Blue Mountains History Journal Issue 3

Blue Mountains Historical Journal 3;
Additionally, Senior Constable Morey stated (Thomas 2003, p.220) that Childe’s initialled hat, spectacles
and compass were found outside a safety fence and driver Newstead claimed that he had found them
“... on the ledge outside the safety fence and alongside it.” (Thomas 2003, p.224)
yet there has never been a fence at Luchetti Lookout. Had the fall occurred at Luchetti Lookout then the
recovery of the body would have taken a huge effort, and possibly it would not have been achievable in a
single day (Thomas 2003, p.221), for there is no walking trail from the slope below that lookout to the
Williams Track at the base of Govetts Leap to where the corpse was carried on a stretcher (Thomas 2003,
p.235).
However the recovery site was also said to have been below where
"This Lookout is on a promontory that projects from the cliff line. The safety fence is three-sided."
(Thomas 2003, p.220)
and that description fits Barrow Lookout (Figure 3).
(Photo: Peter Rickwood 2007) (Photo: Peter Rickwood 2004)
Figure 3. Barrow Lookout. The safety fence has been renewed but is similar to that in 1957.
On Tuesday 24 February 1959 additional human remains described as “... the bones of a left arm...”
(Anonymous 1959b) were discovered by Ernest (always known as Ernie) Constable (Low 1988, p.169 -
photo) - a botanical collector for the Royal Botanic Gardens from 1946 until 1968. Constable’s protégé,
Colin Slade (1990, p.5), has written that the agile Constable
“... was a smallish built man which enabled him to crawl into many normally inaccessible places, ...”
and at the time he was seeking the rare plant Isopogon fletcheri
“not sighted for nearly sixty years.” but “... which was thought to grow in the Govett’s Leap area.”
and where he subsequently relocated it (Low 1984; 1988, p.170). Confirmation of the proximity of this
famous waterfall to the discovery site came in a recording for an Oral History Project (Low 1984; 1988,
p.170), in which the botanist noted that the plant he was seeking was only known from
“... permanently wet places at Govetts Leap; ” (Low 1984; 1988, p.170)
Initially, Ernie Constable retrieved “a heavy boot and a cap ... and various other things” (Low
1988,
p.170) that he handed to the Police and on Thursday 26 February 1959 (Anonymous 1959b) he guided
Detective-Sergeant Cox and three other policemen to the discovery site
“... just to the south side of the Falls and under Luchetti Lookout. ... After we had collected everything
we could see we boiled the billy under the falls, ...” (Low 1984; 1988, p.170).
Constable’s friend, the late Lewis Hodgkinson, had the clear impression of being told that the recovery
site was in the spray area of Govett’s Leap and on the southern side beneath the first lookout south of
Govetts Leap Brook which he thought was called Luchetti Lookout (pers. comm. the late Lewis
Hodgkinson 3 January 2004) but actually is Barrow Lookout (Figures 3 & 4). This latter name was not
known to the Blackheath community in the 1950s because it was only introduced by Brian Fox in March
1999 (Fox 1999, p.14, item 43). However, Luchetti Lookout had been opened on Monday 28 January
1946 (Shaw & King 1946) and its location should not have been in doubt for it is clearly marked on maps
of that era e.g. Coleman (1946; reproduced by Fox 1999, p.88, item 616), some having been reprinted in
39