Katoomba Travel Forum

why is the three sisters called the three sisters?

The following information comes from the following site www.bluemountainsaustralia.com

The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.
These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry.


The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.

As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.

Hope this answers your question, if you want to know more, just visit the site mentioned.

Another story has the girls upsetting someone by throwing stones down into the valley so the cleverman (witchdoctor) turned them into stone.

A number of years back I abseiled down the middle sister, they're an impressive feature and the views really good.

If you go to the Katoomba Website: www.katoomba1.com you will find two descriptions of the legend under the History and Legends menu option and don't forget the Winter Magic Festival on 18 and 19 June 2005. Official festival site: www.wintermagic.com.au

Katoomba is the lesbian capital of Australia.

IMHO I don't think it is the lesbian capital... I've seen other places that will easily grab this title.

Katoomba is a beautiful, but popular tourist place, and when you go, you'll see that most of the tourists there are usually bushwalkers/trekkers, families and oldies. Hardly any 'outside the box' tourists go there.