Hartley Vale Cemetery

Hartley Cemetery is one of the earliest cemeteries west of the Blue Mountains. On the Hartley Plain just below the escarpment at Victoria Pass, it contains memorials from as early as 1847 and many of the district's pioneers were buried there in the second half of the 19th century. Yet, remarkably, it remains a working cemetery to this day. There is a wide variety of beautiful sandstone monuments that are a tribute to those early masons. The engravings are mostly clear and easier to read than many of the modern headstones. A feature of the cemetery is a pair of modern vaults, but no details are provided of these interred therein. The site is preserved in excellent condition by the Lithgow City Council who, we are informed, only recently pressure-cleaned the old stones. We found the grounds neat and tidy and the lawns mown while rabbit holes and broken glass were totally absent. https://www.facebook.com/AskRozBlueMountains/posts/historic-snapshot-discover-the-hidden-stories-of-hartley-vale-cemeterya-fascinat/1200116828809078/