Mount Bartle Frere

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Bartle Frere Mount, called by the Aborigines Chooreechillum, reaches a height of 1622 m and is the highest mountain in Queensland, Australia. It is situated 51 km from Cairns in Wooroonooran National Park, south-west of Babinda at the eastern end of the Bellenden Ker Range and forms the watershed of the Russell River.

History

The mountain was named by the British colonial administrators and later President of the Royal Geographical Society George Elphinstone Dalrymple in 1873 after Sir Henry Bartle Frere. Bartle Frere was British governor of the Cape Colony at the end of Zulukriegs. The first European who climbed to the summit, was Christie Palmerston in 1886.

The neighboring Mount Bellenden Ker is with 1593 m the second highest mountain in Queensland.

Vegetation

At the foot of the mountain is typical rainforest. At the summit, the temperatures about 10 ° C lower than on the coast.

At an altitude of about 1500 m grow the endemic trees Eucryphia wilkei related plants are found only in Tasmania and Chile. Other rare plants are Acronychia chooreechillum, Trochocarpa bellendenkerensis, Polyscias bellendenkerensis, Parsonsia bartlensis and Australia's only Rhododendron (Rhododendron lochiae ). Furthermore Eidothea zoexylocarya grow on hillsides, where they form an integral part of the fouling.

Plane crash

On 21 April 1942 an American bomber crashed Type B -25 Mitchell, who was on the return flight from a Japanese air combat of the Philippines, on the mountain. In this case, all seven members of the crew were killed.