rock and steel staircases dropping almost 300 metres, opened on 1 October that year.

Between 1879 and 1925 the cliffs below were mined for coal and shale, served by flying foxes and cable tramways.

The steep Scenic Railway that carries walkers back up from the valley floor began life as a coal-hauling line for the Katoomba colliery.

In the early tourist years a lone pinnacle nearby, Orphan Rock, was the bigger attraction and appeared on souvenir spoons and crockery.

In 1912 the Katoomba council put the Three Sisters on the cover of its official tourist guide, sealing their status as the region's emblem.

One Gundungurra account describes the rocks as the remnants of seven stone pagodas linked to the Seven Sisters Dreaming.

When they were declared an Aboriginal Place in 2014, the Three Sisters became the 98th site in New South Wales to receive that protection.

Why it is worth it

Three sandstone pillars stand on the edge of the Jamison Valley at Katoomba, stepping down one after another from the cliff into a sea of eucalyptus forest. The Three Sisters — named Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo, rising to 922, 918 and 906 metres — are the best-known sight of the Blue Mountains. More than 600,000 people a year come to look at them.

They are what erosion leaves behind. The Blue Mountains are a raised plateau of Triassic sandstone, and wind, rain and rivers have been cutting it back for millions of years; the Sisters are fragments of the escarpment isolated as the cliff retreated, standing free above the valley.

The romantic legend usually told about them — three sisters turned to stone to protect them from rival suitors — is widely presented as an Aboriginal Dreaming story, but it has been traced to a sixteen-year-old non-Indigenous schoolgirl, Patricia Stone, who also gave the rocks their names. The traditional owners, the Gundungurra, have their own, different story for the rocks, and in 2014 the Sisters were declared an Aboriginal Place. From Echo Point a walking track leads to the first Sister and down the Giant Stairway, some 998 steps, to the valley floor; the Federal Pass then continues through rainforest to the base of Katoomba Falls.

Getting there

The Three Sisters are seen from Echo Point, about 2 km south of Katoomba town centre in the Blue Mountains; Katoomba station, on the line from Sydney Central (about two hours), is roughly a 25-minute walk away, and local buses run to Echo Point. The nearest airport by distance is Bathurst (BHS), about 72 km away; most visitors come from Sydney.

From the encyclopaedia

The Three Sisters are an unusual rock formation in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, on the north escarpment of the Jamison Valley. They are located close to the town of Katoomba and are one of the Blue Mountains' best known sites, towering above the Jamison Valley. Their names are Meehni, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Three Sisters (Blue Mountains)

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia