Cyclorama Point Katoomba
The word cyclorama comes from the theatre, where it refers
to the backdrop at the back of a stage, in front of which the action takes
place. Its use for this lookout no doubt refers to the extensive view around
the horizon, with the Jamison Valley, Narrow Neck and Mt Solitary making up the
“foreground”.
That’s what you would have seen had you gone there in 1936,
when the Bathurst Road – Echo Point section of the new Cliff Drive was
officially opened. Today the view is largely obstructed by trees and whatever
appeal the lookout might once have had has now been lost. Few visit the place
these days yet the tracks to it can be clearly seen from the road and are well
signposted.
This has led to the preservation of the lookout more or less
as it was when the work was completed in 1936, one of the few places in the Mountains where modernisation has not yet reached. Even the brass direction
indicator remains intact. These were once plentiful but vandals and thieves have
destroyed most of them.
I have been unable to find any older photographs of
Cyclorama Point and even published references to it are few, apart from those
referring to the new Cliff Drive and later listings of tourist attractions.
The nearby Landslide Lookout is right on the edge of the cliff,
immediately above the 1931 landslide. You can’t see the landslide from the
lookout, however. It’s worth visiting both lookouts when you visit, but there’s
only enough parking for a few cars on each side of Cliff Drive.
View my video on these lookouts here:
The newspaper extracts can easily be found in the digitised newspaper files in Trove here. The satellite image is from Google Earth. The landslide and lookout is on the left; Cyclorama Point is in the centre.
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