Katoomba, New South Wales
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KatoombaScenicSkywayRemoved.jpg
Katoomba is the chief town of the City of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia and Blue Mountains City Council, its administrative headquarters.
Katoomba's main industry is tourism based on spectacular mountain scenery. A rock formation called the Three Sisters is the most famous feature. Also famous are the Katoomba Scenic Railway (originally built for extracting coal and oil shale from the Jamieson Valley), which is the steepest funicular railway in the world, and the "Scenic Skyway" which is a gondola-like multi-person cable-driven conveyance built across a valley. As of September, 2004 the original Scenic Skyway was removed and replaced by a new Skyway with a clear bottom. The gullies and creeks around Katoomba are in many places filled with dense rainforests, and there are a series of spectacular waterfalls (albeit with a relatively low water volume) in the vicinity of the town.
Katoomba and nearby Medlow Bath were first developed as tourist destinations towards the end of the 19th Century. Tourism peaked in the first three decades of the 20th Century when a series of grand hotels, notably "The Carrington" and the "Hydro Majestic" were built and then repeatedly extended.
By the 1960s, Katoomba had somewhat declined, and several of its guest houses were converted for other purposes including convalescent hospitals . Some even succumbed to arson. Housing was inexpensive, allowing many young families to establish themselves; many of whom still live there.
In the 1980s, the guest houses and hotels again became fashionable and many were restored to their former glories. Housing became more expensive in keeping with the prices in Sydney.
Until recently the area's beautiful scenery and colourful art-deco style shops and houses attracted an alternative and somewhat eccentric subculture. Poets, artists, environmentalists and numerous, eccentric characters still reside there, and the town hosts a well-patronised winter solstice festival Winter Magic featuring local talents.
Local resident crypto-zoologist Rex Gilroy, known as the "Yowie Man", is famous for his belief in the "Yowie" or hairy man-like monster (similar to the Abominable Snowman or Susquatch) that is said to leave large footprints in the bush from time to time. Another local eccentric, the "Cat Man", is equally famous for promoting a one-man campaign against the decimation of native wildlife by feral cats. He wears a cap made of cat skin and has bought and fenced off areas of bushland in order to keep the cats out.
Eleanor Dark is a well-known historian who wrote "The Storm of Time". Her husband Dr Dark was a communist and was concerned about persecution in the 1950s. The Darks are reputed to have built a refuge in the Grose Valley to the north of Katoomba.
In addition to its ever-publicised, 'alternative' sub-culture, the area is home for a large number of families, including many culturally diverse, non-nuclear households. There are a large number of schools that are well-attended and a busy town centre with literally dozens of cafes, lining 'Katoomba Street' the main street of the town. There are also many celebrities and affluent people who have built or restored houses with magnificent views, especially in Leura, just to the east of Katoomba.
External link
- Community, Information & Tourism Website (http://www.katoomba-nsw.com)