The Three Sisters, Katoomba

The Three Sisters are named Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo and an Aboriginal Dreamtime legend has it that the sisters, Meehni, Winlah and Gunnedoo, lived in the area with Tyawan, their witch-doctor father. They all feared a bunyip who lived in a deep hole nearby. When Tyawan had to leave his daughters, he would take them to a high cliff behind a rock wall to protect them.

One day when Tyawan went down into the valley, the daughters became stranded on a thin ledge. The bunyip tried to attack them but when Tyawan saw what was about to happen he pointed his magic bone at his daughters and turned them to stone. He knew they would be safe until the bunyip had gone and he could return to them and turn them back to their former selves.

However the bunyip became angry and turned on Tyawan. Tyawan became trapped and turned himself into a lyre bird, escaping into a small cave. In all the fuss the magic bone was lost. When the bunyip returned to his hole, Tyawan began to search for his magic bone.

He is still looking for it to this day while the three sisters remain as stone, silently waiting for Tyawan to one day find the magic bone and bring them back to life.

Another legend tells of three sisters named Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo who lived in the Jamison Valley as part of the Gundungurra tribe. The sisters fell in love with three men from a nearby tribe but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. The brothers did not accept this law and tried to capture the three sisters. This resulted in a major tribal battle. The sisters were turned to stone to protect them during the battle, however the elder who turned them to stone was killed during the fighting and no one else could turn the sisters back to human form.