Mount Banks – one of the peaks along the Explorers Range, which is located along the northern escarpment of the Grose Valley in the Blue Mountains – was temporarily called Mount King George. Which gives the trig station its name of King George. (To be more specific: explorer George Cayley named the peak Mount Banks in honour of his benefactor, Sir Joseph Banks. Hamilton Hume, another explorer, re-named it Moiuntt King George in 1827 after George IV, the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. And in 1966, the Geographical Names Board reinstated Mount Banks as the official name. Got it?)
The King George trig station is in great shape, with the concrete plinth and metal vanes sitting on a large platform constructed of sandstone blocks.
Unfortunately there are no views from the trig point, with trees and scrub covering the top of Mount Banks. A short walk gets you some filtered views of the valley below and the escarpment in the distance. However, there are some great views from the Mount Banks walking track below the summit, and even more spectacular views if you take the Mount Banks One Trail to Banks Wall.
Getting to King George Trig
The most direct way to the trig station and Mounk Banks summit is via the Mount Banks walking track. An alternate and longer way is via a combination of the walking track, and the Mount Banks One Trail which is a bushwalking and cycling trail.
Both start at the end of Mount Banks Road, an unsealed road off the Bells Line of Road which is 49km (45min drive) from Richmond and 29km (25min) from Lithgow.
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