Editing Great Dividing Range (section)

==History==
[[File:GreatDividingRangeSign.jpg|thumb|upright|Great Dividing Range sign on the [[Kings Highway (Australia)|Kings Highway]] between [[Braidwood, New South Wales|Braidwood]] and [[Bungendore, New South Wales]]]]

The Great Dividing Range was formed during the [[Carboniferous|Carboniferous period]]—over 300 million years ago—when Australia collided with what are now parts of South America and New Zealand.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Prost | first1=G. | last2=Prost | first2=B. | title=The Geology Companion: Essentials for Understanding the Earth | publisher=CRC Press | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-4987-5609-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E82GDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 | access-date=2 February 2020 | page=98}}</ref> The range has experienced significant erosion since. (See [[Geology of Australia]].)

For tens of thousands of years prior to British colonisation the ranges were home to various [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal Australian]] nations and clans. Evidence remains in some places of their traditional way of life including decorated caves, campsites and trails used to travel between the coastal and inland regions. Many descendants of these nations still exist today, and some remain the [[traditional owners]] and custodians of their lands.{{citation needed |date=May 2025}}

After British colonisation in 1788, the ranges were an obstacle to exploration and settlement by the British settlers. Although not high, parts of the highlands were very rugged. Crossing the [[Blue Mountains (Australia)|Blue Mountains]] was particularly challenging due to the mistaken idea that the creeks should be followed rather than the ridges, and almost impenetrable, labyrinthine, sandstone mountains.<ref name="cgr">{{cite web |url=http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/crossing-the-great-dividing-range |title=Crossing the Great Dividing Range—surveying an ancient land |date=10 December 2008 |work=About Australia |publisher=Australian Government |access-date=19 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20111220051440/http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/crossing-the-great-dividing-range |archive-date=20 December 2011 }}</ref> The Blue Mountains actually lie to the east of the watershed that divides the [[Hawkesbury River|Hawkesbury]]–[[Nepean River|Nepean]] system and the [[Murray–Darling basin|Murray–Darling system]], the true Great Dividing Range. The watershed in this area lies to the west of [[Lithgow, New South Wales|Lithgow]], passing near the locality of Mt Lambie<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lithgowmercury.com.au/story/1797368/big-blue-when-it-comes-to-the-great-dividing-range/|title=Big blue when it comes to the Great Dividing Range|date=24 September 2013|website=Lithgow Mercury|language=en|access-date=27 February 2020|archive-date=27 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227211202/https://www.lithgowmercury.com.au/story/1797368/big-blue-when-it-comes-to-the-great-dividing-range/|url-status=live}}</ref> and village of [[Capertee, New South Wales|Capertee]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lithgow-tourism.com/capertee.htm|title=Capertee – Lithgow Tourism|website=lithgow-tourism.com|date=14 January 2018|access-date=27 February 2020|archive-date=25 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925094836/https://lithgow-tourism.com/capertee.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> There, as in some other places in New South Wales, the Great Divide is only a slight rise in the surrounding topography.

Knowing that local Aboriginal people had already established routes crossing the range and by making use of Aboriginal walking trails, a usable ridge-top route was finally discovered by Europeans directly westward from Sydney across the Blue Mountains to [[Bathurst, New South Wales|Bathurst]] by an [[1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains|expedition]] jointly led by [[Gregory Blaxland]], [[William Lawson (explorer)|William Lawson]] and [[William Wentworth|William Charles Wentworth]].<ref name=ADB-Blaxland>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|title=Gregory Blaxland (1778–1853) |id2=blaxland-gregory-1795|first=Jill|last=Conway|year=1966|volume=1|access-date=30 May 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20130601145434/http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/blaxland-gregory-1795|archive-date=1 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="cgr"/> Towns in the Blue Mountains were later named after each of these men. This was the start of the development of the agricultural districts of inland [[New South Wales]]. A road was built to [[Blaxland, New South Wales|Blaxland]] by convicts within six months. Easier routes to inland New South Wales were discovered towards [[Goulburn]] to the southwest, and westwards from [[Newcastle, New South Wales|Newcastle]].

Subsequent explorations were made across and around the ranges by [[Allan Cunningham (botanist)|Allan Cunningham]], [[John Oxley]], [[Hamilton Hume]], [[Paul Edmund Strzelecki]], [[Ludwig Leichhardt]] and [[Thomas Mitchell (explorer)|Thomas Mitchell]]. These explorers were mainly concerned with finding and appropriating good agricultural land.{{citation needed |date=May 2025}}

By the late 1830s, the most fertile rangelands adjacent to the mountain ranges had been explored, appropriated from the traditional inhabitants and some settled. These included the [[Gippsland]] and [[Riverina]] regions in the south, up to the [[Liverpool Plains]] and the [[Darling Downs]] in the north.{{citation needed |date=May 2025}}

Various road and railway routes were subsequently established through many parts of the ranges, although many areas remain remote to this day. For example, in eastern Victoria there is only one major road crossing the highlands from north to south, the [[Great Alpine Road]].{{citation needed |date=May 2025}}