Lincoln’s Rock Selfie Tourism

A warped and reckless trend in Blue Mountains selfie tourism is to flaunt death at Wedding Rock on Kings Tableland in Wentworth Falls.  The exposed flat rock ledge is situated on an isolated gravel back road on top the heathland of the Blue Mountains escarpment with a 300m metre drop and no safety fencing.

Sydney bus tour operators to the Blue Mountains are out-thrillling their competition by exposing their passengers to this hazard and subsequent social media has publicised this rock as a Blue Mountains tourist drawcard.

Locals have for years just referred to the flat rock ledge as ‘the big flat rock’, or Flat Rock.

But local council in its wisdom in 2013 officially renamed flat rock as ‘Lincoln’s Rock’ after a local resident Lincoln Hall, a mountaineer of Everest who died tragically from asbestos-caused mesothelioma in 2012. Perhaps it was a guilt thing in hindsight.

Then council’s official Visitor Information Centre at nearby Echo Point produced a map flier to promote tourist visitation to this dangerous cliff edge.  It is council tourism thrill-seeking policy to channel coach loads down Little Switzerland Drive to the edge of death.

Is there some warped competition with Watson’s Bay suicide tourism at The Gap?

Lincoln Hall famously survived a night out near the summit of Mount Everest and was pronounced dead before being found alive the next day by rescuers.  So what is the motivation behind enticing mass tourism to this exposed cliff edge?

Immediately below the rock ledge, there is a wind eroded cave and some developer minded local has started concreting in a wall at the entrance to create a squat.  Next there will be one of those silly log books, a chair, mattress, esky and port-a-loo.  More wilderness gone to the dogs.

The same valley, the Jamison Valley offers dozens of spectacular lookout vistas.  What is convenient to mass tourism is the coach captain can drive within 20 metres of Lincoln’s Rock and passengers don’t need to have any fitness.

Since council’s promotion, egged on by social media ‘must see’ promotion (trip advisor and YouTubers) and selfie mania, Lincoln’s Rock has become overrun by mass tourism, to the ire of the local residents.  Commercial photographers like Gary P Hayes, Alex Taylor, Larissa Dening have published enticing photos on the Intenet, drawing in even more mass tourism to the site and to encourage cliff edge selfie tourism.  Someone who should know better, experienced bushwalker John Paix, has posted a YouTube video of how to get there.

According to our colleague, Scenic World’s latest ticketing agency up at Katoomba Railway Station, is sending drone cowboys to Lincoln’s Rock as well.

Nearby residents are complaining of large coaches bringing tourists down the narrow access roads, leaving their rubbish behind and even defecating in the heath.

Council’s response this month is to upgrade the mass tourism access to Lincoln’s Rock by sealing the gravel Little Switzerland Drive, creating a huge paved bitumen parking area on the natural escarpment for 19 coaches, installing multilingual signs warning of the dangers of unfenced cliffs, as well as no fires or camping at a cost of more than $126,000.

Councillors are in favour of increased tourism and a proper toilet is planned.

New creative tourism opportunities abound – another Cable Way perhaps, a Tablelands clifftop restaurant, and a 300 room resort, and gift shop selling selfie sticks, but no fencing.

On Lincoln’s Rock last January a teen was sitting close to the edge with a couple of friends when he stood up, and lost his balance and fell backwards, over the cliff edge.

Toll should send the rescue bill to councils tourism department.

British tourist Josh Furber was mucking around at the slippery edge of nearby Wentworth Falls in 2013 when he fell 100 metres to his death.

A ‘death swinging’ thrill-seeking tourist at the Grose Valley’s hanging rock misjudged and fell 8 metres in 2015.  A NSW Ambulance helicopter, paramedics and police were called in to try and stabilise the man but he died at a few hours later.