Erskine Valley is a small, steep-sided, forested valley, containing the

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

Erskine Creek with several small

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

s. About one kilometre long and broad, it lies between Mounts Lidgbird (to the north) and

Gower The Gower Peninsula (), or simply Gower (), is a peninsula in the south-west of Wales. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan, and is now within the City and County of Swansea. It projects towards the Bristol Channel ...

(to the south), on the western side of the southern end of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

’s

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...

in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...

. The valley is traversed by the popular hiking track to the summit of Mount Gower. It was named after Thomas Erskine,

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807. A description of the valley by Robert Etheridge in 1889 reads:

Mounts Ledgbird 'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''and Gower are separated by Erskine Valley, or the "Between Hills", a deep and wide depression, running down to the south- west coast. Its descent is very rapid and steep, with more or less permanent water, the sides of the valley being everywhere covered with boulders and volcanic ''débris'', interspersed amongst the densest possible vegetation. The saddle at the head of this declivity, forming the connecting neck between the two hills, is very narrow, probably not more than twenty to thirty yards, covered with large boulders, and supporting a low, stunted vegetation and much under-growth, bearing testimony in the twisted and gnarled condition of the trees to the heavy squalls amid gales which pass across it, and of which we had a vivid personal experience during the night we were camped in this otherwise charming spot. Erskine Valley acts, in fact, as a kind of funnel, and reminded me much of the deep, long gulches with which the Island of St. Helena is cut up. The saddle cannot be far short of 2,000 feet above sea-level.

References

Geography of Lord Howe Island Valleys of Australia {{NewSouthWales-geo-stub