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Apsley Falls

The second drop of the Apsley Falls
Location Australia
Type Tiered
Total height 123 m
Height of longest drop 65 m
Number of drops 2
The old wooden stairway, Apsley Falls, Walcha
The old wooden stairway, Apsley Falls, Walcha

Apsley Falls is a series of waterfalls in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. A waterfall is usually a geological formation resulting from water often in the form of a Stream, flowing over an Erosion -resistant rock A waterfall is usually a geological formation resulting from water often in the form of a Stream, flowing over an Erosion -resistant rock New England is the name given to a region in the north of the state of New South Wales, Australia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The falls are located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Walcha, and 1 kilometre off the Oxley Highway in a deep granite gorge, that is part of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States Walcha (pronounced "wolka" is a town and parish at the south-eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands New South Wales, Australia. The Oxley Highway is a rural highway in New South Wales, Australia. Oxley Wild Rivers National Park is in New South Wales ( Australia) 445 kilometres north of Sydney and is named in memory of the Australian explorer They are the first falls in a succession of dramatic drops in an area that has some of the most remarkable scenery in Eastern Australia. The first drop of the Falls is about 65 metres (213 ft) in depth, and the second, which is about 800 metres (2,625 ft) further on, plummets 58 metres (190 ft) metres to the bottom of the gorge. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit

Contents

History

Apart from Aboriginal significance of the area as a meeting place, John Oxley passed by the falls on 13th September, 1818 and he named them the Bathurst Falls. Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. This article is about the person For the Australian pilot ship see John Oxley (ship. He described it as “one of the most magnificent waterfalls we have seen”.

Oxley named the Apsley River and wrote in his journal that he was "lost in astonishment at the sight of this wonderful natural sublimity".

In 1902 three men, Ted Baker, Jim McMillan and "Wattie" Joiner built the wooden stairway that zigzagged its way from the top of the gorge to the water's edge. All timber used in this dangerous and mammoth task was hand dressed with axe and adze by this trio. An adze or adz (ædz is a tool used for smoothing rough-cut Wood in hand Woodworking. The original stairway was used until 1932, when it was declared unsafe and partly demolished.

Quite sometime after parts of this stairway rotted and became dangerous the Walcha Lions Club set about the huge task of erecting a steel staircase and viewing platform to half way down the gorge. Lions Clubs International (LCI is the world's largest Secular service organization with over 44500 clubs and more than 1 One of the Lions, Lindsay McMillan (son of the above Jim McMillan), designed the steel structure, lookout and platform. All materials were supplied by the Walcha Council and it took the Lions Club members 1,745 hours to complete the job during 1961. Walcha Council is a Local Government Area (LGA in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The Lions were internationally, and justly, recognised for their tremendous contribution here. The official opening of the scenic stairway was on 14th October, 1961 by the state member for Armidale, Mr Davis Hughes.

Features

The sheer sided walls of the upper Apsley Gorge are largely caused by the slate in this area which splits vertically.

The gorge rim supports a vegetation of forest and woodland with a limited understorey of shrubby plants. Common plants include green wattles (Acacia amoena), tea trees, broad-leaved stringy barks (Eucalyptus caliginosa), ribbon gums (Eucalyptus viminalis), narrow leaved peppermint (Eucalyptus nicholii), forest red gum, yellow box (Eucalyptus melliodora), daisy bush and hyacinth orchids (Dipodium punctatum). Eucalyptus caliginosa, Broad-leaved Stringybark, New England Stringybark, is a medium sized tree with grey to red-brown fibrous stringy fissured Eucalyptus viminalis, Manna Gum, also known as White Gum, Ribbon Gum or Viminalis is an Australian eucalypt Eucalyptus nicholii, Narrow-Leaved Black Peppermint, Willow Peppermint is a small to medium sized tree with persistent rough bark to small branches Eucalyptus melliodora, commonly known as Yellow Box, is a medium sized to occasionally tall eucalypt. Dipodium punctatum ( Hyacinth Orchid or Christmas Orchid) is a native Orchid of Australia.

Wedge-tailed Eagles may be seen soaring on the thermals in the area. A thermal column (or thermal) is a column of rising Air in the lower altitudes of the Earth's atmosphere. Kangaroos, crimson rosellas, echidnas also known as "spiny anteaters" and wallabies frequent the area. A kangaroo is a Marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods meaning 'large foot' The Crimson Rosella ( Platycercus elegans) is a Parrot native to eastern and south eastern Australia which has been introduced to New Zealand Echidnas (ɨˈkɪdnə also known as spiny anteaters, are four extant Mammal species belonging to the Tachyglossidae family of the

Facilities

Since the National Parks and Wildlife Service took over they have constructed additional lookouts and walkways to view and photograph this magnificent gorge and the two falls. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS is part of the Department of Environment and Climate Change - the main government conservation agency in New South Wales There are several short walks that can be taken from the car parks and these are highlighted in the information shelter erected in the area near the toilet facilities.

Oxley Walk 2. 7 km, 1. 5 hours - a sealed walkway crosses the river on a footbridge, then continues around the northern side of the gorge. A lookout offers fine views of the main falls (650 m) and the track continues past another three lookouts, where you can view a second waterfall and the dramatic cliffs of the chasm.

Good facilities are available for caravan or tent campers, including fire wood, toilets, interpretive information, hardened walking tracks, access for disabled people, ten viewing platforms, aboriginal history, flora and fauna. A small camping fee applies. Dogs and other domestic pets are not allowed.

See also

List of waterfalls

References

External links

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