Stirling Range - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, 337 km south-east of Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. It is located at approximately 34°24′S 118°09′E and is over 60 km wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker

Mount Barker, Western Australia

Mount Barker is a town on the Albany Highway and is the administrative centre of the Shire of Plantagenet in the Great Southern region of Western Australia...

and Cranbrook

Cranbrook, Western Australia

Cranbrook is a small town in the Great Southern region of Western Australia between Katanning, Kojonup and Mount Barker, situated 320km south of Perth. It is billed as "The Gateway to the Stirlings", referring to the nearby Stirling Range National Park...

eastward past Gnowangerup

Gnowangerup, Western Australia

Gnowangerup is a town located south east of Katanning in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The townsite was first gazetted in 1908 under the spelling of Ngowangerupp. Local dissatisfaction with this spelling led to it being altered to Gnowangerup in 1913.A branch railway from...

. The Stirling Range is protected by the Stirling Range National Park

Stirling Range National Park

Stirling Range National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately 337 km south-east of Perth.-Description:...

, which was gazetted in 1913, and has an area of 1,159 km².

Geology

The mountains are formed of metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...

s made from sediment

Sediment

Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....

s deposited during the Ediacaran Period (as indicated by the presence of characteristic fossils). The sediments were subsequently metamorphosed to quartzites and shales and folded during reactivation of basement structures recording lateral displacements between Antarctica and Australia. Despite the relative youth of the mountains, the soils remain very poor, creating the species-rich heathland flora.

As the only vertical obstacle to weather

Weather

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

in any direction, the range also tends to alter weather patterns around itself. Its upper slopes receive significantly more rainfall than surrounding areas. The branch of the Kalgan River

Kalgan River

The Kalgan River is a river in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.The mouth of the river is found at coordinates 34°57'3.13"S 117°58'41.41"E.- Geography :The river is long and, along with the King River, drains into Oyster Harbour...

, which forms the southwestern border of the park, is fed in large part from precipitation falling in the western half of the range.

Climate

The annual rainfall in the plains around the park is quite low compared with the rainy Porongurups to the south, averaging only 575 millimetres (23 inches) on the southern side and as little as 400 millimetres (16 inches) in Borden on the northern side. However, it is believed that rainfall on the peaks near Bluff Knoll may be as high as 1100 millimetres (43 inches), a hypothesis supported by the existence of distinctly moist-climate pockets of vegetation in some high valleys. Because no rain gauges have ever been placed on the high peaks (climate change

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

since the late 1960s makes short-term gauges unreliable anyway) we cannot be sure of this. Most rain falls between May and August, with summer being very frequently completely dry around Borden for over a month and having typically very light showers in the south and on the peaks.

Temperatures in the lowlands are generally warm. In the summer, average maxima typically are around 30°C (86°F) in Borden and about 27 °C (80 °F) in the southern plains. Summer minima range from about 16 °C (60 °F) in the south to 18 °C (64 °F) in Borden. In the winter, maximum temperatures typically are a very pleasant 16°C (60°F) and minima are about 8 °C (46.4 °F). On Bluff Knoll, winter temperatures range from maxima of about 11 °C (52 °F) to minima of 3 °C (37 °F). These are the lowest temperatures in Western Australia and consequently the Stirling Range occasionally receives snow

Snow

Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...

falls—the only place in Western Australia to regularly do so, though usually it is very light. Snow has been reported as early as April and as late as 19 November 1992, but is mostly confined to the period from June to September.

Flora and fauna

The range is one of the richest areas for flora in the world. The low-nutrient soils support five major vegetation communities: (1) shrubland

Shrubland

Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity...

and (2) mallee

Mallee

Mallee may refer to:* Mallee , the habit of woody plants that grow with multiple stems from underground lignotubers* Mallee , a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia...

-heath

Heath

-Habitats:* Heath or heathland, low-growing woody vegetation, mostly consisting of heathers and related species* Heaths in the British National Vegetation Classification system...

land at higher altitudes; and (3) woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

, (4) wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

and (5) salt lake

Salt lake

A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water which has a concentration of salts and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes . In some cases, salt lakes have a higher concentration of salt than sea water, but such lakes would also be termed hypersaline lakes...

communities on lower slopes and plains. Ninety families, 384 genera, and over 1500 plant species occur there, 87 of which are found nowhere else. This represents more than a third of the known flora of the southwest

Southwest, Western Australia

The Southwest is a loosely defined area in the southwest corner of Western Australia. Various regionalisations have provided formal definitions of the area, but these do not coincide.* For the drainage division, see Southwest corner of Western Australia...

, and includes more species of wildflowers than in the entire British Isles.

The range has been identified by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

as an Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

(IBA) because it supports populations of endangered Short-billed Black Cockatoos and Western Whipbird

Western Whipbird

The Western Whipbird is a passerine bird found in several scattered populations across southern Australia. It is predominantly olive green in colour....

s, and is visited by endangered Long-billed Black-Cockatoo

Long-billed Black-Cockatoo

The Long-billed Black Cockatoo, also known as the White-tailed Black Cockatoo or Baudin's Black Cockatoo is a cockatoo endemic to south-western Australia, closely associated to moist, heavily forested areas dominated by Marri .The binomial commemorates the French explorer Nicolas...

s. Significant biome

Biome

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...

-restricted or range-restricted bird species found in the range include Red-capped

Red-capped Parrot

The Red-capped Parrot , also called the Pileated Parakeet , and King Parrot locally in Western Australia, is an Australian species of broad-tailed parrot related to the Rosellas.First described by German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl in 1820, from a collection in Albany,...

and Regent Parrot

Regent Parrot

The Regent Parrot is a bird of the parrot family . It has predominantly yellow plumage with a green tail. The bird is found primarily in eucalyptus groves and other wooded areas of subtropical southwestern Australia, as well as to a smaller area of subtropical and temperate southeastern Australia...

s, Western Rosella

Western Rosella

The Western Rosella Platycercus icterotis, less commonly known as the Stanley Rosella, Earl of Derby's parakeet or Yellow-cheeked parakeet, is the smallest species of rosella and is found in the South West of Australia. in Eucalypt forests and timbered areas. These are smallish parrots measuring ...

s, Rufous Treecreeper

Rufous Treecreeper

The Rufous Treecreeper is a species of bird in the Climacteridae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.-References:...

s, Red-winged and Blue-breasted Fairywrens, Purple-gaped Honeyeater

Purple-gaped Honeyeater

The Purple-gaped Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.-References:...

s, Western Spinebill

Western Spinebill

The Western Spinebill, Acanthorhynchus superciliosus, is a honeyeater found in the heath and woodland of south-western Western Australia. It ranges between long, and weighs around . It has a black head, gray back and wings, with a red band behind its neck and from its throat to its breast. There...

s, Western Thornbill

Western Thornbill

The Western Thornbill is a species of bird in the Pardalotidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation....

s, Western Yellow

Western Yellow Robin

The Western Yellow Robin is a species of bird in the Petroicidae family. It is endemic to Australia, and sometimes known overseas as the Grey-breasted Robin....

and White-breasted Robin

White-breasted Robin

The White-breasted Robin is a species of bird in the Petroicidae family. It is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. Unlike many other Australian robins, it lacks bright colours in its plumage, being a predominantly greyish bird with white underparts. Like many other Australian passerines...

s, and Red-eared Firetail

Red-eared Firetail

The Red-eared Firetail is a species of estrildid finch found in the forests and coastal thickets of south-western Australia. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of 20,000 - 50,000 km². The status of the species is evaluated as Least Concern.-References:...

s.

The range is an important site for endemic mygalomorph

Mygalomorphae

The Mygalomorphae, , are an infraorder of spiders. The latter name comes from the orientation of the fangs which point straight down and do not cross each other .-Description:...

spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

s, and for land snail

Land snail

A land snail is any of the many species of snail that live on land, as opposed to those that live in salt water and fresh water. Land snails are terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells, It is not always an easy matter to say which species are terrestrial, because some are more or less...

s. Some 20 species of native mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s, including the reintroduced

Reintroduction

Reintroduction is the deliberate release of a species into the wild in zones formerly inhabited by said species but where it has disappeared from for a number of reasons, from captivity or relocated from other areas where the species still survives in...

Numbat

The numbat , also known as the banded anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species...

, have been recorded.

History

The plains in the Stirling Range region were the hunting grounds for small groups of Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

for thousands of years before European settlement. At least two tribes frequented the area: the Qaaniyan people in the west, and the Koreng people in the east. The Stirling Range played an important role in their culture, appearing in a number of Dreamtime stories.

The first recorded sighting of the Stirling Ranges by a European explorer was by Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders

Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...

on 5 January 1802. While sailing along the southern coast of Australia, just east of King George Sound

King George Sound

King George Sound is the name of a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Located at , it is the site of the city of Albany.The sound covers an area of and varies in depth from to ....

, he noted

at the distance of eight leagues inland there was a chain of rugged mountains.

A settlement was established at King George Sound in 1826, and the following year the head of the settlement, Major Edmund Lockyer

Edmund Lockyer

Edmund Lockyer, – 10 June 1860) was a British soldier and explorer of Australia.Born in Plymouth, Devon, Lockyer was son of Thomas Lockyer, a sailmaker, and his wife Ann, née Grose. Lockyer began his army career as an ensign in the 19th Regiment in June 1803, was promoted lieutenant in early 1805...

, explored the land north of the Sound. On February 1827, he observed in the distance

mountains which run east and west about 40 miles.

Alexander Collie

Dr Alexander Collie was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who journeyed to Western Australia in 1829, where he was an explorer and Colonial Surgeon.-Early life:...

explored to the north of the Sound in 1831. On 29 April, he described the Stirling Range and recorded names for the main peaks. The following year, Robert Dale

Robert Dale

Lieutenant Robert Dale was the first European explorer to cross the Darling Range in Western Australia.Robert Dale was born in England in October 1812...

led an expedition to the Range. On 24 January 1832, he made the first recorded ascent of a peak in the Stirling Range, scaling Toolbrunup

Toolbrunup

Toolbrunup is the second highest peak in the Stirling Ranges of Australia. The walk to the summit of Toolbrunup is often regarded as the best in the Stirling Ranges. The views from the summit are excellent, the many dramatic rocky outcrops provide spectacular scenery.Toolbrunup is made from...

. Late in 1835, Governor James Stirling

James Stirling (Australian governor)

Admiral Sir James Stirling RN was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. His enthusiasm and persistence persuaded the British Government to establish the Swan River Colony and he became the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Western Australia...

and John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe

John Septimus Roe was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, and a Member of Western Australia's Legislative and Executive Councils for nearly 40 years.-Early life:...

led an expedition from Albany

Albany, Western Australia

Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....

to Perth

Perth, Western Australia

. They first saw the Stirling Ranges on 3 November, and on travelling closer to them the following day, Roe gave them their name.

Early exploitation of the Stirling Ranges included cutting of sandalwood

Santalum spicatum

Santalum spicatum, a species known as Australian sandalwood, is a tree native to semi-arid areas at the edge of Southwest Australia. It is traded as sandalwood and its valuable oil has been used as an aromatic, a medicine and a food source. S...

and kangaroo

Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...

hunting. The Ranges were never formally taken up for grazing, probably because of the many poison bushes in the area. However, squatters ran sheep to the south of the Range in the 1850s, and in the 1860s a selection was taken up at the base of Mount Trio.

The area that is now the Stirling Range National Park was temporarily reserved in April 1908, and formally gazetted as Western Australia's third national park in June 1913.

Attractions and activities

Notable features include Toolbrunup

Toolbrunup

, Bluff Knoll

Bluff Knoll

Bluff Knoll is a peak in the Stirling Range in the south-west of Western Australia . It is above sea level, and is one of only a few places to experience regular snowfalls in Western Australia, with some snow reported in most years. The last heavy snowfall was on 6 October 1992 when...

(the tallest peak for a thousand kilometers or more in any direction and most popular tourist attraction), and a silhouette called The Sleeping Princess which is visible from the Porongurup

Porongurup, Western Australia

Porongurup is the name of a small mountain range in the Shire of Plantagenet in Western Australia and of a small village on the northern slopes of the range. At the 2006 census, Porongurup had a population of 370.The name is derived from the Aboriginal place-name, and consequently arrived with no...

Range. Popular recreational activities include bushwalking, abseiling

Abseiling

Abseiling , rappelling in American English, is the controlled descent down a rock face using a rope; climbers use this technique when a cliff or slope is too steep and/or dangerous to descend without protection.- Slang terms :...

and gliding

Gliding

Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...

. Camping

Camping

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...

is not permitted within the park boundaries.

Major Peaks