Mount Lesueur | |
---|---|
Elevation | 313 m (1,027 ft) [1] |
Location | |
Location | Western Australia |
Range | Gairdner Range |
Mount Lesueur is a near-circular, flat-topped mesa located 21 kilometres from Jurien Bay in Western Australia.[2] It rises above the surrounding lateritic plain of Lesueur National Park which has eroded away around it.[2]
Mount Lesueur was first sighted and named by Europeans as the French ship the Naturaliste sailed past Jurien Bay on its voyage up the Western Australian coast.[2] It was named in honour of Charles Alexander Lesueur, a natural history artist on board the ship. The next recorded sighting was by Captain George Grey, who led a small party through the area in 1839 after they were shipwecked near Kalbarri.[2] In 1849 a party led by A.C. Gregory ascended Mount Lesueur.[3] They were followed the next year by botanical collector James Drummond on the first of his many visits to the area.[2][3]
A reserve (No.24275) was created around Mount Lesueur for "educational purposes" in the 1950s.[3] A more extensive area was gazetted as a national park in 1992.[3]
Mount Lesueur has an extremely high level of plant biodiversity, making it of immense research and conservation importance to botanists.