Mount Barrow ( Aboriginal: ''pialermeliggener'') is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

in the northern region of

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

, Australia. With an elevation of above sea level, the mountain is located east-north-east of Launceston. The mountain habitat is a mixture of temperate old growth rainforest,

subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

and

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

landscapes.

Location and features

Mount Barrow is a Jurassic

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-grain ...

-capped plateau with widespread block fields and a sharp summit ridge at the north-eastern end. It is the closest alpine mountain to Launceston - the plateau extends to and reaches a maximum altitude of above sea level, making it the second highest peak in eastern Tasmania. The road to the summit is periodically closed in winter due to snow; near the summit this becomes a narrow gravel road leading to a parking area, with an old stone hut nearby. The snow line is located at around . The mountain is in lands once occupied by

Tasmanian Aborigines The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...

and lies at the border of country occupied by the Ben Lomond Nation, to the south; the Letteremairener Clan, in the Tamar Valley and the Pyemmairrenerpairrener clan, to the north-east.

Nomenclature

It is probable that the indigenous name for the mountain was ''pialermeliggener'', transcribed by G.A. Robinson when he was searching the upper Pipers River area. ''pialermeliggener'' is sometimes used to describe nearby Mt Arthur, but examination of Robinson's travels and the translation of the aboriginal word (with the suffix meaning cliffs or scree near summit) accord with the exposed cliffs on most faces of Mt Barrow. The feature is shown as Row Tor on some maps of the area in the early 1800s although, confusingly, this is most often used as the early toponym for nearby Mt Arthur. The modern name is believed to have been for

Sir John Barrow Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1764 – 23 November 1848) was an English geographer, linguist, writer and civil servant best known for term as the Second Secretary to the Admiralty from 1804 until 1845. Early life Barrow was born ...

, a British Admiralty official. It is probable that Lieutenant-Governor Franklin named the mountain in Sir John Barrow's honour; as the two were likely acquainted and the mountain first appears as such on maps during Franklin's Governorship. Confusing the issue further, Mt Barrow is named 'Ben Loder' in John Glover's 1836 painting and the mountain is further mentioned in newspaper print several times as 'Mount Barron' - and may have been known colloquially as such in the 19th Century.

Cartography of the Mount Barrow region

Versions of Flinders' 1798 map, adapted in 1825, clearly show the Mt Barrow region depicted as Row Tor; however, maps of 1843 onwards clearly shows Mount Barrow marked in its present location and adds 'Row Tor' as the foothills slightly west towards Launceston. Later maps of the north-east show Row Tor as occupying the present day location of Mt Arthur, it's possible that originally Row Tor was the colloquial name for the broader north-east highlands region and the separate massifs of present-day Mount Arthur and Mount Barrow were delineated cartographically in the 1840s. Geology of Mount Barrow Mount Barrow is mostly

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

from the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

period, which has been predicted to have come to the surface around the late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

, with more recent

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 under ...

developed in the

Ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

. When the Ice age ended, rain would have washed away the stagnant dirt and uncovered the variety of rocks that can now be seen at the summit.

History of the Mount Barrow area

The mountain formed an imposing barrier to settlers for long into the 19th Century and the steep and rainforested country behind the mountain was visited infrequently. In the 1830s the country was explored by George Robinson and the botanist Robert William Lawrence, who both commented on the steep and difficult country. The hinterland was subject to scientific exploration by Paul Strzelecki in 1846 and prospectors gradually opened up the rugged country in the north-east after that time. By the late 1870s settlement had made inroads into the surrounding valleys and the forests began to be exploited for their wood, as well as clearing country for emerging settlements such as Nunamara, Patersonia and Diddleum Plains. A state reserve on Mount Barrow occupies and is an important habitat for several threatened species. These include the Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle, the spotted-tail quoll and

Eastern quoll The eastern quoll (''Dasyurus viverrinus'', formerly known as the eastern native cat) is a medium-sized carnivorous marsupial ( dasyurid), and one of six extant species of quolls. Endemic to Australia, they occur on the island state of Tasmania ...

and the Mount Arthur Burrowing Crayfish.

Marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a ...

s regularly sighted on the mountain include

wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are ada ...

pademelon Pademelons are small, furry, hopping mammals in the genus ''Thylogale'', found in Australia and New Guinea. They are some of the smallest members of the macropod family (Macropodidae), which includes the similar-looking but larger kangaroos an ...

s, Bennett's wallabies and Forester kangaroos. The reserve also features a pleasant picnic ground with a nature trail beginning and ending there. Numerous mountain streams are found across the

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

and these can turn into substantial waterfalls after heavy snowfall. Mount Barrow is the main

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and FM radio transmission site for north east Tasmania. The

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...

and

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

structures are subject to ice build up and have shields incorporated into their designs to prevent damage from falling ice. Due to the rugged terrain the programme reaches the sites via

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ra ...

links instead of the usual fibre optic cables.

Electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

power reaches the facilities by an overhead line running up the eastern side of the mountain.

References

External links