From Freepedia
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Coordinates:
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36°27′ S 148°16′ E
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First ascent:
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1834 by Lhotsky (disputed);
1840 by Strzelecki
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route:
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hike
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Mount Kosciuszko, located in the
Snowy Mountains, in
Kosciuszko National Park, is the
highest mountain in mainland
Australia. It was named by the
Polish explorer Count
Paul Strzelecki in 1840 in honour of the Polish national hero General
Tadeusz Kosciuszko. (The Indigenous Australian name for the mountain is
Targangil).
It was formerly spelled "Mount Kosciusko", an anglicisation; but the version "Mount Kosciuszko" was officially adopted in 1997 by the NSW Board of Geographic Names. The spelling adopted by the Board of Geographic Names was the original
Polish spelling, "Kościuszko", including an accent over the "s", but that recommendation has generally been ignored in Australia (since such a character is not a usual feature of Australian language).
It should also be noted that the common Australian pronunciation of Kosciuszko, "kozzy-osko", is quite different from the
pronunciation in Polish, "kosh-CHOOSH-koe".
Various measurements of the peak originally called by that name showed it to be slightly lower than its neighbour,
Mount Townsend, and the names were thereupon transposed by the New South Wales Lands Department, so that Mount Kosciusko still remains the highest peak of Australia, and Mount Townsend ranks as second. The picture by
Eugene von Guerard hanging in the
National Gallery of Australia titled
"Northeast view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko" is actually from Mt Townsend.
[1]
Officially the height of Mount Kosciusko is now stated as 7328 feet
[2] although still popularly given as 7310 feet or 2228 metres, including by
Geoscience Australia [3].
Like many of Australia's highest peaks, Mount Kosciuszko is not particularly difficult to climb. There is a road to
Charlotte Pass, from which it is a short seven km walk up a path to the summit. Anybody with a very modest level of fitness should be able to climb it. Until the
1960s (?) the road was open to motor vehicles and it was possible to drive close to the summit.
The peak may also be approached from
Thredbo, which is a slightly longer but not very difficult walk.
Kosciuszko National Park is also the location of the closest downhill skiing ski slopes to
Sydney, containing the
Thredbo and
Perisher Blue ski resorts. Mt Kosciuszko may have been ascended by
Indigenous Australians long before the first recorded ascent by Europeans.
Image:P1010300.JPG
Higher peaks exist outside the Australian mainland but within territory administered or claimed by Australia:
External links
