nature books
a few Blue Mountains Nature books
There are several amazing books about the flora, fauna and landscapes of the Blue Mountains. Here are a few of them in publication date order.
(Alan Page) published: 2024
It contains an additional 100 Blue Mountains native species and 200 images that were not in Blue Mountains Nature - an introduction.
The book is written for children with the goal of getting them into their garden and the bush to look, listen and enjoy nature. Besides photos and drawings of animals and plants, it asks questions about their experience with Blue Mountains nature. Plus there's a few riddles.
As well as the animals mentioned in the book's title, it contains wallabies, platypuses, possums and robins - and of course ravens. There's also butterflies, spiders and frogs - and native lilies, irises and bottlebrushes.
Here's an example of the possums, platypuses, butterflies and spring wildflowers pages.
(Alan Page) published: 2023
This is a book for children about the native animals and plants of Australia's Blue Mountains.
It's an introduction to the wonders of nature; an invitation to look and learn in their garden and in the bush.
The 100 page book describes over 70 common native species and includes 200 images.
It is presented as a personal diary with the description of each animal and plant followed by a suggestion of what to look for in their garden and the bush. A set of questions is then asked that can be ticked off.
Here's an example of the Echidna, Eastern Spinebill, Kookaburra and orchids pages.
(Peter Hatherly and Ian Brown) published: 2022
An exploration of the evolution and physiography of the Blue Mountains landscape (NSW, Australia), as shaped by the underlying rocks, uplifts and erosion.
The Blue Mountains is one of the most spectacular and visited landscapes in Australia, less than two hours from the country's largest city of Sydney. Much of the region is protected bushland of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
The book applies the latest research and understandings to resolve past uncertainties and theories.
Hardback, 204 pages and thoroughly illustrated with photographs, maps and diagrams.
The landscape story is presented in three sections: 1. Geology and Geomorphology, 2. Interactions (with ecology and Aboriginal heritage) and 3. Landscapes by Region (detailed tours of the Blue Mountains precinct by precinct, explaining what is seen from the lookouts, walking tracks and beyond).
The book is aimed at a general readership of tourists, residents, visitors, walkers, naturalists, students and anyone who wants to know more about the Blue Mountains.
(Kate Smith, Judy Smith and Peter Smith) published: 2022
This book combines art and natural history to promote a greater understanding of the amazing Australian gliders.
It includes drawings, photos and information about three different gliders, the Feathertail Glider, Sugar Glider and Greater Glider.
It shows how to look closely at gliders with an artist's eye, and then create your own artworks, whether these be life-like or more fanciful.
(Judy Smith, Peter Smith and Kate Smith) published: 2019
This book celebrates the outstanding diversity of the native fauna of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
We describe the distribution, abundance, habitat and conservation significance of every mammal, bird, reptile and frog species that has been reliably recorded in the area since European settlement.
We hope that this book will encourage a deeper understanding of the wildlife of the Greater Blue Mountains.
We further hope that, like us, future generations will have the opportunity to know and be inspired by this magnificent fauna.
(Ian Brown, Thomas Ebersoll, Helen Drury Ebersoll, Alan Watson, Karen McLaughlin and Ian Charles) published: 2014
A pictorial and verbal depiction of the historic township of Newnes, and its setting in the Wolgan Valley, surrounded by Wollemi National Park.
Newnes was the scene of a major oil shale mining industry in the early 1900s. The ruins, the old hotel and camping areas are now an historic precinct which together with the outstanding natural features comprise a popular tourist attraction.
(Bruce Cameron) published: 2014
A history of Aboriginal and European history and involvement within the Blue Labyrinth in the lower Blue Mountains NSW.
For anyone who likes bushwalking and good books, this second edition by Bruce Cameron is a must have item! Hard covered and 350 glossy pages long, it is packed with information, history, some maps and most of the text illustrated by adjacent, clear photographs.
The Blue Labyrinth is that part of the Blue Mountains south of the railway line, north of Lake Burragorang and between the Nepean River and as far up the mountains as Wentworth Falls. It is nearly all part of Blue Mountains National Park. It includes Kings Tableland, Glenbrook Creek and Gorge, Euroka volcanic neck, other volcanic necks such as St Helena and Tobys Glen, well know walking tracks such as Sassafras Gully at Springwood, Terrace Falls at Hazelbrook, Adelina, Junction, Federal and Cataract Falls at Lawson. Many aboriginal sites including the well known Red Hands Cave. Picnic and camping areas such as Ingar. A few small sandstone canyons. Through the heart of the Labyrinth flows Erskine Creek — wild and remote!
The Labyrinth is also perhaps the cradle of bushwalking in NSW. Much of the book is the bushwalking history of the labyrinth, the story of its appeal and exploration.
(Eugene Stockton and John Merriman) published: 2009
In 1788 the Aborigines of the Blue Mountains had had no contact with Europeans; within 30 years their traditional way of life had been irrevocably changed.
Of the generations of new mountain dwellers who followed, few appreciated the Aboriginal heritage of the region, even though evidence of their presence was known from the Nepean River and the adjacent escarpment.
Increasingly however, widespread discoveries of art sites, occupation sites, stone tools, axe-grinding grooves and stone arrangements, research into the journals and early writings of European explorers and settlers, and the compilation of oral histories, are providing a rich, if incomplete, account of the traditional lifestyles and environment of the Gundungurra and Darug people of the Blue Mountains.
This new edition gathers together new research and information about the original inhabitants of the Blue Mountains. It provides a fascinating account of histories, languages, legends and European contact.
(Andy Macqueen) published: 2007
Blue Gum Forest is the Cradle of Conservation in NSW. It was saved from the axe by bushwalkers in 1931-32.
This is the story of the forest and the wilderness area in which it lies: the railways, dams and mines that never eventuated, and the Aborigines, explorers, cattlemen, bushwalkers, canyoners and conservationists who've been part of it
