Burning Mountain, the common name for Mount Wingen, is a hill near
Wingen, New South Wales
Wingen is a village in the Upper Hunter Shire, in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the New England Highway, it lies about 15 minutes from the town of Scone, New South Wales, Scone. It is known for the local ''Burning ...
, Australia, approximately north of
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
just off the
New England Highway
New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, Queensland, Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland, at its northern end to Hexham, New South Wales, Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales, ...
.
It takes its name from a
smouldering coal seam running underground through the sandstone. Burning Mountain is contained within the Burning Mountain
Nature Reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
, which is administered by the NSW
National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
A trail with information panels runs from the parking lots to the site where
smoke
Smoke is an aerosol (a suspension of airborne particulates and gases) emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwante ...
emanates from the ground.
The
Leyland brothers
The Leyland brothers were an English-born Australian duo of explorers and documentary filmmakers, consisting of Michael James "Mike" Leyland, MBE (4 September 1941 – 14 September 2009) and Malcolm Rex "Mal" Leyland, MBE (born 2 October 1944 ...
reported on Mount Wingen in the first episode of their travel programme, ''Ask The Leyland Brothers'':
Coal seam fire
The underground fire is estimated to be at a depth of around .
It is estimated that the fire has burned for approximately 6,000 years and is the oldest known coal fire.
European explorers and settlers to the area believed the smoke, coming from the ground, was volcanic in origin.
It was not until 1829 that geologist Reverend C. P. N. Wilton identified it as a coal seam fire.
The fire is generally moving in a southerly direction at a rate of about per year. The combustion has caused soil discolouration and an uneven ground surface in the area.
See also
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Brennender Berg
The Brennender Berg (Burning Mountain) is a natural monument located in a deep and narrow Canyon, gorge between Dudweiler and Sulzbach, Saarland, Sulzbach in Saarland, Germany. It is a smouldering coal seam fire, coal-seam fire that ignited in ...
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Centralia mine fire
The Centralia mine fire is a coal-seam fire that has been burning in the labyrinth of abandoned Coal mining, coal mines underneath the Borough (Pennsylvania), borough of Centralia, Pennsylvania, United States, since at least May 27, 1962. Its o ...
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Darvaza gas crater
The Darvaza gas crater (), also known as the Door to Hell or Gates of Hell, officially, the Shining of Karakum, is a burning natural gas field collapsed into a cavern near Darvaza, Turkmenistan. Hundreds of natural gas fires illuminate the floo ...
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Eternal flame
An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which ca ...
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Smoking Hills
The Smoking Hills are located on the east coast of Cape Bathurst in Canada's Northwest Territories, next to the Arctic Ocean and a small group of lakes. The cliffs were named by explorer John Franklin, who was the first European to see them on h ...
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Yanar Dag
Yanar Dagh (, ) is a natural gas fire that burns perpetually on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, a country known as " the Land of Fire". Flames rise up to from a thin, porous layer of sandstone.
The Yan ...
References
{{Hunter Region places and items of interest
Upper Hunter Shire
Mountains of New South Wales
Geology of New South Wales
Persistent natural fires
Hypothetical volcanoes