Year |
Event |
| Prehistoric period |
|
| 250 million years ago |
Sediments from Northern Tablelands area deposited to become Narrabeen sandstones |
| 20,000 years ago |
Last glacial maximum, sand dunes form, indicating low vegetation cover at this time, climate warms, increased vegetation cover and extension of forest |
| 6 000 years ago |
Increased rainfall, Blue Mountains and Newnes Plateau swamps form |
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| Historic period |
|
| 1830s |
First exploration by William Romaine Govett |
|
Survey route line by Archibald Bell |
| 1866 |
Construction of Great Zig Zag for main western railway from Clarence to Lithgow |
|
Coal mining in Lithgow area - State Coal mine under Newnes Plateau |
| 1873 |
Wolgan shale seam opened by Mr C. Mitchell |
| 1905 |
Shale industry at Newnes established |
| 1906 - 1907 |
Construction of Wolgan Valley Railway from Newnes Junction to Newnes in the Wolgan Valley, Henry Deane consulting engineer |
| 1906 |
First discovery of Boronia deanei by Henry Deane |
| 1909 |
Henry Deane first collected Leucochrysum graminifolium (formerly Helipterum graminifolium), type specimen collected 1939 |
|
Newnes State Forest declared; source of pit props and mining timbers until 1980s |
| 1923 |
Newnes oil works closed |
| 1930s |
Railway ceased to be used, tunnel becomes habitat for glowworms |
| 1934 |
Wolgan Snow Gum, Eucalyptus pauciflora var nana first described by Blakely; subsequently described as Eucalyptus gregsoniana (1973) |
| 1939 |
Plant collecting in Clarence area by WF Blakely including collection of type of Leptospermum blakelyi |
|
Railway line scrapped |
| 1960s |
Newnes afforestation camp established |
| 1966 |
First collection of Prostanthera hindii |
| 1970s |
Clearing and planting of pine plantations |
| 1979 |
Wollemi National Park declared |
| 1980s |
Extensive underground coal mining |
|
Plant collecting by Peter Hind including |
|
Sand extraction at Clarence on Newnes Plateau |
| 1988 |
Katoomba 1: 100000 vegetation map published in Cunninghamia pdf |
| 1989 |
Description of Leptospermum blakelyi and classification of other Leptospermum species on Newnes Plateau by Joy Thompson |
| 1990 |
Wallerawang 1: 100000 vegetation map published in Cunninghamia pdf |
| 1994 |
Gardens of Stone National park declared including parts of the Newnes Plateau |
| 1996 |
Type specimen of Persoonia hindii |
| 2000 |
Greater Blue Mountaina World heritage area declared over adjacent Wollemi and Blue Mountains National park, Newnes Plateau an imortant buffer |
| 2005 |
Newnes Plateau swamps listed as Endangered Ecological communities under the Threatened Species Act |
| |
Gardens of Stone stage 2 proposed |
| 2007 |
Newnes Afforestation camp demolished |
| 2009 |
Impacts of subsidence from longwall coal mining evident in Newnes Plateau swamps |
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