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Blue Gum Forest

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233: 62: 569: 555: 38: 244: 69: 537: 444:, as it was known, became a navigational point for walkers, farmers and explorers. Robert Hunt took some of the earliest Australian photographs in the forest in 1859. Ben Carver, a cattle rustler, also used the track in the 1860s, and later bought a lease on the area in 1875. Only a small section of the Engineers Track survives today. 382:
trees, but severe fires damage the forest. The Grose Valley has been affected by bushfires at various times, notably in 1982 and in November 2006. In particular the Blue Gum Forest was damaged by back burning. Following the harsh bushfires in 2006, the Blue Gum Forest and other walking tracks in the
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resulted. Another outcome was that the whole Grose Valley and surrounds was reserved from alienation because it was ‘a national spectacle’. At the time there was no national park in Australia, and indeed Australia was not even a nation—but the reservation was the country’s first "national park".
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130 which they paid Hungerford in exchange for his relinquishing the lease. They met with Hungerford at the Blue Gum Forest on 15 November 1931 in pouring rain, and he agreed with their suggestion. It was a substantial amount at the height of the
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A large mountain blue gum tree measuring 65 metres (213 ft) high with a trunk 6 metres (20 ft) in circumference grows in the Blue Gum Forest. Being over 600 years old, it is a local landmark for bushwalkers. Because of the effects of
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of shrubs. The forest can be accessed only on foot, with several trails from different parts of the Grose Valley and adjacent canyons meeting in the forest. The most direct route into the forest from
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this tree was measured in 2012 with a Nikon Laser Rangefinder; 49 metres (161 ft) tall. However trees over 60 metres (200 ft) tall grow in other parts of the forest
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of the Academy of Art. Over twenty artists, photographers and academics camped in the forest. Several photographs by Alex Bischoff, and drawings and paintings by
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are some of the many mammal species in the forest. Birds are often encountered, either at the forest floor or in and above the canopy. Parrots such as the
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with the Blue Mountains. Aboriginal tool-making and signs of occupation have been found in the Grose Valley, some of it close to the Blue Gum Forest.
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purchased a lease in the Blue Gum Forest, though they had no plans to develop the area. Jokingly, this part of the valley was known as "the
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farmer, Clarrie Hungerford. Hungerford had a lease of the forest and told the bushwalkers he planned to clear the blue gums to plant
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Blue Mountains Heritage Study 1982, Croft & Associates in association with Meredith Walker for Blue Mountains City Council
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This article is about the forest in the Grose Valley, Blue Mountains National Park. For the locality of Blue Gum Forest, see
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when the Blue Gum Forest was saved from threatened destruction in 1931–32. At Easter in 1931, a group from the
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However, this reservation status did not stop subsequent threats to the forest. The wealthy retail family the
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track, which descends 656 metres (2,152 ft) to the forest. The return walk uphill is rated as "hard".
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Most of the trees are considered to be around 300 years old, possibly originating from a large
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The bushwalkers went away and started a campaign to stop him. Eventually, they raised
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Waratah in Blue Gum Forest from Pierces Pass in Blue Mountains National Park.
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In 1875, the Blue Gum Forest was the scene of an artists’ camp established by
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for the proposed railway line. However, this was abandoned in favour of the
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valley were closed to bushwalkers to allow the regrowth of vegetation.
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Information Sign, Blue Gum Forest – National Parks & Wildlife
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Back From the Brink – Blue Gum Forest & the Grose Wilderness
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Parks and reserves of the Blue Mountains (New South Wales)
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sites in Australia. The forest is located within the
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trees are present. Smaller trees and shrubs include
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Sydney: Kangaroo Press. p. 264. 600: 68: 779: 687:Allen, Richard; Baker, Kimbal (2009). 643: 641: 639: 637: 635: 633: 378:regeneration and stop the invasion of 327:, and ferns grow on the forest floor. 618:. Blue Mountains Conservation Society 447: 7: 432:built 70 kilometres (43 mi) of 1311:1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains 664:Sydney And Blue Mountains Bushwalks 609:"Blue Gum Forest 75th Anniversary" 585:Protected areas of New South Wales 527:Australian Broadcasting Commission 14: 1208:Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum 291:While the forest is dominated by 567: 553: 67: 60: 36: 1659:2013 New South Wales Bushfires 448:Artist's camp and the Horderns 404:, and noticed camp fires from 205:. It is one of the best-known 1: 1178:Blue Mountains walking tracks 590:Blue Mountains walking tracks 251:track at the Blue Gum Forest. 1645:1999 Glenbrook rail accident 689:Australia's Remarkable Trees 360:yellow-tailed black cockatoo 183:Blue Mountains National Park 21:Helensburgh, New South Wales 454:Frederick Eccleston Du Faur 239:, near the Blue Gum Forest. 222:Australian conservationists 218:Greater Blue Mountains Area 76:Location in New South Wales 1706: 1680:Forests of New South Wales 1320:Glenbrook rail deviations 1228:Valley Heights Rail Museum 809:. 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Index

Helensburgh, New South Wales

Blue gums
Map showing the location of Blue Gum Forest
33°36.45′S 150°21.48′E / 33.60750°S 150.35800°E / -33.60750; 150.35800
NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service
www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/historic-buildings-places/blue-gum-forest
Blue Mountains National Park
Grose Valley
Blue Mountains
New South Wales
Sydney
Australia
bushwalking
UNESCO
World Heritage Site
Greater Blue Mountains Area
Australian conservationists

Grose River

Perrys Lookdown
Mountain blue gum (Eucalyptus deanei)
understory
Blackheath
Perrys Lookdown
eucalyptus
paperbarks (Melaleuca styphelioides)
acacias
Yellow Pittosporum (Pittosporum revolutum)

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