Mount Alexander
| Mount Alexander | ||
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 Mount Alexander viewed from Harcourt |
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| height | 744 m | |
| location | Victoria , Australia | |
| Coordinates | 36 ° 59 ′ 49 ″ S , 144 ° 18 ′ 18 ″ E | |
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| rock | granite | |
| Age of the rock | 367 million years | |
| First ascent | 1836 by Thomas Livingstone Mitchell | |
| particularities | historical gold field | |
The Mount Alexander is located about 125 km north-west of Melbourne , 3 km from the small town of Harcourt and near of Castlemaine . It rises about 350 m above the surrounding area and reaches a height of 744 m above sea level. The mountain is an important landmark because it was originally named Mount Alexander Goldfield in one of the first Australian gold rushes . Today it is referred to as the Castlemaine gold field according to the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park , established in 2005 and entered on the Australian National Heritage List .
The mountain served as a source of lumber for gold mining in the 1870s. When the gold deposits dried up, the forest grew back and is now a habitat for native animals and is protected by the Mount Alexander Regional Park. Today it is used as a location for radio masts.
Mount Alexander was called Lanjanuc by the Aborigines of the Dja Dja Wurrung , it was a sacred area for their ceremonies and was used by them as an observation point.
The first European to climb the mountain on September 28, 1836 was Thomas Livingstone Mitchell on his Australia Felix expedition . He named it Mount Byng , but the mountain was renamed after Alexander the Great . After the discovery by Livingstone, the area was soon settled by European colonists.
The first quarries were built on the mountain in the 1860s . Numerous buildings in Melbourne were built from this granite , as well as the base of the monument to the explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills in Melbourne.
See also
Web links
- Mount Alexander Regional Park Parks Victoria
- Place Names Search: Mount Alexander Geoscience Australia
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Mount Alexander Regional Park . Parks Victoria. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
- ^ Map of Mount Alexander, VIC . Bonzle.com. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
- ↑ parkweb.vic.gov.au : Mt Alexander Regional Park . Retrieved November 18, 2011
- ↑ Broadcast Tower Mt Alexander . ACMA. Retrieved January 13, 2008.
- ^ Thomas Livingston Mitchell: Three Expeditions in the Interior of Eastern Australia. With Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix and of the Present Colony of New South Wales. Vol. 2. t. W. Boone, London 1839, p. 280. Online on Googlebooks