The City of Lithgow (population 21,000) is on the Great Western Highway 150 km west of Sydney, and was named after William Lithgow.
To its east is the World Heritage Blue Mountains National Park and the Wollemi National Park (home of the Jurassic-age Wollemi Pine).
Although founded in 1824, it was not until the western railway line was constructed to Lithgow, in 1869, that the town prospered.