Bellenden Ker Range

Bellenden Ker
Wooroonooran
Highest point
Peak Mount Bartle Frere
Elevation 1,622 m (5,322 ft)
Geography
Country Australia
State Queensland
Region Far North Queensland
Range coordinates 17°14′S 145°52′E / 17.23°S 145.87°E / -17.23; 145.87Coordinates: 17°14′S 145°52′E / 17.23°S 145.87°E / -17.23; 145.87
Parent range Great Dividing Range

The Belleden Ker Range, also known as the Wooroonooran Range[1] is a coastal mountain range in Far North Queensland, Australia. Part of the Great Dividing Range it is located between Gordonvale and Babinda.

The whole of the range falls within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area[2] and is covered in richly diverse world heritage listed wet tropical forests, including species of flora and fauna endemic to the range. The range also forms part of the Wooroonooran Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports populations of a range of bird species endemic to Queensland’s Wet Tropics.[3] Most of the range is also a gazetted protected area named Wooroonooran National Park.

Queensland's two highest mountains, Mount Bartle Frere (1622 m) and Mount Bellenden Ker (1593 m) form part of this range, and Walshs Pyramid (922 m) (one of the highest free-standing natural pyramids in the world) is located at the range's northern end .

History

The mountains were sighted by Lieutenant James Cook but weren't given the name "Bellenden Ker Range" before Lieutenant Phillip Parker King named them, on the 22 June 1819, whilst aboard the Mermaid.[4] Lieutenant Phillip King named the range after the English botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler, following the suggestion made to him by his ships own botanist, Allan Cunningham.[4] Archibald Meston was an early explorer of the range.

Rivers

The Mulgrave River rises on the southwestern slopes of the range and then flows north around the northern end and then turns south flowing parallel to the eastern side. Russell River drains the southeast parts of the range. A number of waterfalls cascade off the range including Kearneys Falls, Fishery Falls, Josephine Falls, Tchupala Falls, Wallicher Falls, Nandroya Falls, Silver Creek Falls, Whites Falls, and Clamshell Falls.

See also

References

  1. ↑ State of Queensland's Placenames Online Search - "Bellenden Ker Range" Retrieved on 2009-08-01
  2. ↑ Wet Tropics Management Authority World Heritage Area maps Retrieved on 2009-08-01
  3. ↑ BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Wooroonooran. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-12-02.
  4. 1 2 "Cairns Heritage: B Suburbs". Cairns Region. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, December 04, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.