an expansive and largely modified landscape designed to complement and enhance the visual prominence of the architecture. Due to its scale, prominent tower and siting on high ground it forms a significant landmark and civic presence at the eastern entrance to Katoomba. The view lines both into and out from the site are of high aesthetic significance. The Federation Free Classical style in uncommon in eastern Australia, and Mount St Mary's is a notable example of its use in country New South Wales. The unusually rapid construction program that enabled enrolments to be taken from February 1910 was a technical achievement given the magnitude of the development. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. Mount St Mary's College and Convent has an important association with the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity in Australia and the broader Roman Catholic Church. Mount St Mary's has a strong association with the general community and other educational communities of the Blue Mountains through engagement via academic, sporting, cultural and economic activities, and the pastoral care of the Sisters of Charity. Mount St Mary's has an important association for female students from around the State who were entrusted to the care of the Sisters of Charity, evacuees from St Vincent's College Sydney during World War II, and members of the Blue Mountains community who were given shelter at the college following the catastrophic bushfires of 1957. Mount St Mary's also has significance to the broader Christian community of the Blue Mountains as attested to by the illumination of the cross on top of the tower, which was suggested by and paid for by the general community in 1938. As a significant religious and educational institution and prominent landmark, Blue Mountains residents have a strong sense of community ownership of the site by virtue of their engagement with the site over many years and its aesthetic appeal and dramatic visual prominence. As the Renaissance Centre, its association with artists, performers and the hospitality industry ensured its continuing importance to the social and cultural life of the Katoomba and wider Blue Mountains communities. In its phases of non-use, the vacated site has evoked strong community responses, reflecting a sense of ownership and concern, and a drive for the restoration of the landmark buildings and site. The Mount St