Mount Pieter Botte | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 1,047 [1] m (3,435 ft) [2] |
Coordinates | 16°04′S145°24′E / 16.067°S 145.400°E Coordinates: 16°04′S145°24′E / 16.067°S 145.400°E |
Geography | |
Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia | |
Parent range | Great Dividing Range |
Mount Pieter Botte, also known as Ngalba-bulal, [3] Alpaboolal (meaning big top), or Barbar (meaning elder sister), [4] or Ginpure (meaning younger sister), [5] is a mountain in the tableland region behind Cape Tribulation in Far North Queensland, Australia. It was named in 1848 by Captain Owen Stanley of the survey ship HMS Rattlesnake. The name was chosen by those on board the Rattlesnake. (from Voyage of Rattlesnake page 104) because of its resemblance to Peter Botte Mountain, a famous peak on the island of Mauritius. [6] [7] The mountain is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site. [8] There are two peaks, a northern peak and a southern peak. The South Peak is the highest point and the true summit of Mount Pieter Botte. [1]
Australian Aborigines in the area were reported to believe that the mountain was home to their ancestral spirits. [7]
Six Kuku Yalanji people, led by an elder, [4] guided three Europeans up the climb in October 1896, the visiting botanist-cum-explorer Dudley Le Souef, Frank Hislop and Mr. Anderson. [4] [7] They climbed the North Peak and then climbed to the platform below the summit of Mount Pieter Botte (South Peak). [4] [7] This was the first recorded European party to climb the North Peak. [7] The South Peak itself is a sheer-sided granite outcrop which was not climbed. [4] [7]
On 26 August 1938, Walter Mason, Wilfred Knight and Douglas Mason also climbed the tableland behind Cape Tribulation to the base of Mount Pieter Botte.
Le Souef's expedition recorded riflebirds, catbirds, pittas, Spalding's orthonyx, shrikethrushes, Australian brushturkeys, Quoy's butcher bird, sulphur-crested cockatoos, superb fruit doves and tree kangaroos. [4] [7]
The wingless water bug Austrovelia queenslandica is known only from this area. [8] Armoured Mistfrogs ( Litoria lorica ), a critically endangered species, have been observed in Roaring Meg Creek, just below Mount Pieter Botte. [9]
A species of a Medicosma mountain rainforest understorey tree is known only from one sample in the Mount Pieter Botte area. [10] Eidothea zoexylocarya is a large tree that only grows in the mountain rainforests of north-eastern Queensland, including Mount Pieter Botte. [11] [12] Romnalda ophiopogonoides is an endangered plant with only around 500 individuals known, including some around Roaring Meg Creek near the mountain. [13]
The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km2 of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Wet Tropics of Queensland meets all four of the criteria for natural heritage for selection as a World Heritage Site. World Heritage status was declared in 1988, and on 21 May 2007 the Wet Tropics were added to the Australian National Heritage List.
Daintree is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Daintree had a population of 129 people.
Cape Tribulation is a headland and coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas in northern Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Cape Tribulation had a population of 118 people.
Eidothea is a genus of two species of rainforest trees in New South Wales and Queensland, in eastern Australia, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The plant family Proteaceae was named after the shape-shifting god Proteus of Greek mythology. The genus name Eidothea refers to one of the three daughters of Proteus.
The Kuku Yalanji, also known as Gugu-Yalanji, Kuku Yalandji or Kokojelandji, are an Aboriginal Australian people originating from the rainforest regions of Far North Queensland.
Romnalda is a genus of monocotyledonous plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Lomandroideae. As of December 2013 four formally named species are known and accepted by botanical science.
Agathis atropurpurea, the black kauri or blue kauri, is a species of conifer in the family Araucariaceae. It is found only in Queensland, Australia and is threatened by habitat loss.
Normanbya is a monotypic genus of palms containing the single species Normanbya normanbyi, which is known by the common name black palm It is endemic to Queensland, Australia and is threatened by habitat destruction.
Xanthostemon is a genus of trees and shrubs, constituting part of the myrtle plant family Myrtaceae. This genus was first described in 1857 by German–Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller. According to different official sources between 46 and 51 species are known to science. They grow naturally in New Caledonia, Australia, the Solomon Islands and Malesia, including the Philippines, New Guinea and Indonesia. The genera Pleurocalyptus and Purpureostemon from New Caledonia are morphologically close to Xanthostemon.
Eidothea zoexylocarya is a species of tall rainforest trees endemic to north-eastern Queensland, Australia and constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. In European–Australian science, these trees were only recognised in recent decades, first from the slopes of Mount Bartle Frere, the Queensland mountain which reaches the highest altitude. In 1995, scientific descriptions of the trees, as this genus and type species, were published for the first time by Andrew W. Douglas and Bernie Hyland. The species name refers to the almost identical fossil fruit Xylocaryon lockiiF.Muell., from Ballarat, southern Australia, still extant in this north-eastern Australian species.
Alloxylon wickhamii is a rainforest tree to 30 m (98 ft) tall in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the Wet Tropics of Queensland.
Hicksbeachia pilosa is a small tree in the family Proteaceae. This rare species is endemic to the rainforests of the wet tropics region of northeastern Queensland, Australia. It was first described in 1988 by Australian botanist Peter H. Weston, after a collection by Garry Sankowsky and Peter Hind in 1986 at Bobbin Bobbin Falls in North Queensland. Its specific name is the Latin adjective pilosus "hairy".
Gymnostoma is a genus of about eighteen species of trees and shrubs, constituting one of the four genera of the plant family Casuarinaceae. The species grow naturally in the tropics, including at high altitudes having temperate climates, in forests in the region of the western Pacific ocean and Malesia. In New Caledonia, published botanical science describes eight species found growing naturally, which botanists have not found anywhere else (endemics). Additional species have been found across Burma, Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines, Sulawesi, Ambon Island, the Moluccas, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, and one endemic species each in Fiji and the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia.
Hollandaea is a small genus of plants in the family Proteaceae containing four species of Australian rainforest trees. All four species are endemic to restricted areas of the Wet Tropics of northeast Queensland.
Placospermum is a genus of a single species of large trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The species Placospermum coriaceum is endemic to the rainforests of the wet tropics region of northeastern Queensland, Australia. Common names include rose silky oak and plate-seeded oak.
Catalepidia is a genus of a sole described species of medium-sized trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The species Catalepidia heyana grows naturally only in a restricted mountain region (endemic) of the wet tropics rain forests of north-eastern Queensland, Australia. Common names include Hey's nut or Hey's nut oak.
Nothorites is a genus of a sole described species of trees, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. The species Nothorites megacarpus grows naturally only in restricted mountain regions (endemic) of the wet tropics rain forests of north-eastern Queensland, Australia.
Hollandaea diabolica is a species of Australian rainforest tree, constituting part of the plant family Proteaceae. It is endemic to restricted areas of the rainforests of the Wet Tropics region of northeastern Queensland.
Hollandaea porphyrocarpa is a species of small Australian rainforest tree in the plant family Proteaceae. It is endemic to restricted areas of the rainforests of the Wet Tropics region of northeastern Queensland.
Pipturus argenteus, known as false stinger, native mulberry, white mulberry, white nettle, amahatyan (Chamorro), and ghasooso (Carolinian), is a small tree native to northern Australia, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.