Hartz Mountains National Park is located in the south of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is one of 19 Tasmanian National Parks, and in 1989 it was included in the

Tasmanian Wilderness The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, abbreviated to TWWHA, is a World Heritage Site in Tasmania, Australia. It is one of the largest conservation areas in Australia, covering , or almost 25% of Tasmania. It is also one of the last ex ...

World Heritage Area, in recognition of its natural and cultural values.Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania: ''Hartz Mountains National Park - Introduction''
, retrieved 14 December 2010 The Hartz Mountains were named after the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

mountain range in Germany.

Geography and geology

Most of the park is over 600 metres above sea level, with altitudes ranging from 160 m at the Picton River to 1,255 m at Hartz Peak. The backbone of rock in the park is

dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained ...

, while the southern areas at lower altitudes are constituted from

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s formed from sediments deposited by marine, glacial and freshwater sources between 355 and 180 million years ago. The relief has been modified over time by several ice ages, forming

cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...

s, horn peaks, aretes and

glacial trough U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with steep, straight s ...

s.Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania: ''Hartz Mountains National Park - Highlights''
, retrieved 14 December 2010

Flora and fauna

The varied vegetation includes wet

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

forests, mixed forests dominated by

stringybark A stringybark can be any of the many ''Eucalyptus'' species which have thick, fibrous bark. Like all eucalypts, stringybarks belong to the family Myrtaceae. In exceptionally fertile locations some stringybark species (in particular messmate strin ...

(''Eucalyptus obliqua''),

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s, sub-alpine and alpine forests. The rainforest communities are dominated by myrtle (''Nothofagus cunninghamii''),

sassafras ''Sassafras'' is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia.Wolfe, Jack A. & Wehr, Wesley C. 1987. The sassafras is an ornamental tree. "Middle Eoc ...

(''Atherosperma moschatum''), leatherwood (''Eucryphia lucida'') and native laurel (''Anopterus glandulosus''). The sub-alpine forests are dominated by three eucalypt types:

snow gum ''Eucalyptus pauciflora'', commonly known as snow gum, cabbage gum or white sally, is a species of tree or mallee that is native to eastern Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to elliptical leaves, flower buds in clusters of between sev ...

(''Eucalyptus coccifera''), varnished gum (''E. vernicosa''), Australia's smallest eucalypt, and yellow gum (''E. subcrenulata''). Much of the understorey is made of heath plants, including the Tasmanian waratah (''Telopea truncata''). Most mammals in the park are nocturnal, and include Bennett's wallabies,

Tasmanian pademelon The Tasmanian pademelon (''Thylogale billardierii''), also known as the rufous-bellied pademelon or red-bellied pademelon, is the sole species of pademelon found in Tasmania, and was formerly found throughout southeastern Australia. This pademelo ...

brushtail possum The brushtail possums are the members of the genus ''Trichosurus'' in the Phalangeridae, a family of marsupials. They are native to Australia (including Tasmania) and some small nearby islands. Unique among marsupials, they have shifted the hypax ...

echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae . The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the ...

s and

platypus The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal Endemic (ecology), endemic to Eastern states of Australia, eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypu ...

. Among amphibians outstanding is the

moss froglet The moss froglet (''Crinia nimbus''), or moss frog, is a species of frog in the family Myobatrachidae. It is endemic to Tasmania. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, temperate shrubland, and swamp A swamp i ...

which was discovered at Hartz Mountains in 1992. Some of the common birds in the park include the

eastern spinebill The eastern spinebill (''Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris'') is a species of honeyeater found in south-eastern Australia in forest and woodland areas, as well as gardens in urban areas of Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. It is around 15&nb ...

green rosella The green rosella or Tasmanian rosella (''Platycercus caledonicus'') is a species of parrot native to Tasmania and Bass Strait islands. It was described by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, and named on the mistaken ass ...

forest raven The forest raven (''Corvus tasmanicus''), also commonly known as the Tasmanian raven, is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae native to Tasmania and parts of southern Victoria, such as Wilsons Promontory and Portland. Populations are also fou ...

and several

honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family (biology), family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Epthianura, Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, Manorina, miners and melidectes. They are ...

Human history

The area of the park was once inhabited by the Mellukerdee

aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. The first Europeans came to the area in the 19th century in search of

Huon pine ''Lagarostrobos franklinii'' is a species of conifer native to the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia. It is often known as the Huon pine or Macquarie pine, although it is actually a podocarp (Podocarpaceae), not a true pine (Pinaceae ...

timber. In the 1840s early settlers including the Geeves family founded the township of Geeveston, and laid the first track to the Hartz Mountains. As a result, the area became one of Tasmania's earliest popular bushwalking destinations. The increasing popularity of the area for recreation led to it being declared a scenic reserve in 1939. In 1951 it was proclaimed to a national park,ABS: ''1384.6 - Statistics - Tasmania, 2005''
/ref> and in 1989 it was included in the

World Heritage Area.

References

External links

Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service
{{Authority control National parks of Tasmania Protected areas established in 1939 Southern Tasmania 1939 establishments in Australia Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area

Geography and geology

Flora and fauna

Human history

See also

References

External links