The Three Sisters is the Blue Mountains actually a most remarkable landmark. This iconic place is a huge attraction by millions of people each year, which is actually an unusual rock formation representing three sisters who according to Aboriginal legend were turned to stone. The Three Sisters have located in New South Wales, Australia, on the north escarpment of the Jamison Valley.
They’re adjacent to the town of Katoomba and are one of the Blue Mountains’ best-recognized sites, towering above the Jamison Valley. Their names are Meehni (922 meters), Wimlah (918 meters), and Gunnedoo (906 meters). Therefore the part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, these weathered sandstone peaks, formed over thousands of years, and visitors may have the best views from Echo Point at Katoomba.
Moreover, Echo Point is also the gateway to numerous great nature walks and adventures such as abseiling, rock climbing, and caving, and soaks up the scenery, streams, waterfalls, forests, ravines, and sheer cliffs on one of the 140 kilometers of heritage walking tracks throughout the region. It is well believed, that the three Sisters were unusual formations formed by land erosion.
The soft sandstone of the Blue Mountains is easily eroded over time by wind, rain, and rivers, causing the cliffs surrounding the Jamison Valley to be slowly broken up. The commonly told legend of the Three Sisters is that three sisters lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.
The beautiful young ladies fell in love with three men from a neighboring Nepean tribe, but the marriage was not allowed by tribal law. The three brothers were not happy to admit this law and then they decided to use force to capture the three sisters. A major tribal battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back.
This legend is claimed to be an Indigenous Australian Dreamtime legend. As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, however, Dr. Martin Thomas, in his work “The artificial horizon imagining the Blue Mountains”, visibly shows that the “aboriginal” legend is a fabrication shaped by a non-Aboriginal Katoomba local, Mel Ward, seemingly to add interest to a local landmark. Therefore the story initiated in the late 1920s or early 1930s and is unidentified prior to that date.
The Aboriginal traditional owners, the Gundungurra, have a legend that includes the Sister’s rock formation. From nearby Echo Point, a bushwalking trail leads to the Three Sisters and down to the valley floor via more than 800 well-maintained steel and stone steps called “The Giant Stairway”. Then a one and half-hour walk on The Federal Pass trail leads to the base of Katoomba Falls and the Katoomba Picturesque Railway.
Walkers who don’t want to climb back to the top can take the Beautiful Railway back to the plateau for a fee. The character of the three sisters has ups and downs throughout the day & seasons as the sunlight brings out the wonderful colors. Because the Three Sisters is also floodlit until around 11 pm each evening looking simply remarkably set against the black background of the night sky.
