Mount Bellenden Ker is the second-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 area, and is usually higher t ...
in
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
,
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 ...
, with a height of . It is named after the botanist
John Bellenden Ker Gawler. Located south of
Cairns
Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people.
The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...
, and near
Babinda, it is adjacent to
Mount Bartle Frere
Mount Bartle Frere (pronunciation �mæɔntÌ¥ ˈbÉËɾəɫ ˈfɹɪə Ngajanji: Choorechillum) is the highest mountain in Queensland at an elevation of . The mountain was named after Sir Henry Bartle Frere, 1st Baronet, Sir Henry Bartle Frere ...
, the state's highest peak, part of the
Bellenden Ker Range, also known as the Wooroonooran Range. The two mountains dominate the
Josephine Falls section of the
Wooroonooran National Park.
Both peaks are made of resistant
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...
and are remnants of an escarpment that has been eroded by the
Russell and
Mulgrave Rivers.
The mountain's summit is the rainiest part of Australia. Several television
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...
towers have been built on the mountain. The only access to the television transmitter site and the mountain top weather station is by a privately owned cable car.
History
In 1873,
Walter Hill, Queensland's first Colonial botanist, undertook an expedition to northern Queensland to collect native plants and included a trip to Mount Bellenden Ker. In the same year
Robert Arthur Johnstone climbed the peak while exploring the coastal lands south of
Cooktown with
George Elphinstone Dalrymple.
Another expedition to the summit, led by
Archibald Meston, was conducted in early February to early March 1889.
Environment
The forest canopy on Bellenden Ker is an example of a
cloud forest, with high biodiversity and its frequent cloud cover and fog.
Birds
The mountain lies in the
Wooroonooran Important Bird Area, identified as such by
BirdLife International 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 2 December 2011.]
Climate
The rain gauge at its summit records an annual average rainfall of , making it the wettest meteorological station in Australia. It also holds the record for the highest rainfall in a calendar year of in 2000 and the highest rainfall in Australia for a calendar month of in January 1979.
In 2006, the mountain received more rainfall – – than any other part of Australia.
This was primarily due to two severe
tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...
s passing close to the mountain. In 2010, Queensland's wettest year on record, the top station on the mountain recorded , just under the 2000 record.
See also
*
Big Bog, Maui
*
Cherrapunji
*
List of mountains in Australia
This is a list of mountains in Australia.
Highest points by state and territory
List of mountains in Australia by topographic prominence
This is a list of the top 50 mountains in Australia ranked by topographic prominence. Most of these ...
*
Mount Waialeale
*
Quibdó
Quibdó () is the capital city of Chocó Department, in the Pacific/Chocó natural region, Pacific Region of Colombia, and is located on the Atrato River. The municipality of Quibdó has an area of and a population of 129,237, predominantly A ...
*
References
{{Reflist
External links
Queensland tropical rain forests
Bellenden Ker
Landforms of Far North Queensland
Important Bird Areas of Queensland
Cairns Region