Learn The Legends Of Three Sisters On Popular Blue Mountains Day Tours

An attraction that has almost become synonymous with the Blue Mountains, The three sisters is a trio of sandstone rock towers over the Jamison Valley. Attracting millions of tourists each year for Three Sisters & Blue Mountains day trips, this attraction is famous for its view of blue-ridge mountains stretching to infinity in the horizon! So many tourists visit the attraction that the three sisters has become a must-halt destination on all Blue Mountains day tours from Sydney!

Truth Versus Stories

Once the floor of a shallow sea, this landscape took over 300 million years in the making! The seabed was crushed and compressed into rock when the sea receded and was weather-beaten over millions of years. The now iconic vantage points and attractions at Blue Mountains were carved out by the remaining creeks and rivers spending a few more million years carving out plateaus, cliffs and mountains. But let’s stop focusing on geology and look into some more interesting stories of the area! Two legends exist among the Aboriginals that supposedly led to the creation of the Three Sisters: One a story of forbidden love, and the other about a Gundungurra magic man, his 3 daughters and a terrifying mythical creature from Aboriginal mythology: Bunyip.

Forbidden love’s curse

This legend on the other hand, is a heartbreaking story love story of three sisters who belonged to the Katoomba tribe in Jamison Valley. These three women fell in love. With three brothers from the Napean tribe. And as unfortunate as it is, tribal law forbade them from marrying each other. As all heroic love stories go, these brothers were not ready to accept the law. So they decided to forcefully capture the sisters to marry them. And a tribal battle thus ensued. It was during this war that a witch doctor from the Katoomba tribe decided to protect the three sister by casting a spell and thus turning them into stone. This spell was to be lifted once the war was over, but unfortunately again, the witch doctor was killed! Because only he could reverse the spell to return the three sisters back into their beautiful human bodies, they stand tall as rock formations, ever a relic of long lost love.

A Father Who Wanted To Save His Daughters

This legend tells the story of the three sisters Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo who lived on a cliff with their father Tyawan who was a witch doctor. There also live a scary ‘Bunyip’ in a deep hole nearby who was feared by all. Whenever Tyawan had to go out across this hole in search of food, he insisted that his three daughters stay safety behind a rocky wall on the cliff. One day, Tyawan descended the cliff steps and went to the valley in search of food. In the meanwhile, Meenhi who was on the cliff top, was frightened when she saw a large centipede and threw a stone at it. The stone hit the centipede and rolled over the cliff, crashing into the valley. This made the Bunyip very angry. He made the rocky wall behind the three sisters crumble, stranding them on a thin ledge on top of the cliff. It is said that as the Bunyip approached the terrified girls, all birds, animals and faeries stopped in their tracks and watched in horror. Their father arrived just in time, and to protect his daughters from the vengeful Bunyip, he used his magic bone to turn the three into stone. Frustrated, the Bunyip then set his sights on catching the father. To escape the chase of the beast, Tyawan transformed himself into a magnificent Lyrebird and flew away.

But in the process of getting away from the Bunyip, he dropped his magic bone. Once Tyawan was at a safe distance away from the Bunyip, the creature dropped the chase and disappeared. Tyawan then returned in search of his magic bone, but couldn’t find it! It is said that the Lyre Bird has been searching for his magic bone ever since. And so, the ‘Three Sisters’ silently stand overlooking the valley in hope that one day their father would return with the bone and turn them back into their former selves.

These are the stories. Now that you know them, spend some time reliving it at the Three Sisters en route a scenic Blue Mountains day trips!

Merlin Jakes traverses the world during her free time, taking her to various exotic places, ticking off her travel bucket list one by one.