Whispering Gallery lies on part of the original Croome Estate.
The Gallery is a natural cavern, 200 feet deep in places, approaching a quarter mile long and about 300 feet wide. It contains several threatened and other species of flora including sassafras, staghorn fern, fig, wild orchid, and some of the oldest and least touched forests along the Eastern seaboard.
By 1840, Whispering Gallery was a significant tourist and picnic site that continued into the early 20th century. It is noted in guesthouse, road and railway tourist booklets.
Whispering Gallery is said to take its name from its acoustic properties, which resemble those of the celebrated whispering gallery of St Paul’s Cathedral, London.
This circular cavern has been washed out from beneath the overhanging basaltic rock by the slow action of the weather and waterfall.
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| Whispering Gallery c.1910 Shellharbour Images, Shellharbour City Libraries |
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| Whispering Gallery c.2003 Shellharbour Images, Shellharbour City Libraries |
Which one was the first? St.Pauls or this Croome Estate's one?
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine,
ReplyDeleteWhispering Gallery (Croome Estate) was carved out over many thousands of years. European settlers in the 1800s named the cavern 'Whispering Gallery' in honour of the gallery at St Paul's Cathedral, after noticing similar acoustic qualities between the two.