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Tuesday, 22 October 2013

ANVIL ROCK, BLACKHEATH BLUE MOUNTAINS NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

ANVIL ROCK, BLACKHEATH 

BLUE MOUNTAINS NEW SOUTH WALES AUSTRALIA

Anvil Rock is located on the edge of the Grose River gorge, about 7 km north of Blackheath. Access is via Hat Hill Road to the Blue Mountains National Park; the road and track to the Rock are clearly signposted. 

Anvil Rock was named because of its shape by the then Blackheath Municipal Council in 1938 when the present road was constructed. Ten years later, the steel anvil which is now attached to the top of the rock was first put in place. You can read the story of how this was done, how it was lost for more than 30 years and how it was reattached in 2008 here .

The walk from the car park takes less than 15 minutes and there are great views of the Grose River gorge both from the track and from Anvil Rock itself. The day I was last there was clear and fine and it was easy to zoom in and photograph the high rise buildings in the centre of Sydney.

Mt Banks August 1964
The views from Anvil Rock are superb, and the centrepiece is Mt Banks, which lies immediately opposite. The annotated photo below comes from “Layers of Time: The Blue Mountains and Their Geology (DIGS reference GS1998/519). See the Blog entry on “DOWNLOADING PDF DOCUMENTS FROM DIGS”. You can readily identify the main strata, from the basalt cap down through the Triassic and into the Permian below. This is one of the best places in the Blue Mountains to see such a stratigraphic column of the Sydney Basin sedimentary rocks.

For the Wild Walks description of the Anvil Rock walk click here .

Here is a link to a 1950’s photo of the rock by celebrated photographer Frank Hurley.


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