The Three Sisters are a set of three closely-spaced, steep-sided rock pillars, on the edge of the Blue Mountains Plateau, at Echo Point, Katoomba, 110 km west of Sydney, New South Wales. They overlook the Jamison Valley, whose floor is over 300 m below them. Their name is derived from an Aboriginal legend which speaks of three sisters, Meeni, Wimlah and Gunedoo who were turned to stone for their misdeeds. They are made of Triassic sandstone (Banks Wall Sandstone), and were formed by erosion along two prominent sets of perpendicular joints (planes of weakness) in the rock. Erosion has cut away rock along the joints, leaving step-sided blocks of sandstone separated from each other by narrow spaces and steep vertical cliffs.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2004