Mount Woodroffe

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Mount Woodroffe (Ngarutjaranya)
Elevation 1,435 metres AHD (4,708 feet)
Location South Australia, Australia
Range Musgrave Ranges
Prominence South Australia's highest mountain
Coordinates 26°19′S 131°44′ECoordinates: 26°19′S 131°44′E
Easiest route hike
Mount Woodroffe (South Australia)
Mount Woodroffe
Mount Woodroffe
Location in South Australia

Mount Woodroffe is South Australia's highest peak, at 1,435 metres.

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[edit] Cultural Significance

The mountain is known to the Pitjantjatjara Indigenous Australians as Ngarutjaranya.[1] In Indigenous Australian mythology, the mountain embodies the mythological creature Ngintaka.

[edit] Geography

Mount Woodroffe is located in the far northwest of South Australia, in the Musgrave Ranges. The mountain range rises some 700-800 metres from the surrounding plains and comprises massifs of granite and gneiss.

[edit] History

Mount Woodroffe was named by William Christie Gosse, who first sighted it on 20 July 1873 and is named after George Woodroffe Goyder, Surveyor-General of South Australia and an early explorer of South Australia and the Northern Territory himself.[2]

In the 1960s Mount Woodroffe was considered as a potential site for the proposed Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). It lost out due to its remoteness compared to Siding Spring in New South Wales, where the AAT sits today amongst other astronomical observatories [3].

[edit] Access

Access is limited as a permit is required to enter the Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mount Woodroffe. Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
  2. ^ Mount Woodroffe, South Australia. Place Names Online. Government of South Australia. Retrieved on 2006-07-30.
  3. ^ Biographical Memoir of Arthur Robert Hogg, 1903-1966, Australian Academy of Science [1]
  4. ^ Permits. PYMedia. Retrieved on 2006-07-30.

[edit] Further Links

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