Mount Canobolas

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Mount Canobolas
Mount Canobolas from the Pinnacle.
Elevation	1,395 metres AHD (4,650 feet)
Location	New South Wales, Australia
Easiest route	drive

Mount Canobolas, at an altitude of 1,395 metres above sea level, is the highest mountain in the central west region of New South Wales, Australia. (However, it should be noted that it is not, as is often claimed, the highest point between Australia's Great Dividing Range and Africa, with Mount Zeil in Australia's Northern Territory being higher and Mount Woodroffe in South Australia also being higher. This would in any case be an insignificant claim to fame, since many of the tallest peaks in the Great Dividing Range are in fact further west than Mount Canobolas is. Another common claim — that it is the highest point between the Blue Mountains and the Indian Ocean — is also nonsensical, since it is in fact higher than any point in the Blue Mountains.)

The mountain is of volcanic origin. It is located southwest of the city of Orange, and is about 250 kilometres west of Sydney.

The northern slopes of the mountain, with fertile volcanic soil, are becoming a popular cold-climate wine producing area.

The name comes from two Aboriginal words, 'coona' and 'booloo' meaning two heads or twin shoulders. There is a 360 degree view from the summit, which is often snow-capped in winter. The mountain is now part of a 15 square kilometre area controlled by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which offers various walks: to Bald Hill; to Young Man Canobolas; Federal Falls to Mount Towac, etc.^[1] The volcanic peaks give wide views and there are some attractive waterfalls. The mountain was first climbed by a European when Major Thomas Mitchell came there in 1835. An early squatter on the slopes of the Canobolas Range was Thomas Hood, whose father, John Hood, came from England for a visit in 1841, and wrote an account of the district. By 1848 Hood was lessee for Boree Cabonne.

Transmission towers atop Mount Canobolas

The top of the mountain is now dominated by numerous towers used for television and radio transmissions across large areas of central New South Wales. These transmitters include towers for Airservices Australia, Royal Australian Air Force, Prime Television, WIN Television, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Southern Cross Ten.

Each year the Orange Community runs the Great Volcanic Mountain Challenge, an 11 km walk and fun run from the Pinnacle to the Summit of Mt Canobolas by the volcanic plugs of Mt Towac and Young Man Canobolas. The inaugural event was held in 2006.^[2]