BARROW LOOKOUT BLACKHEATH
BLUE MOUNTAINS NSW AUSTRALIA
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| Barrow Lookout from Govett's Leap Lookout |
Barrow
Lookout is easily seen from Govett’s Leap Lookout, being just to the left of the waterfall and
above it, on the cliff top track to Evans Lookout. It takes its name from the
19th century surveyor Isaac
Le Pipre Barrow, who worked in the area.
Its location matches the place mentioned by Assistant Surveyor William Romaine Govett in
his letter to Surveyor General Major
Thomas Mitchell dated 1st July 1831. “The Creek near ‘Blackheath’ after running about two miles and a half
falls abruptly after the manner of the cascade at the ‘Weatherboard’ into one
of the Gullies of the Grose River; at a point near this fall of water you have
a grand view of two cascades, and that break of rock which forms such a
particular (feature) in this Survey. Indeed I have not as yet seen a view which
shews (sic) so well the character of the mountain feature …”. (Quoted from
“Blackheath Today from Yesterday” p
131, edited by Peter C Rickwood and David J West, 2005).
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| Govett's Leap from Barrow Lookout |
No doubt Govett discovered the waterfall by
following the creek we now know as Govett’s
Leap Brook, rather than the ridge which ends with the present day Govett’s
Leap Lookout. We need to take note at this point that the correct name for the
waterfall is “Govett’s Leap” (not
the Bridal Veil or Bridal Veil Falls), which name appears to have been given by
Mitchell soon after Govett’s discovery. The monument at Govett’s Leap Lookout
reads as follows: “This fall of water was
named Govett’s Leap from the circumstance of William Romaine Govett Assistant
Surveyor first having come upon the spot in June 1831”.
This concise statement of the facts is in stark
contrast to the bizarre stories that abounded from the early 1870’s onwards,
which had Govett as a bushranger, an escaped convict or convict overseer, a
murderer and general vagabond. His “leap” was supposed to have been on
horseback over a rocky gully (which he and his horse survived) or over the
cliff (in which case they didn’t). Those responsible for promoting tourism in
Blackheath could have easily contradicted these wild stories; however it seems that
they used them to promote interest in the town and district. Even today poor
Govett is seldom show the respect he deserves.
I don’t know when the
name “Govett’s Leap” came into general use, but in the 1845 edition of Charles Darwin’s “The Voyage of the Beagle”, chapter 19 page 438 we read "Jan 18, 1836: Very early in the morning, I walked about three miles to see Govett's
Leap: a view of a similar character with that near the Weatherboard, but
perhaps even more stupendous.”
Not having seen
Darwin’s original diary, I can’t say that he actually wrote this in 1836.
Darwin corresponded with Major Thomas Mitchell and it is possible that he was
given the name by him, inserting it into the text when he prepared his notes
for publication. The name was certainly in common use when the railway opened
to Mt Victoria on 1st May 1868. The first timetables suggest that
the reason for trains stopping at Blackheath was so that visitors could go and
see Govett’s Leap.
Readers might like to
look up this reference in Trove: The
World's News (Sydney, NSW: 1901 - 1955), Saturday 30 September 1922, page 20,
21.
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| Professor V. Gordon Childe |
Now here is an
intriguing story for readers of this blog to follow up. What happened to world
renowned archaeologist, atheist and socialist Professor V. Gordon Childe at Barrow Lookout in 1957?
See the article by Dr Peter Rickwood in the “Blue Mountains History Journal”, Issue 3
October 2012 page 35.
For my video on the walk from Govett's Leap Lookout to Barrow Lookout, click here.
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