Mount Bartle Frere (pronunciation �mæɔnt̥ ˈbɐːɾəɫ ˈfɹɪə Ngajanji: Choorechillum) is the highest

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 higher t ...

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_ ...

at an elevation of . The mountain was named after Sir Henry Bartle Frere, a British colonial administrator and then president of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

George Elphinstone Dalrymple George Augustus Frederick Elphinstone Dalrymple (6 May 1826 – 22 January 1876) was a colonist, explorer, public servant and politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. He founded the towns of Bowen and Cardwell, and pionee ...

in 1873. Bartle Frere was British Governor of

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with th ...

at the outset of the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, cou ...

. It is located south of

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

in the

Wooroonooran National Park Wooroonooran National Park (Aboriginal for "Black Rock") is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 1,367 km northwest of Brisbane, between Innisfail and Cairns. The park is one of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area series of national ...

southwest of the town of Babinda on the eastern edge of the

Atherton Tablelands The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tina ...

. Mount Bartle Frere is part of the

Bellenden Ker Range The Bellenden Ker Range, also known as the Wooroonooran Range is a coastal mountain range in Far North Queensland, Australia. Part of the Great Dividing Range it is located between Gordonvale and Babinda. The whole of the range falls within th ...

and the watershed of Russell River. The foothill to summit is entirely covered by rainforest, ranging from typical

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

in the lowlands to low

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level clou ...

at the cooler summit, where temperatures are up to 10 °C (18 °F) lower than on the coast. Despite the treacherous climb, reaching the top offers an expansive view of the surrounding area.

History

The first European to scale the mountain was Christie Palmerston in 1886. He blazed a tree at the summit "'P' October 26,'86.". Its immediate neighbour Mount Bellenden Ker is the second highest mountain in Queensland at 1593 metres. B-25C 41-12455

On 21 April 1942 an American Air Corps

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

medium-range bomber (41-12455), from the 3rd Bomb Group, 90th Bomb Squadron, crashed on the mountain with the loss of all seven crew members. This particular aircraft had only recently returned from the Royce Raid against Japanese forces in the Philippines.

Climbing

The summit of Mount Bartle Frere, when it is not covered in cloud, offers the chance to view both the coastal lowlands and the Atherton Tablelands. The climb can be quite steep in places with some rock scrambling required. Sudden weather changes have been known to occur in the area. The ascent to the summit can be quite treacherous and many tourists have become lost, some for several days, while climbing the mountain. The main reasons for this are the unpredictable weather, poor preparation and occasionally obscure track markers. Nonetheless, an experienced climber should have no problem summiting after an early start from the Josephine Falls car park. The total distance from Josephine Falls is 15 km return and would normally take between 10–12 hours. The vertical elevation gained is around 1500 metres. This area of Queensland records several metres of rain every year, so it is not unusual for the peak to be covered in cloud. The best time to climb Bartle Frere is during the dry season (April to October) when the weather is cooler and likelihood of rain is lower. There are yellow markers placed reasonably clearly every kilometre along the trail. An easier alternative is to approach from a small camp site at the western side. It is reachable by car via Topaz Road and Gourka Road. From this starting point (at an altitude of 700 m), it's relatively easy to complete the climb and descent in a day. It is a favourite with local bushwalking clubs and is best attempted in the dry winter months, from June to October. Walking during the wet season (November to March) brings with it the risks of torrential tropical downpours and poor visibility. Rock slips occur occasionally. Leeches are a hazard at any time of year. There is a shorter 10 km return trail to 'Broken Nose', a spur feature on the southern side from Josephine Falls. Although there is a large map at the Josephine Falls car park, there are no other maps or ranger station before the climb.

Environment

Climate

Although no rain gauge exists on the mountain, data at nearby Mount Bellenden Ker suggest an annual average rainfall of around , and an estimated potential maximum as high as , both of which would make the mountain one of the wettest places in the world. Even in what constitutes the "dry" in most of tropical Australia, rainfall on the summit is very heavy at around in May and in August, whilst in the wettest month of March estimated averages are as high as and maxima around . Calculations based on available lowland data (from Innisfail,

and

Port Douglas Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately 60 km north of Cairns. In the , Port Douglas had a population of 3,504 people. The town's population can often double, however, with the i ...

) would suggest ''daily'' rainfalls could have been potentially as high as during a

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...

in 1911 – which if accurate would be the highest daily rainfall in the world.

Vegetation

The high altitude and rainfall of the mountain create conditions for a number of vegetation types growing on the poor granitic soils. The lower slopes support lowland tropical rainforest (complex mesophyll vine forest) with a great diversity of large leaved trees, climbers, epiphytes, palms and ferns. With increasing elevation the rainforest changes to a less diverse smaller leaved notophyll type. At elevations above 1000 m, simple microphyll vine fern forest is found with species such as the purple kauri pine ('' Agathis atropurpurea''), '' Elaeocarpus ferruginiflora'' and pimple bark (''

Balanops australiana ''Balanops'' is a group of flowering plants described as a genus in 1871. The nine species are trees or shrubs, found in New Caledonia, Fiji, Vanuatu, and northern Queensland. They are dioecious, with separate male and female plants. The genus ...

''). With further increases in altitude, increasing exposure and cloud contact create conditions ideal for the formation of

(simple microphyll vine fern thicket); many of the species are rare or endemic and most trees are shrouded in mosses and other

bryophytes The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants ( embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in ...

. The stunted tree ''Eucryphia wilkei'' found in the cloud forest above 1500 m elevation on Mount Bartle Frere exists nowhere else on earth and has relatives in the cool temperate rainforests of

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

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Other notable species include the mountain aspen '' Acronychia chooreechillum'', '' Trochocarpa bellendenkerensis'', '' Polyscias bellendenkerensis'', the vine '' Parsonsia bartlensis'' and Australia's only native

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nat ...

, '' Rhododendron lochiae'', which grows on top of the large granite boulders or as an

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

in the cloud forest canopy. '' Eidothea zoexylocarya'' was initially discovered on the slopes of Mount Bartle Frere, which holds its main populations. In some areas near the summit the granitic soil is so leached of nutrients by the very high rainfall that rainforest plants are replaced by heath plants such as '' Acrothamnus spathaceus'', '' Acrotriche baileyana'', ferns, (''

Gleichenia ''Gleichenia'' is a genus of ferns. Its closest relative is the genus '' Stromatopteris'', restricted to New Caledonia. Species include: * '' Gleichenia abscida'' Rodway * '' Gleichenia alpina'' R.Br. * '' Gleichenia cryptocarpa'' * ''Gleichenia ...

'' species), carnivorous sundews (''

Drosera ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginou ...

'' species) and the

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

, '' Dipodium ensifolium''.

Fauna

The Bartle Frere skink, an endangered species of lizard, is found on the slopes of Mount Bartle Frere and surrounding peaks above 1400 m. Mount Bartle Frere is commemorated in the scientific names of two other species of lizards found on the mountain, '' Bellatorias frerei'' and '' Concinnia frerei''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Frere", p. 94). The mountain lies in the

Wooroonooran Important Bird Area The Wooroonooran Important Bird Area comprises some 5125 km2 of mainly forested land in the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site, of Far North Queensland, Australia. Description The site encompasses the largest block of tropical r ...

, 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 it supports populations of a range of bird species endemic to Queensland's Wet Tropics.BirdLife International. (2011). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Wooroonooran. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2011-12-02.

References

External links

State8, Queensland, Bartle Frere

Visiting Bartle Frere Safely
{{Australian State Highest Points

Bartle Frere Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet, (29 March 1815 – 29 May 1884) was a Welsh British colonial administrator. He had a successful career in India, rising to become Governor of Bombay (1862–1867). However, as High Commissioner fo ...

Landforms of Far North Queensland Important Bird Areas of Queensland Cairns Region