Mount Augustus National Park is located 852 km north of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, 490 km by road east of Carnarvon and 390 km northwest of Meekatharra, in the Gascoyne region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Mount Augustus itself, the feature around which the national park is based, is known as ''Burringurrah'' to the local Wadjari Aboriginal people.Mount Augustus National Park
WA Department of Environment and Conservation (accessed 5 November 2011)

Mount Augustus

Mount Augustus is an

inselberg An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...

or monocline, not a

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

as often stated in tourist literature. There is a caravan park at nearby Mount Augustus Station homestead, which also has " Donga" style accommodation and a restaurant which is open in peak tourist season.

Geology

Mount Augustus is composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

and conglomerate, a formation known to geologists as the Mount Augustus Sandstone, which overlies older

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 ...

near its northern end.Muhling P.C. & Brakel A.T. 1985. Geology of the Bangemall Group — The evolution of an intracratonic Proterozoic basin. Western Australia Geological Survey, Bulletin 128, 266 p
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The Mount Augustus Sandstone was deposited by ancient river systems and is somewhat younger than the 1.64 billion year old granite beneath. The originally horizontal sediments have been folded into an asymmetric

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...

by later tectonic movements.

European history

Francis Thomas Gregory Francis Thomas "Frank" Gregory (19 October 1821 – 23 October 1888) was an Australian explorer and politician. Born in England, he emigrated with his family to Australia as a boy. He was the younger brother of the explorer and politician Augu ...

reached the summit on 3 June 1858 during his 107-day journey through the Gascoyne region, becoming the first recorded

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an to climb the

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 ...

. Some weeks later he named the peak after his brother, Sir Augustus Charles Gregory (1819–1905). At the time Augustus was on his last expedition, an unsuccessful foray into western

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 , establishe ...

in an attempt to discover the whereabouts of Ludwig Leichhardt. The pastoral lease, Mount Augustus Station, which once included Mount Augustus was settled in 1887. A portion of this lease along with a portion of the Cobra Station lease, totalling were voluntarily released in 1989 to create the National Park.

References

External links

Mount Augustus National Park
{{authority control National parks of Western Australia Shire of Upper Gascoyne Protected areas established in 1989 Western Australian mulga shrublands

Mount Augustus

Geology

European history

See also

References

External links