Mount Wellington (Tasmania) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mount Wellington
kunanyi
Mount Wellington viewed from Lindisfarne Bay on the Eastern Shore of the River Derwent, with its seasonal snow cap visible
Highest point
Elevation	1,271 m (4,170 ft)
Prominence	693 m (2,274 ft)
Isolation	47.56 km (29.55 mi)
Listing	49th highest mountain of Tasmania
Geography
Mount Wellington Location in Tasmania
Location	South East Tasmania, Australia
Parent range	Wellington
Geology
Mountain type	Dolerite
Climbing
First ascent	numerous unknown pre-1798 George Bass (may have been a partial climb; 1798; European) Robert Brown 1804; European
Easiest route	Hike, road

Mount Wellington, also known as kunanyi (palawa kani: /kuːˈnɑːnjiː/) and gazetted as kunanyi / Mount Wellington is a mountain in the south-east of Tasmania, Australia. It is the summit of the Wellington Range and is within Wellington Park reserve. Hobart, Tasmania's capital city, is located at the foot of the mountain.

The mountain rises 1,271 metres (4,170 ft) above sea level and is frequently covered by snow, sometimes even in summer, and the lower slopes are thickly forested, but crisscrossed by many walking tracks and a few fire trails. There is also a sealed narrow road to the summit, about 22 kilometres (14 mi) from Hobart central business district. An enclosed lookout near the summit has views of the city below and to the east, the Derwent estuary, and also glimpses of the World Heritage Area nearly 100 kilometres (62 mi) west. From Hobart, the most distinctive feature of Mount Wellington is the cliff of dolerite columns known as the Organ Pipes.

Geology

Greater Hobart area from Mount Wellington

The low-lying areas and foothills of Mount Wellington were formed by slow geological upsurge when the whole Hobart area was a low-lying cold shallow seabed. The upper reaches of the mountain were formed more violently, as a Sill with a tabular mass of igneous rock that has been intruded laterally between layers of older rock pushing upwards by upsurges of molten rock as the Australian continental shelf tore away from Antarctica, and separated from Gondwana over 40 million years ago.

Aboriginal history

The Aboriginal people of the area referred to Mount Wellington as kunanyi (or ungyhaletta), poorawetter (or pooranetere, also pooranetteri). The Palawa, the surviving descendants of the original Aboriginal Tasmanians, tend to prefer the latter name. In 2013, the Tasmanian government announced a dual naming policy and "kunanyi / Mount Wellington" was named as one of the inaugural dual named geographic features.

European history

The first recorded European in the area, Abel Tasman, probably did not see the mountain in 1642, as his ship was quite a distance out to sea as he sailed up the south east coast of the island – coming closer in near present-day North and Marion Bays.

No other Europeans visited Tasmania until the late eighteenth century, when several visited southern Tasmania (then referred to as Van Diemens Land), including Frenchman Marion du Fresne (1772), Englishmen Tobias Furneaux (1773), James Cook (1777) and William Bligh (1788 and 1792), and Frenchman Bruni d'Entrecasteaux (1792–93). In 1793 John Hayes arrived at the River Derwent, naming the mountain Skiddaw, after the mountain in the Lake District, although this name never gained popularity.

In 1798 Matthew Flinders and George Bass circumnavigated the island. While they were resting in the area Flinders named the river the River Derwent (the name Hayes had given only to the upper part of the river), Flinders referred to the mountain as "Table Mountain" (the name given to it by Bond and Bligh) for its similarity in appearance to Table Mountain in South Africa. d'Entrecasteaux's men were the first Europeans to sail up the river and chart it. Later Nicholas Baudin led another French expedition in 1802, and while sheltering in the River Derwent (which they referred to as "River du Nord" – the name d'Entrecasteaux had given to it) Baudin also referred to the mountain as "Montagne du Plateau" (also named by d'Entrecasteaux). However, the British first settled in the Hobart area in 1804, resulting in Flinders' name of "Table Mountain" becoming more popular. Table Mountain remained its common name until in 1832 it was decided to rename the mountain in honour of the Duke of Wellington who, with Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in present-day Belgium on 18 June 1815.

A small waterfall in New Town Rivulet near the head of the rivulet on the slopes of Mt Arthur, a sub-peak of Mt Wellington

In February 1836, Charles Darwin visited Hobart Town and climbed Mount Wellington.

The first weather station was set up on Mount Wellington in 1895 by Clement Lindley Wragge.

Mount Wellington has played host to some notorious characters over time, especially the bushranger John "Rocky" Whelan, who murdered several travellers in the middle of the 19th century. The cave where he lived is known as "Rocky Whelan's Cave", and is an easy walk from the Springs.

Development

Organ Pipes at the top of the mountain

The lookout building near the summit, with the main radio and television transmitter in the background

Throughout the 19th and into the 20th centuries, the mountain was a popular day-resort for residents of Hobart. To that end, many excursion huts were built over the lower slopes of the mountain. However, none of these early huts survive; they were all destroyed during the bushfires of 1967. Modern huts are open to the public at the Springs, the Pinnacle, the Chalet – a picnic spot about halfway between the Springs and the Pinnacle – and elsewhere. Many of the more remote huts have suffered from vandalism, and some are virtually derelict.

The road to the summit was constructed in the early 1930s as a relief scheme for the unemployed, an idea initiated by Albert Ogilvie, the premier of Tasmania of the day. While the road is officially known as the Pinnacle Drive, it was for some time also widely known among residents of Hobart as "Ogilvie's Scar" because at the time it was constructed "the Mountain" was heavily logged and almost bare, and the road was an all-too-obvious scar across the already denuded mountain. Today the trees have grown again, but the "scar" most people see today is not actually the road but a line of large rocks with no trees 50–100 m above the road, provided as an easement for power lines. The road itself was opened on 23 January 1937, after two years of work, by Governor Sir Ernest Clark.

The road carries tourist traffic during the day, and sections may be closed at any time of the year due to snowfalls or icy conditions. Halfway up this road (at 720 metres) is a picnic area called "The Springs", near the site of a chalet/health spa that was destroyed by bushfire in 1967.

Broadcast tower

Mount Wellington was selected by many broadcasters as the site of radio and television transmitters as it provides line-of-sight transmission to a large area of Hobart and surrounding districts. Two steel lattice towers were erected in 1960 to deliver television services to Tasmania, these being a 104m tower known as the Post Master General tower (PMG tower) and another owned by WIN Corporation, the latter still present today. The PMG tower faced significant issues with snow and ice, and in 1982 a radome was added to protect the tower's antennas. Planning for a replacement tower began in the late 1980s, and in 1993 plans were finalised for a new 131m concrete and steel tower to withstand the mountain's harsh weather conditions. Between 1994 and 1995, the new concrete and steel Broadcast Australia tower (NTA tower) was constructed, leading to the PMG tower being demolished in January 1997. The NTA tower broadcasts all of Hobart's high-power FM radio stations, plus the digital TV services for ABC and SBS. It also has a small accommodation area at its base, with a kitchen and workshop area. The WIN tower broadcasts the digital TV services for Southern Cross, WIN Television, and Tasmanian Digital Television. The site also contains some data links from local Hobart businesses. An amateur radio repeater is also installed on the mountain.

Lyle Closs jumps to Albert's Tomb, Organ Pipes on Mount Wellington, 1974

Bryan Kennedy solo climbing on Battlements, Organ Pipes on Mount Wellington, 1977

Cable car proposals

An aerial cable car has been proposed for the mountain on four occasions. On 27 July 2022, the Hobart City Council rejected the planning application on 21 areas of non-compliance. The council received over 16,500 public submissions on the proposal, of which 70% were against it. The Mount Wellington Cableway Company (MWCC) then appealed to the Tasmanian Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which in November 2022 upheld the decision of the Hobart City Council, rejecting the proposal on 18 of 26 contested grounds of refusal. The MWCC has not submitted an appeal to the decision.

Climate

Mount Wellington has a Tundra Climate (Köppen: ET). The mountain significantly influences Hobart's weather, and intending visitors to the summit are advised to dress warmly against the often icy winds at the summit, which have been recorded at sustained speeds of over 157 kilometres per hour (98 mph), with rare gusts of up to 200 kilometres per hour (120 mph). In the winter it frequently snows and the mountain is often snowcapped. Lighter snowfalls in spring, summer and autumn are also common. A day on the summit can consist of clear sunny skies, then rain, snow, icy winds and clear again.

See also

In Spanish: Monte Wellington para niños