Mount Pieter Botte on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Mount Pieter Botte, also known as Ngalba-bulal, Alpaboolal (meaning big top), or Barbar (meaning elder sister), or Ginpure (meaning younger sister), is a mountain in the tableland region behind 
Australian Aborigines in the area were reported to believe that the mountain was home to their ancestral spirits.
Six
Cape Tribulation
Cape Tribulation is a headland and coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas in northern Queensland, Australia. In the , Cape Tribulation had a population of 118 people.
Geography
The locality is north of Cairns. It is within the Daintree Na ...
in Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf C ...
, Australia. It was named in 1848 by Captain Owen Stanley
Captain Owen Stanley FRS RN (13 June 1811 – 13 March 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer and surveyor.
Life
Stanley was born in Alderley, Cheshire, the son of Edward Stanley, rector of Alderley and later Bishop of Norwich. A brother w ...
of the survey ship . The name was chosen by those on board the ''Rattlesnake''. (from Voyage of Rattlesnake page 104) because of its resemblance to Peter Botte Mountain, a famous peak on the island of Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
. The mountain is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
.
There are two peaks, a northern peak and a southern peak. The South Peak is the highest point and the true summit of Mount Pieter Botte.
Australian Aborigines in the area were reported to believe that the mountain was home to their ancestral spirits.
Six Kuku Yalanji people
The Kuku Yalanji, also known as Gugu-Yalanji, Kuku Yalandji or Kokojelandji, are an Aboriginal Australian people originating from the rainforest regions of Far North Queensland.
Language
The traditional language of the people is Guugu Yala ...
, led by an elder, guided three Europeans up the climb in October 1896, the visiting botanist-cum-explorer Dudley Le Souef
William Henry Dudley Le Souef (28 September 1856 – 6 September 1923) was a founding member and founding Secretary of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in 1901, also serving as President of that body 1907–1909. His egg collec ...
, Frank Hislop and Mr. Anderson. They climbed the North Peak and then climbed to the platform below the summit of Mount Pieter Botte (South Peak). This was the first recorded European party to climb the North Peak. The South Peak itself is a sheer-sided granite outcrop which was not climbed.
On 26 August 1938, Walter Mason, Wilfred Knight and Douglas Mason also climbed the tableland behind Cape Tribulation to the base of Mount Pieter Botte.
Flora and fauna
Le Souef's expedition recordedriflebird
The genus ''Ptiloris'' consists of four allopatric species of birds in the family Paradisaeidae. These birds of paradise are commonly known as riflebirds, so named for the likeness of their black velvety plumage to the uniform of the Rifle Brig ...
s, catbirds, pittas, Spalding's orthonyx, shrikethrushes, Australian brushturkeys, Quoy's butcher bird, sulphur-crested cockatoos, superb fruit dove
The superb fruit dove (''Ptilinopus superbus''), also known as the purple-crowned fruit dove (leading to easy confusion with the purple-capped fruit dove), is a medium-sized (22–24 cm long), colourful fruit-dove in the family Columbidae.
...
s and tree kangaroo
Tree-kangaroos are marsupials of the genus ''Dendrolagus'', adapted for arboreal locomotion. They inhabit the tropical rainforests of New Guinea and far northeastern Queensland, along with some of the islands in the region. All tree-kangaroos ...
s.
The wingless water bug '' Austrovelia queenslandica'' is known only from this area. Armoured Mistfrogs (''Litoria lorica
The armoured frog (''Ranoidea lorica''), or armoured mist frog, is a species of tree frog in the torrent frog complex, a group restricted to north-eastern Queensland, Australia.
Taxonomy
The armoured mist frog is one of the four species of Aus ...
''), a critically endangered species, have been observed in Roaring Meg Creek, just below Mount Pieter Botte.
A species of a ''Medicosma
''Medicosma'' is a genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rutaceae, all native to New Guinea, Australia or New Caledonia. They usually have simple leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flowers arranged in cymes with four sepals, four petals and ei ...
'' mountain rainforest understorey tree is known only from one sample in the Mount Pieter Botte area. ''Eidothea zoexylocarya
''Eidothea zoexylocarya'' is a species of tall rainforest trees endemic to north-eastern Queensland, Australia and constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. In European–Australian science, these trees were only recognised in recent deca ...
'' is a large tree that only grows in the mountain rainforests of north-eastern Queensland, including Mount Pieter Botte. ''Romnalda ophiopogonoides
''Romnalda ophiopogonoides'' is a vulnerable species of flowering lily plants endemic to a restricted area of the Wet Tropics of Queensland. In the wild, it has only been found in a few isolated locations in the vicinity of Cooper Creek.
It i ...
'' is an endangered plant with only around 500 individuals known, including some around Roaring Meg Creek near the mountain.
See also
* List of mountains of AustraliaReferences
{{Reflist, 27em Mountains of Australia Landforms of Far North Queensland Shire of Douglas