{"id":426013,"date":"2026-01-20T18:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T18:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/426013\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T18:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T18:32:16","slug":"blue-mountains-council-closes-lincolns-rock-lookout-after-safety-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/426013\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Mountains council closes Lincoln’s Rock lookout after safety concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

A once quiet Blue Mountains lookout will be closed after being overrun by tourists recreating a photo posted by one of the world’s biggest Korean pop stars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Blue Mountains City Council is concerned the social media popularity of Lincoln’s Rock at Wentworth Falls could become deadly as visitors ignore safety warnings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From Thursday, it will temporarily shut the site for three months to prevent a tragedy at the unfenced lookout.<\/p>\n

\"Line<\/p>\n

Up to 3,000 people have visited the site within a day. (Supplied: Facebook)<\/p>\n

The now-famous outlook over the Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is not equipped to handle up to 3,000 daily visitors. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“I don’t wait for someone to be killed before I act on concerns about safety,” Mayor Mark Greenhill said.<\/p>\n

“It’s too much, it’s too unsafe, and it’s degrading the environment.”<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

In 2023, South Korean singer Jennie Kim posted photographs of herself sitting on the rock overhang after her band Blackpink performed sold-out shows in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The member of the K-pop quartet is a social media giant, with 89 million Instagram followers.<\/p>\n

Signage in the vicinity warns people to “stay safe and back from cliff edges”, but most are pictured dangling their legs over the sheer drop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cr Greenhill said the pop star’s post was one of the main reasons tour buses were clogging up the small road to the site, and people were illegally parking to get a glimpse of the view.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The spot where the K-pop star sat and posed is now sat on so often, there is actually a crater in the rock,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The growth has been so fast and so alarming that it has meant our infrastructure on the site can’t keep pace with the numbers that are coming there.”<\/p>\n

Bush as a ‘toilet’<\/p>\n

Wentworth Falls resident Jo Di Pietro lives close to Lincoln’s Rock and said people were using the surrounding bushland as a toilet block due to a lack of amenities.<\/p>\n

“They have used my front garden as a toilet and that’s quite a distance from the rock itself,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s a pretty location, but it’s sad to see it in such a state of disrepair.”<\/p>\n

People are leaving permanent scars by carving their names into the soft sandstone and destroying the surrounding vegetation from foot traffic.<\/p>\n

“It can have up to a couple of hundred people on the rock at one time,” she said.<\/p>\n

“You’ll just see lines of people queued up to get the Instagram snap and then they move on.”<\/p>\n

She welcomed the council taking the destruction “seriously”, and hoped to see a plan formulated that only allowed shuttle buses down the tiny road.<\/p>\n

“In peak times, it’s taken some residents up to half an hour to get from the top of Hordern Road to their driveway,” Ms Di Pietro said.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Jo Di Pietro hopes the temporary closure will lead to a better outcome for the environment. (Supplied: Jo Di Pietro)<\/p>\n

Gundungurra traditional custodian Uncle David King also supported the temporary closure to develop a sustainable visitor plan.<\/p>\n

He visits Lincoln’s Rock several times a week to check on its health, threatened species and clear away litter.<\/p>\n

\"Names<\/p>\n

There is vandalism on the soft sandstone at Lincoln’s Rock. (Supplied: Facebook)<\/p>\n

“We do have times where people find it is a good place to leave a lot of rubbish,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr King said groove markings made by First Nations people at Lincoln’s Rock have been impacted by vandalism.<\/p>\n

“People come in and either regroove or write their name, and in our opinion, that’s a desecration of a site,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Around Kings Tableland and Lincoln’s Rock, we’re looking at it from a cultural perspective of how do we keep that site healthy?”<\/p>\n

‘Matter of urgency’<\/p>\n

At least two people are reported to have been injured at Lincoln’s Rock.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 17-year-old boy slipped and fell approximately 30 metres in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Three years later, a 21-year-old man fell from a ledge below the lookout.<\/p>\n

\"Flat<\/p>\n

The lookout boasts panoramic views of the Jamison Valley. (Supplied: OzTrails)<\/p>\n

Both suffered serious injuries.<\/p>\n

In November, the council passed a “Mayoral Matter of Urgency” to introduce immediate measures to address the issue, including a ranger taskforce to patrol the area for six months and to expedite a long-term management plan for the precinct.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the site’s closure, the council will install gates, toilets, signage and pathways to help protect the environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ramona<\/p>\n

Deputy Mayor Ramona Hollywood and Mayor Mark Greenhill visited Lincoln’s Rock in November after residents raised concerns. (Supplied: Romola Hollywood)<\/p>\n

The mayor’s message for now is simple.<\/p>\n

“Don’t come,” Cr Greenhill said.<\/p>\n

The lookout is expected to reopen from April 30 with significant controls in place, such as a booking system for buses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A once quiet Blue Mountains lookout will be closed after being overrun by tourists recreating a photo posted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13539,223666,223667,43,9976,223664,44,1314,41,39,42,40,223665],"class_list":["post-426013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-blackpink","tag-blue-mountains-city-council","tag-blue-mountains-tourism","tag-headlines","tag-kpop","tag-lincolns-rock","tag-news","tag-social-media","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wentworth-falls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}