There's no shortage of natural wonders in Australia. From bubblegum-pink lakes and rusty-red monoclines to ancient national parks and secluded beaches, our nation is packed with places worth travelling for. To reach some of the best, you’ll drive through a landscape that’s pretty remarkable in its own right.
That landscape is the Great Dividing Range – Australia’s largest mountain range and the third longest land-based range on Earth. Here’s everything you need to know about the Great Dividing Range.
What is the Great Dividing Range?
The Great Dividing Range isn’t just a single mountain, but a majestic collective of peaks, hills, plateaus and valleys stretching from Cape York to Western Victoria. This diverse landscape, shaped by faulting and folding processes, features a mix of limestones, sandstone, quartzite, schists and metamorphic dolomite, interspersed with shrublands and deserts.
It's called the Great Dividing Range because it runs parallel to the eastern coast for most of its length, creating a natural divide between the coastal plains and the inland regions of Australia.
More than a third of Australia’s population lives in areas directly influenced by the Great Dividing Range. Many of our nation’s longest rivers flow through the range, supplying fresh water to 11 million people, including the major cities of Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. This vital water source also supports the Murray-Darling Basin, which grows around 30 per cent of Australia’s national food supply, and supports the region’s biodiversity, providing critical habitat for more than 70 per cent of the country’s threatened species.
To top it off (pun intended), the Great Dividing Range is also home to Australia’s highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko.
How long is the Great Dividing Range?
The Great Dividing Range is 3,500 kilometres long and varies in height from 300-1,600 metres. Lower elevations are typically found in the northern and central areas, while peaks exceeding 1,500 metres are found in the southern parts, including Mount Kosciuszko – Australia’s highest peak at 2,228 metres.
Where is the Great Dividing Range?
You can’t exactly pinpoint the Great Dividing Range on a map, given it stretches more than 3,500 kilometres along Australia’s eastern coast. The range begins near Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland, extends all through New South Wales, and ends down in Victoria, near the Grampians region. Recognisable regions included in this are the Australian Alps, the Blue Mountains, the Dandenong Ranges, the Grampians, Kosciuszko National Park, the New England Plateau and the Snowy Mountains.
How was the Great Dividing Range formed?
Formed around 300 million years ago when Australia was part of the supercontinent Gondwana, the Great Dividing Range is the result of significant tectonic activity. These movements gave rise to the series of mountain ranges that make up the Great Dividing Range, with erosion and other natural processes shaping the rugged mountains, plateaus and valleys that we see today.
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