Capertee is a quiet little tablelands village, located 188 km north-west of Sydney and 42 km north of Lithgow. It sits on the peak of the Great Dividing Range, about 800 m above sea-level and has a population of about 180 people. The water from the western slopes flows west to the Murray while the eastern slopes drain into the Pacific Ocean. Grazing, farming, timbergetting and the local mines and power stations constitute the basis of the local economy.
The railway arrived from Wallerawang in 1882, enabling the exploitation of the area's known mineral resources - coal, limestone and oil shale.