Carruthers Peak, formerly Curruthers Peak, 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 (topography), summit area, and ...
in the
Main Range 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 rough ...
, is located in
Snowy Mountains
The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera system ...
region in southeast
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 ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The peak is situated between Mount Lee and
Mount Twynam
Mount Twynam is a mountain located on the Main Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, Australia. The mountain is located close the border between New South Wales and Victoria.
With an elevation ...
within the
Kosciuszko National Park
The Kosciuszko National Park () is a national park and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, for which it is named, and Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Its borders contain a mix of rugged mountains and wildern ...
.
With an elevation of
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
, Carruthers Peak is the seventh-highest peak in mainland Australia.
[
It was named after ]Joseph Carruthers
Sir Joseph Hector McNeil Carruthers (21 December 185710 December 1932) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1904 to 1907.
Carruthers is perhaps best remembered for founding the Liberal and Reform Associa ...
, a Premier of New South Wales
The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...
, who, while he served as Minister for Lands,[ facilitated the building of the Summit Road to ]Mount Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko ( ; Ngarigo: , ), previously spelled Mount Kosciusko, is mainland Australia's tallest mountain, at 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level. It is located on the Main Range of the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National ...
. It can be easily accessed, with the Main Range walk going straight up it.
Geology
The area around it contains patches of the rare windswept feldmark
Feldmark, also spelt fjaeldmark (), is a plant community characteristic of sites where plant growth is severely restricted by extremes of cold and exposure to wind, typical of alpine tundra and subantarctic environments.
Description
Feldmark pla ...
ecotope
Ecotopes are the smallest ecologically distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system. As such, they represent relatively homogeneous, spatially explicit landscape functional units that are useful for stratifying land ...
. Due to a century of grazing on the Main Range, the area around it was heavily eroded. From the 1950s Soil Conservation Service undertook an extensive program of rehabilitation of the vegetation of the Carruthers Peak–Mount Twynam area using bitumen, wire netting and bales of straw.[None of these methods were very effective. However, by chance the bales of hay carried sheep sorrel which held the soil together for the recolonisation of native plants.] It lies on a vein of shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
running south-southeast through the predominant 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 ...
.
See also
* Australian Alps
The Australian Alps is a mountain range in southeast Australia. It comprises an interim Australian bioregion,
* List of mountains in New South Wales
References
Snowy Mountains
Carruthers Carruthers, sometimes Caruthers, is a Scottish people, Scottish surname and Clan Carruthers, clan, originating from the lands of Carruthers in Dumfriesshire.
The place name is derived from the Cumbric language, Cumbric elements ''ker'' ("fort") and ...
{{NewSouthWales-geo-stub