Mount Bartle Frere
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Mount Bartle Frere (pronunciation ˆmæɔntÌ¥ ˈbÉËɾəɫ ˈfɹɪə
Ngajanji The Ngajanji, also written ''Ngadyan,'' and Ngadjon-Jii are an Indigenous Australian people of the rainforest region south of Cairns, in northern Queensland. They form one of 8 groups, the others being Yidin, Mamu, Dyirbal, Girramay, Warrgamay ...
: 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 (topography), summit area, and ...
in
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 ...
by George Elphinstone Dalrymple 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 Empire, 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 i ...
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, coupl ...
. 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 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 Tinar ...
. 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 t ...
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 cloud c ...
at the cooler summit, where temperatures are up to 10 Â°C (18 Â°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 Cristofero Palmerston Carandini or Christopher "Christie" Palmerston (1850 – 15 January 1897) was an Australian explorer and prospector in North Queensland. He led several expeditions during the last quarter of the 19th century including the di ...
in 1886. He blazed a tree at the summit "'P' October 26,'86.". Its immediate neighbour
Mount Bellenden Ker Mount Bellenden Ker is the second-highest mountain in Queensland, Australia, with a height of . It is named after the botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler. Located south of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns near Babinda, Queensland, Babinda, it is adj ...
is the second highest mountain in Queensland at 1593 metres. 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 Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It is also used to describe terrain that falls between hiking and rock climbing (as a “scrambl ...
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 The Josephine Falls is a tiered cascade waterfall on the Josephine Creek located in Wooroonooran, Cairns Region in the Far North region of Queensland, Australia. Location and features The falls are situated at the foot of the southern face of ...
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 Mount Bellenden Ker is the second-highest mountain in Queensland, Australia, with a height of . It is named after the botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler. Located south of Cairns, Queensland, Cairns near Babinda, Queensland, Babinda, it is adj ...
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,
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 ...
and Port Douglas) 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 anti ...
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 ''Agathis atropurpurea'', commonly known as the blue kauri, and occasionally as the black kauri or purple kauri, is a species of conifer in the very ancient plant family Araucariaceae. The family was distributed almost worldwide during the Jura ...
''), ''
Elaeocarpus ferruginiflora ''Elaeocarpus'' is a genus of nearly five hundred species of flowering plants in the family Elaeocarpaceae native to the Western Indian Ocean, Tropical and Subtropical Asia, and the Pacific. Plants in the genus ''Elaeocarpus'' are trees or shrubs ...
'' and pimple bark ('' Balanops australiana''). With further increases in altitude, increasing exposure and cloud contact create conditions ideal for the formation of
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 cloud c ...
(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 i ...
. 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 nati ...
, '' 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 ''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 ...
'' 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 ''Acrotriche'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. Species occur in all states of Australia. They include: *''Acrotriche affinis'' DC. - Ridged ground-berry *''Acrotriche aggregata'' R.Br. - Red cluster heath, tall groundbe ...
'', ferns, ('' Gleichenia'' species), carnivorous sundews (''
Drosera ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genus, genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucil ...
'' 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 ''Dipodium ensifolium'', commonly known as leafy hyacinth-orchid, is an orchid species that is endemic to north-east Queensland. It has sword-shaped leaves and up to twenty pink to mauve flowers with purplish spots and blotches. Description '' ...
''.


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 The major skink (''Bellatorias frerei'') is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is found in New Guinea and Australia in the states of Queensland and New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South W ...
'' and ''
Concinnia frerei The stout barsided skink (''Concinnia frerei'') is a species of skink found in Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Co ...
''.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, 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.


See also

* List of mountains in Australia


References


External links


State8, Queensland, Bartle Frere



Visiting Bartle Frere Safely
{{Australian State Highest Points Bartle Frere Landforms of Far North Queensland Important Bird Areas of Queensland Cairns Region