The Three Sisters
Three rock towers stand above the Blue Mountains. Visitors are told they were three sisters turned to stone. Some Aboriginal elders say that's not the real story.
What was reported
The Three Sisters are three tall sandstone pinnacles rising from the cliffs at Echo Point, Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains near Sydney. They're one of Australia's most visited sights.
A popular legend says they were three sisters who fell in love with three brothers from a neighbouring people, and were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed before he could change them back. The story is printed on signs and in guidebooks.
Explanations offered
Researchers have found the popular version may have been written down in the 1930s by a non-Aboriginal writer, and some Gundungurra and Darug elders say it doesn't reflect their traditions, which have their own, different stories about the rocks. The towers formed as softer rock around them eroded away.
- When
- Story told since the 1930s
- Where
- Katoomba, Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia
- Witnesses
- Visitors, and Aboriginal elders who dispute the story
- Status
- Origins debated
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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