The Blue Mountains Lookouts & Waterfalls
Episode 3
First Shown: 30 July, 2020 on YouTube
Hazel Falls, Edith Falls & Mabel Falls
Hazel Falls original name was Fairy Falls and first appeared on maps in 1938, but it needed to be renamed because the town of Lawson already had a Fairy Falls. So, finally, in 1969 the falls became known as Hazel Falls after the nearby town of Hazelbrook. The three waterfalls are on the one track and can be reached from either end. It is called "The Transit of Venus Walk". It is so named because a transit of Venus was observed using a 4.5 inch telescope at Woodford, not long after the town was established in the 1870’s.
The walk to Hazel Falls is almost one kilometer. That’s about 20 minutes each way. To walk to the three falls and return is 3.4km. That’s a long way, so be prepared. The path I walked is the L4 Trail and after walking 300m I took the track to the right. The track to the left will take you there too and is approximately the same distance. Just follow the signs. Apparently, These three waterfalls have been popular since the late 1800’s.
A story in the Sydney Morning Herald of October, 1876 reports:
"At a spot in convenient proximity to the railway platform are many beautiful waterfalls hitherto unreserved. On the north side of the railway I beg to propose a reserve of 350 acres, to include three waterfalls. The first waterfall is about three-quarters of a mile (1.2kms) from the platform, bearing north-north-west, and is easy of access. Beneath the first, and only a few chains distant, are two more waterfalls, one of which is about 120 feet in fall (36.6 metres). A small foot-track leads to these from the first, down a narrow gorge. The ascent is somewhat severe, but the tourist is amply repaid for his toils by viewing two most beautiful falls in deep ravines of tree-ferns, and rare ferns and plants. In its own character there is nothing more beautiful in the whole of the Blue Mountains than the furthest of the waterfalls to which I am now referring."
Edith Falls is a 650m walk from Hazel Falls to where a track to the right takes us another 30m to Edith Falls, on Edith Creek, a tributary of Woodford Creek. From Mabel Falls its a 400m walk.
To understand how Edith & Mabel Falls got their names we must go back to 1855, after the area was named "20-mile-hollow" by surveyors Major Mitchell and William Govett, to when William Buss became the new owner of a roadside Inn called "The King’s Arms", on the Great Western Road. that became known as Buss's Inn. In 1868 Alfred Fairfax, a cousin of Sir James Fairfax, of the "Sydney Morning Herald," purchased "Buss’s Inn" and although the inn initially followed its former use, Fairfax later used it as a residence and renamed it "Woodford House". A year later, in 1869, Fairfax secured his own train platform opposite his house, called Woodford.
The falls were named after Edith Mary Hetherington (nee) Fairfax (1851-1914), a daughter of Alfred Fairfax. A part of the Alfred Fairfax property was officially set aside for public recreation on 21 December, 1917. The Fairfaxs' were responsible for the development of walking tracks in this area.
Mabel Falls is a walk of 400m from Edith Falls that gets to a track to the right, that takes another 70m to the falls. If you wish to only go to Mabel Falls enter the Mabel Falls Walking Track off Woodbury Street and walk 700m to the falls.
Mabel Falls are within Woodford Creek, about 500m above Edith Falls. Named after Angelina Mabel Fairfax (1866-1964), a daughter of Alfred and Louisa (nee) Savage Fairfax. The walking track from Woodford House to Mabel Falls was constructed in c.1870s but due to subsequent subdivision the track between Woodford House and Woodbury Street no longer exists.
