Granite Belt

Granite boulders in Girraween National Park

Granite Belt (English: granite belt ) denotes a highland and a region in the Australian Great Dividing Range . The granite belt is located in Queensland and, to a small extent, in New South Wales . The Granite Belt is also part of a larger region known in Australia as New England .

location

The Granite Belt as a region has no clearly defined borders. The largest proportion of the area is in Queensland in the Darling Downs area . The northern border is the place Dalveen and the southern the villages Applethorpe , Amiens , Ballandean , Glen Aplin , Passchendaele , Thulimbah , Pozieres and Wallangarra . In New South Wales, the small village of Liston is part of the Granite Belt.

In the center of the Granite Belt lies the town of Stanthorpe . The Granite Belt also extends into the Southern Downs , another region where the city of Warwick is located.

The New England Highway runs through the area .

The Granite Belt is located about 210 kilometers southwest of Brisbane . The region's largest river is the Condamine River , a tributary of the Murray River .

Surname

The Granite Pyramids 1112 meters high in Girraween National Park

The highlands are named after the rounded granite rocks and mountains that are formed by weathering and rise from the landscape around Stanthorpe. In addition to the granite occurrence, there are also other types of rock, including monzonite , volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks .

climate

In the area of the Granite Belt there is a subtropical highland climate. In this area, which rises to altitudes between 600 and 1200 meters above sea level, there can be frost in winter and snow can fall.

Settlement history

A listed dairy farmer's home from pioneering Australia, the Ballandean Homestead (2015)

Before the European colonization, the Kambuwal Aboriginal tribe lived in the area of the Granite Belt .

The first European to come to the area in 1827 was the botanist Allan Cunningham . Because of his reports of the land and the fertility of the soil, numerous settlers came to the area and set up the first farms. When gold, copper, tin and lead were discovered in 1872, more Europeans invaded the area. In 1864 the first German-speaking settlers were counted in the Allora settlement.

After the end of the First World War , land was distributed or sold to former soldiers. Therefore, numerous place names appear in the area of the Granite Belt, which recall battles of this war in France and Belgium, in which the Australian Imperial Force was involved. These are, for example, the town of Pozières in France, which was the scene of the first large-scale deployment of Australian troops in 1916 in the Battle of the Somme in France. Within seven weeks, 28,000 Australian soldiers lost their lives in this battle. The shock was so great in Australia that compulsory military service in Australia with an obligation to serve overseas was lifted after protests and a referendum. Paschendaele commemorates the Third Battle of Flanders in Belgium in 1917 and Amiens of the Battle of Amiens in France in 1918.

After the Second World War , Italians settled and brought fruit and vegetable cultivation to the region.

Economy and tourism

In the Granite Belt, livestock and fruit and vegetable growing are practiced. Viticulture plays a major role. Recently attempts have been made to mine silver, copper, zinc and lead again.

Tourism is an important source of income for the region due to its unique landscape, climate and wine offer.

Apples, stone fruits, strawberries, olives and other types of fruit and vegetables are successfully grown on the soils in the Granite Belt. In the Granite Belt there are small breweries and fruit musts, as well as chocolate makers.

The large cultivation areas with vines with more than 50 wineries are important for tourism.

Several national parks such as Sundown National Park , Bald Rock National Park , Boonoo Boonoo National Park and Girraween National Park (called "place of flowers" in the language of the Aborigines) are popular with tourists. In all national parks there is a wide variety of wildflowers that bloom in spring.