THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 316, 30 May 1913, Page 5

THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.

A CHAIN OF BEACONS. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Sydney, May 29. . The whole of the mountain townships Were en fete. A thousand school children participated. Speeches by Minis-; ters and others eulogised the old pioneers. A chain of beacons crowning the hilltops right across the ranges offered a unique and splendid spectacle. Numbers of fire balloons were released.

WHAT IS THE BLUE MOUNTAIN CENTENARY? On Wednesday, May 28 of this year, wrote Mr. Frank Walker, president of the Celebration Committee, in answer to the above query, the celebrations in con- ! nection with the centenary of the first crossing of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales will take place at Mount York. On the same date, a 'century &vo, Gregory Blaxland, William Charles •Wentworth, and Lieut. William tawson, emerged upon the eminence now known at Mt. York, after seventeen days of incredible hardship and toil, in forcing ■: : a passage, thus far, across this wild and Inhospitable region. The causes that led to their expedition are well known, and •the successful finding of a track across .these hitherto unassailable heights resulted in the subsequent acquirement of hundreds of thousands of acres of magnificent country. The then colony was •at this time in dire need of fresh pasturage, and the rich lands discovered by surveyor William Evans soon attracted band of worthy pioneers, whose worfc of cultivation and settlement in the years that followed, laid the foundation of many present-day fortunes, and assisted in the establishment .of one of our greatest sources of wealth —the wool and the wheat industries.