Brown Peak is the highest point of the Balleny Islands

Balleny Islands

The Balleny Islands are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E. The group extends for about in a northwest-southeast direction. The islands are heavily glaciated and are of volcanic origin. Glaciers project from their slopes...

. It is situated on the northern part of Sturge Island

Sturge Island

Sturge Island is one of the three main islands in the uninhabited Balleny Islands group located in the Southern Ocean. It lies southeast of Buckle Island and northeast of Belousov Point on the Antarctic mainland...

, near East Antarctica

East Antarctica

East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority of the Antarctic continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains...

. A stratovolcano

Stratovolcano

A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a tall, conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions...

, Brown Peak is considered to belong to the Balleny Islands Ranges, a subset of the Wilkes Land Coast Ranges

Wilkes Land Coast Ranges

-Location:Wilkes Land Coast Ranges are centered at in the Wilkes Land area of the Australian Antarctic Territory, East Antarctica. These ranges are considered to be a subset of their parent ranges, the East Antarctica Ranges. The highest peaks in the Wilkes Land Coast Ranges are listed below:-...

. These are in turn a subset of the East Antarctica Ranges

East Antarctica Ranges

The East Antarctica Ranges are one of the three largest mountain ranges in Antarctica, the others are the Transantarctic Mountains and West Antarctica Ranges. The East Antarctica Ranges, located on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, have 29 known peaks whose summits reach or exceed 2000 meters above sea...

.

Discovery and naming

John Balleny

John Balleny

John Balleny was the English captain of a whaling schooner, the Eliza Scott, who led an exploration cruise for the English whaling firm Samuel Enderby & Sons to the Antarctic in 1838-1839....

 discovered Brown Peak in February 1839, and named it for W. Brown, a merchant who provided financial support to the Enderby Brothers' expedition. In 1841, Captain James Clark Ross

James Clark Ross

Sir James Clark Ross , was a British naval officer and explorer. He explored the Arctic with his uncle Sir John Ross and Sir William Parry, and later led his own expedition to Antarctica.-Arctic explorer:...

, who sighted the islands on his own expedition to Antarctica, gave it the name Russell Peak.