Wentworth Falls Lake Sculpture Walk
Take a walk and discover the carved sandstone sculptures in the park.
With a fiery red head of densely packed flowers and large petal-like bracts, supported proudly on a few upright 2-3m long branches, the Waratah of Aboriginal dreaming stories, is the real attention seeker in eucalypt forests.
Most stunning is the wonderful symmetry of the thick red styles which kneel side by side facing the apex of a flower head that may be up to 15cm wide.
The name, ‘Telo-pea’, which means ‘seen from afar’ is most apt. After flowering 10-20 winged seeds are pouched in long woody follicles which mature from green to grey, and hang below the new red-tinged foliage like drying bananas.
The leaves too are distinctive, varying according to growing conditions. Always long, often to 16cm, some are tough with uneven toothed margins and obvious veins, while others are more softly waxy.
Family: Proteaceae
Image Credit: GABRIELLA HEGYES Telopea speciosissima (Waratah) 2000, carved sandstone, 102 x 52 x 158 cm, Wentworth Falls Lake Sculpture Project, Blue Mountains City Art Collection