The McPherson Range is an extensive

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

, a spur of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs roug ...

, heading in an easterly direction from near

Wallangarra Wallangarra is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia on the border with New South Wales. In the , the locality of Wallangarra had a population of 468 people. It is the third-most southerly town in Quee ...

to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

coastline. It forms part of the

Scenic Rim The Scenic Rim is a group of forested mountain ranges of the Great Dividing Range, located south of Brisbane agglomeration, straddling the border between south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. In 2021, the Sce ...

on the border between the states of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. Further west of the McPherson Range is the Main Range. Towards the coast the range continues into the Border Ranges and other mountainous terrain formed by the Tweed Volcano. The Australian electoral

Division of McPherson The Division of McPherson is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. Geography Since 1984, federal electoral division boundaries in Australia have been determined at redistributions by a redistribution committee appointed by the Austr ...

was named after the mountain range.

Geography

Wilsons Peak Wilsons Peak ( Aboriginal: ''Jirramen'') is a mountain on the border of New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. Much of which is covered in rainforest. It marks the intersection of the Great Dividing Range with the McPherson Range in the Sc ...

is considered to be the intersection of the Great Divide and the McPherson Range. There are five waterfalls in this part of the range including Teviot Falls, Queen Mary Falls, Daggs Falls and Browns Falls . Other notable mountains in the range include Mount Lindesay and Mount Barney. The range is an area of significant scenic beauty and contains a multitude of

national parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

, including Mount Barney National Park,

Border Ranges National Park The Border Ranges National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. A small portion of the national park is also located in South East Queensland. The park is situated approxi ...

and

Lamington National Park The Lamington National Park is a national park, lying on the Lamington Plateau of the McPherson Range on the Queensland/New South Wales border in Australia. From Southport on the Gold Coast the park is to the southwest and Brisbane is north. T ...

among others which possess

World Heritage 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 ...

listing, as the

Gondwana Rainforests of Australia The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, formerly known as the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, are the most extensive area of subtropical rainforest in the world. Collectively, the rainforests are a World Heritage Site with fifty separate res ...

. The Sydney–Brisbane rail corridor and the

Lions Road The Lions Road is a section of the road running between the Summerland Way in New South Wales and the Mount Lindesay Highway near Rathdowney, Queensland at Running Creek. It joins two pre-existing sections of rural road, namely Gradys Creek ...

pass over the range at Richmond Gap, as does the Mount Lindesay Highway and the Nerang-

Murwillumbah Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848 km north ...

Road. A third passage through Teviot Gap, provides a road route between Boonah and

Killarney Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Cast ...

near Wilson's Peak.

History

The ranges were first explored by white settlers in 1828. The party was headed by Allan Cunningham and

Patrick Logan Captain Patrick Logan (1791 – October 1830) was the commandant of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement from 1826 until his death in 1830 at the hands of Aboriginal Australians who objected to him entering their lands. As he had been hated by con ...

while searching for a route to the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...

from the newly established

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and a ...

penal colony. Logan had climbed Mount Barney thinking that he was on

Mount Warning Mount Warning ( Bundjalung: ''Wollumbin''), a mountain in the Tweed Range in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, was formed from a volcanic plug of the now-gone Tweed Volcano. The mountain is located west-south-west of ...

until he reached the summit and saw the true Mount Warning further south. Realising they were on another range they named it the McPherson Range. Logan named

and Mount Shadforth, which is now known as Mount Toowoonan. MtBarney

The McPherson Range was the location of the 1937 Airlines of Australia Stinson crash, which went missing on a flight between Brisbane and Sydney in 1937. Bernard O'Reilly, a local farmer, trekked through thick forests and rugged terrain to discover the wreck and two emaciated, badly injured survivors, nine days after the crash.

Flora and fauna

The sub-tropical rainforest on the range has never been damaged by severe

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

(until the fires of 2019)and contains more than 20 species of rock and tree orchids. The stream lily is a perennial plant found along creeks and gullies of the range. The extinct fern species '' Antrophyum austroqueenslandicum'' may still exist in unsurveyed parts of the range. The unique Lamington spiny crayfish colours has evolved with white in New South Wales valleys and blue crayfish in Queensland's section of the range. The rainforests contain important populations of the endangered rufous scrub-bird, and the vulnerable Albert's lyrebird, both of which are confined to south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales.

References

External links

{{Northern Rivers region , state=autocollapse South East Queensland Northern Rivers Great Dividing Range Kyogle Council

Geography

History

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links