The Gardens of Stone – Stage Two

Proposed State Conservation Areas and Park Extensions

Values Statement

Heritage-based tourism could draw Lithgow towards a more environmentally sustainable future.

The proposal provides an integrated plan of action to protect, manage and interpret the area’s heritage, but recognises the realities of existing coalmining operations under Newnes Plateau.

The Gardens of Stone has iconic heritage of national significance. The 40,000 hectares of proposed reserves aims to protect and manage the:

• first three rugged mountain passes west to the interior of Australia;

• outstanding Aboriginal cultural sites on and around Newnes Plateau;

• wonderful oil shale mining ruins on spectacular Airly Mesa and the Darling Causeway;

• an area with one of the highest plant diversity in the Blue Mountains; and the

• an area with one of the most beautiful and intricate sandstone formations in Australia.

The Gardens of Stone is a geological wonderland of coloured escarpments, narrow canyons, pristine streams, rock arches, cave overhangs, lonely sandstone peninsulas and forested sand dunes from the last ice age.

The plant, animal and Aboriginal heritage of the proposal reflect the landscape’s diversity. The proposal’s many rare plants, unique snowgrass-snowgum woodlands, shrub swamps and heathlands are not protected elsewhere.

The Gardens of Stone is a place worth saving that has great potential for quiet, family-based recreation. The proposed system of new Gardens of Stone State Conservation Areas and Park extensions will greatly enhance the potential for tourism in the central and western Blue Mountains, including the Lithgow region.

Heritage-based tourism could draw Lithgow towards a more environmentally sustainable future.