Leura, NSW

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About Leura, NSW

LEURA by John Low

Leura is a town located 985 metres above sea level in the upper Blue Mountains of NSW. It is within the area administered by the Blue Mountains City Council.

The original inhabitants of the Leura area were the Dharug people. Archaeological evidence at Lyre Bird Dell in South Leura suggests that Aboriginal occupation of the region dates back probably in excess of 12,000 years to a time when the climate was far more arid than it is at present.

The first Europeans to enter the area were the explorers Blaxland, Lawson & Wentworth and their three un-named assistants who passed by sometime in late May 1813. They were followed by the expedition of George Evans in November 1813, the road building party of William Cox the following year and then the thousands of travelers who passed to and from the west over the next fifty years.

When the Western Railway line was constructed across the Blue Mountains in 1867-68 a gatehouse (No.9) was erected where the line crossed the Western Road near the present Sorensen Bridge. These early gate-keepers, chatting to the travelers waiting for the gates to open, were the first permanent European residents of the area now known as Leura. Another early presence occurred following the discovery of coal in the Jamison Valley below the present Leura Golf Course in the early 1880s. With the establishment of the Gladstone Colliery a siding was erected on the railway line in 1885 to service the mine. The colliery closed in 1887 and the gatehouse was eventually demolished during work to duplicate the railway line in 1901.

The earliest appearance of the name ‘Leura’ was on a plan of subdivision, dated January-March 1881, for land belonging to Frederick Clissold south of the railway line. On his plan Clissold named a distinctive waterfall, ‘Leura Falls’. Many theories have been advanced as to the origins of the name, including its derivation from an Aboriginal word, the name of the daughter of an early landholder, and the possible business connection of Frederick Clissold to a Queensland pastoral property of that name. Though recent research suggests the latter to be a strong possibility, the debate has by no means been settled. When the land was offered for sale later in 1881 as ‘The Leura Estate’, however, the name was well on its way to general acceptance.

Perhaps the first large home erected at Leura was ‘Leura House’, positioned high on the northern side of the Western Road in the late 1880s with views extending over the Jamison Valley. When a railway platform was erected in 1891 and was followed, on Christmas Eve 1892, by the opening of the Leura Coffee Palace (renamed The Ritz in 1914), the beginnings of a Leura township were confirmed. Postal facilities were established in 1893 and during the next twenty years land on both the north and south sides of the railway line were subdivided and offered for sale. A new railway station was built in 1902.

While the early focus of activity had been along the Western Road, with the construction of the Coffee Palace and the railway station, Leura Mall began to dominate. Most of its commercial buildings date from 1900 to the 1920s and today The Mall is the focus of Leura’s daily business activity.

The future of Leura was confirmed in 1905 with the formation of a Katoomba & Leura Tourist Association which aimed to promote both towns to the burgeoning tourism market. As in Katoomba, the number of small to medium guesthouses and holiday rentals increased along with an influx of more permanent residents.

The Presbyterians built a church in 1901 and were followed eight years later by the Methodists and Anglicans. In 1905 the Alexandra Hotel was opened between the railway station and the highway and in 1914 the Chateau Napier guesthouse was erected on the corner of the North Mall and the highway. The latter was destroyed in the devastating 1957 bushfires which destroyed many residential and commercial properties in the town and resulted in a severe economic depression throughout he local area from which it took years to recover.

Lookouts and walking tracks around the town were promoted from the late 19th century and the Gordon Falls Reserve in particular became a popular picnic destination for visitors. In the 1930s the famous Everglades garden was created by the Sydney businessman Henri Van de Velde and his gardener Paul Sorenson and has become the centre-piece of the town’s reputation as a ‘garden village’.

In 1965 the owners of a number of landscaped gardens on large landholdings, decided to open their gardens once a year to raise funds for the Blue Mountains District Hospital, and the Leura Gardens Festival was born. This has now joined with the Village Fair to become a major annual springtime event drawing thousands of visitors and raising over $1M for charity since its inception.

Leura, with its quiet tree-lines streets, exotic tree and garden plantings, expansive views, picturesque golf course, exclusive B&Bs and grand homes now sits at the apex of the Blue Mountains’ property market. Its largely intact early 20th century shopping centre, which is now the home of boutiques, galleries and coffee shops, has become a premier shopping and tourist destination.


ARMITAGE, Audrey M. The Katoomba-Leura Story, Katoomba NSW: Rotary Club of Katoomba, 1998.

FOX, Brian. The Origin of Leura, Blue Mountains, Bathurst NSW: The Author, 2001.

SALGARDO, P. B. Leura Blue Mountains. Walking Tour & Guidebook, Glenbrook NSW: The Author, 2005.

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Hey, lovely Leura shot!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/merryjack/3968954238/" title="Leura Post Office by Merryjack, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2644/3968954238_dfde385dfd_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" alt="Leura Post Office" /></a>
Seen in the Leura group.
www.flickr.com/groups/leura_nsw/
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Hey, lovely Leura shot!

Seen in the Leura group.
www.flickr.com/groups/leura_nsw/
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