Mount Manypeaks is a distinctive

peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...

located approximately north-east of Albany, north-east of

Two Peoples Bay Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve is a protected area managed by the Department of Parks and Wildlife east of Albany, Western Australia. The area is accessible by 2WD vehicles. The bay itself, including two small secluded beaches, faces due ea ...

and south-east of the town of

Manypeaks Manypeaks is a town located 434 km south-east of Perth and 38 km north-east of Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The township is on the South Coast Highway close to the intersection with Howie Road. The closes ...

, in

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 ...

. Mount Manypeaks Nature Reserve lies to the south of the peak, extending along the coast.

History

The mountain is the dominant feature in the area and was named by Captain

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...

in January 1802 whilst surveying the south coast region in HMS ''Investigator''. Flinders noted in his

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

: "There are a number of small peaks upon the top of this ridge, which induced me to give it the name Mount Manypeak". The

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

form has now become the accepted form of spelling.

Location and description

Situated around north-east of Albany, north-east of Two Peoples Bay and south-east of the town of Manypeaks, the mountain lies within the

City of Albany The City of Albany is a local government area in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, about south-southeast of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It covers an area of , including the Greater Albany metropolitan area and the ...

local government area.

Geology

The Mount Manypeaks formation has a total length of and has a width of . The

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

is made up primarily of a type of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

proterozoic The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...

porphyritic Porphyritic is an adjective used in geology to describe igneous rocks with a distinct difference in the size of mineral crystals, with the larger crystals known as phenocrysts. Both extrusive and intrusive rocks can be porphyritic, meaning all ...

biotite Biotite is a common group of phyllosilicate minerals within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . It is primarily a solid-solution series between the iron-endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more alumino ...

as well as

adamellite Quartz monzonite is an intrusive, felsic, igneous rock that has an approximately equal proportion of orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars. It is typically a light colored phaneritic (coarse-grained) to porphyritic granitic rock. The plagioclas ...

. In places

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

lies over the granite block.

Birds

The Mount Manypeaks Nature Reserve forms part of the

Two Peoples Bay and Mount Manypeaks Important Bird Area The Two Peoples Bay and Mount Manypeaks Important Bird Area is a 261 km2 tract of coastal and subcoastal land east of the city of Albany, Western Australia, Albany in south-west Western Australia. It is an important site for the conserva ...

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its significance in the conservation of several rare and threatened bird species.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Two Peoples Bay and Mount Manypeaks. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-11-18.

Nature reserve

Mount Manypeaks Nature Reserve stretches along the coast to the south of the mountain peak. Image:Mount Manypeaks 2.jpg, Mount Manypeaks from

Image:Mount Manypeaks 3.jpg, Mount Manypeaks from Bettys Beach

References

{{reflist

Great Southern (Western Australia) Important Bird Areas of Western Australia