Bluff Knoll
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Bluff Knoll is the highest peak of the
Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...
in the Great Southern region of
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
(WA). It is above sea level, with a prominence of 650 m (2,130 ft). The local Aboriginal people, the
Mineng Mineng, also spelled Minang or Menang or Mirnong, are an indigenous Noongar people of southern Western Australia. Name The ethnonym ''Minang'' is etymologized to the word for south, ''minaq,'' which means that the tribe were defined as "sout ...
and
Koreng The Koreng, also spelled Goreng, are an indigenous Noongar people of south-west of Western Australia. Language ''Koreng'' belonged to the Nyungic language family, and, specifically, the Koreng appear to have spoken the Wilmun dialect of Nyung ...
/Goreng sub-groups of the
Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...
Nation, call the mountain ''Boola Miyel or'' ''Pualaar Miial'', meaning "great many-faced hill" or "many eyes", as the peak has rock formations that resemble eyes looking out across the valley. The Bluff Knoll trail is a round trip of about taking three to four hours, and has a Grade 4 rating of climbing difficulty, with some steep and rough steps. In 2020 many parts of the trail were destroyed in the
Black Summer ''Black Summer'' is a comic book limited series written by Warren Ellis, illustrated by Juan Jose Ryp, and published by Avatar Press starting in June 2007. The plot revolves around the consequences of a superhero, John Horus, who kills the Presi ...
bushfires, and has since been upgraded and improved. The view from the summit encompasses the Stirling and Porongurup mountain ranges, as well as the coast near Albany. Due to its altitude, Bluff Knoll and the surrounding peaks of the Stirling Ranges are some of only a few places to experience regular snowfalls in Western Australia. When snow is forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology it attracts hikers from all over the southwest region to experience it. The peak was given its name by Governor James Stirling as the highest point in the Stirling Range. Although Bluff Knoll is sometimes claimed to be the highest point in Western Australia, the highest peak is actually
Mount Meharry Mount Meharry is the highest mountain in Western Australia. It is located in the Hamersley Range within the southeastern part of Karijini National Park in the Pilbara region, approximately south-southeast of Wittenoom, and east-southeast of ...
in
Karijini National Park Karijini National Park is an List of national parks of Australia, Australian national park centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Caprico ...
in the
Hamersley Range The Hamersley Range is a mountainous region of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The range was named on 12 June 1861 by explorer Francis Thomas Gregory after Edward Hamersley (senior), Edward Hamersley, a prominent promoter of his explo ...
, which is above sea level.


Aboriginal History

Some Mineng and Koreng/Goreng people treat the bluff with foreboding and prefer to avoid its rocky ridges. Noongar artist Tjyllyungoo/Lance Chadd states:
"It's a place of different moods, lots of eyes looking...In the old days, old people went around that place. It holds the totemic spirit of our people."
The mountain is often shrouded in a mist which curls around the peaks and floats into the gullies. Signage at the Bluff Knoll carpark states that a mist-like spirit named ''Noatch'' (meaning "dead body" or "corpse" in the
Noongar language Noongar (; also Nyungar ) is an Australian Aboriginal language or dialect continuum, spoken by some members of the Noongar community and others. It is taught actively in Australia, including at schools, universities and through public broadcastin ...
) resides there. In '''Boola Miyel: The place of many faces Noongar Elders Jack Williams and Averil Dean state:
"Boola Miyel is the place of many faces. If you look into the rock face you will see all of the eyes of the many faces looking out at you. Boola Miyel is the place where the spirit Noyintj lives, this is the spirit of the dead...When any Noongar person dies down in Koreng country, their spirit always comes back to Boola Miyel before it passes onto the great beyond."
Elders Williams and Dean also associate Bluff Knoll with the story of a young woman who set two suitors against each other, resulting in their deaths. The young woman was banished and became a lonely spirit who wails and wanders among the peaks.


Geology

The mountain as well as the rest of the
Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...
were formed as Australia broke away from
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
. When both the continents began to separate a rift gradually opened. In the first stage of rifting, it began to open in the west, then later the eastern section began to open. The two continents pivoted slightly at a point in the west, which squeezed the sediments at the western end of the break against the Yilgarn block, which forced the sediments up to form the range. The sedimentary rocks that were folded up are 1.2 billion years old. The rocks on the range are mostly sedimentary such as sandstone, quartzite, slate and shale.


Climate

While there are no weather stations on Bluff Knoll, the
Australian Bureau of Meteorology Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...
's gridded climate dataset extrapolates the highest average elevation, coldest 0.025° × 0.025° area of the
Stirling Ranges The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...
(the from 34.35° to 34.375° S and 118.25° to 118.275° E; just excluding the summit but at a higher average elevation than its pixel) as having, averaged over its extent, a temperate or
warm-summer mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(''Csb'') according to the
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and Bureau of Meteorology classification systems. Alternatively, according to the
Trewartha climate classification The Trewartha climate classification (TCC) or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC) is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köppen ...
, it has a
temperate oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(''Do'') due to insufficiently seasonal precipitation, bordering on Trewartha's
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(''Cf'') due to its eighth-warmest month (May) being only cooler than on average. Due to
global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
since the 1961–1990 normals used in the temperature extrapolation, the area may now fall within that zone, but unlikely the summit itself. Bluff Knoll is the coldest place in Western Australia. Summers are mild while winters are cold by Australian standards; area-wide winter means are comparable to those of
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, and average August lows at the summit likely brush freezing, with maxima frequently beating the state record low figure set on 16 July 1946 at Salmon Gums and 5 August 1951 at Mount Barker. Diurnal temperature variation is significantly greater in summer than in winter, averaging in January yet only in July. Like most areas of southwestern Australia, more precipitation is recorded in winter, though precipitation events tend to be heavier in summer. Bluff Knoll is one of only a few places to experience regular snowfalls in Western Australia, with some snow reported in most years. Snow on 20 April 1970 was recorded in Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) records. A heavy snowfall was recorded on 6 October 1992 when 20 centimetres of snow fell and light snow was seen at the base, at . Snow fell on three occasions in 2016 after only falling once in 2015. A flurry was recorded on the peak after 2:00 pm on 19 April 2019—it was the earliest recorded snow event in a calendar year in the history of Western Australia.


References

{{Reflist Mountains of Western Australia Climbing areas of Australia Great Southern (Western Australia)