The Australian Alps - An Introduction

'I stopped and looked in delight at the wonderful panorama which stretched out before me. As far as the the horizon there were mountains. All the big peaks were visible... Further away were the Barry Mountains and Mts. Buller and Howitt... To the north-east the most majestic view was seen; the Kosciuszko Plateau, heavily laden with snow and the only portion of the panorama bathed in sunlight and looking particularly bright by contrast...'
(C.J.M. Cole, commenting on the view from Mt Bogong, Victoria, The Ski Club of Victoria Year Book, 1933).

The Australian Alps are our highest mountain country, a magnificent area with rugged and spectacular landscapes, a rich natural and human heritage, with importance for present and future generations.

The mountains fringe the south-eastern coast of Australia, extending from Canberra and the nearby Brindabella Range through the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales and the Victorian Alps to just north-east of Melbourne. They continue through to the highland areas of south eastern Tasmania. In NSW, the great arc of peaks over 2000 metres - including the highest points of the Snowy Mountains - which encircle the headwaters of the Snowy River is often referred to as the 'Main Range'. In Victoria the snow covered plateaus are often called the 'High Country'.

Australia's Alps are diminutive by world standards. The South American Andes rise to 6000 metres and the Himalayas in central Asia to 8000 metres. By contrast, many peaks in the Australian Alps are not much higher than 2000 metres including Australia's highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko in NSW.

But despite this lack of height, and even though they occupy only a fraction of the continent, the Alps are significant because they are unique in a country dominated by flat and regular terrain with an average altitude of 300 metres.

Because of their altitude, the Alps have a cooler and moister climate than the rest of the continent. Precipitation is high throughout the year. This is the only mountainous area of Australia with an alpine zone, where snow cover persists for lengths of time.

The land which was uplifted to form the Alps has been largely flattened by erosion leaving a series of extensive undulating plateaus which fall away steeply at the edges. Subsequent erosion by rivers cut back into the plateaus creating large, v-shaped valleys. In much of New South Wales the plateau land forms are still relatively intact; but in Victoria where more active river erosion has created a small number of isolated high plains, the area is largely made up of a dissected terrain of steep valleys and narrow ridges.

There are many similarities throughout the Australian Alps, such as the presence of snow gums and the repetition of vegetation gradient patterns. But a closer look reveals different landforms, soils and microclimates which combine to produce a variety of environments that support diverse vegetation communities. These in turn provide habitats for a wide range of wildlife.

Vegetation communities in the Alps fall into distinct elevation zones; tableland, montane, subalpine and alpine. The term 'Alps' and 'alpine' traditionally refer to high treeless country. In Australia, such environments are extremely rare and comprise only a fraction of the total area of the Alps, which include much larger tracts of subalpine, montane and foothill terrain.

What does alpine mean?

The term 'alpine' is used in a general way to describe any high mountain areas. The strict definition is 'the area above a certain altitude that is treeless due to the inability of trees to grow at low temperatures'. The tree line (altitude at which trees cut out) is generally at about 1400 metres in Australia. However, the term 'Australian Alps' generally includes the montane and tableland zones that lie below the alpine and subalpine zones.

Cold air drainage basins.

Alpine and subalpine conditions are generally zoned according to elevation but there are exceptions. Cold air drains downwards into basin-like valleys and upland flats in the subalpine zone, producing alpine conditions at these lower altitudes. The result is an inverted treeline with trees growing on the rims of valleys and on knolls between the valleys. Much of the high plains country of Victoria and New South Wales is like this.

Changes in land use.

The rich and varied resources of the Australian Alps have drawn people for thousands of years. Koories (Aboriginal people of the region) made regular summer visits to feed on Bogong moths. Later graziers established snow leases on the high country pastures in search of good summer growth for their stock. In the Victorian Alps cattlemen continue this practice today. Cattlemen, loggers, miners engineers and naturalists have all contributed to changing land use patterns. More recently tourists and recreationists have entered the scene in search of pleasure and adventure.

Changing attitudes to and perceptions of the value of the Australian Alps have also helped to shape land use patterns. The early Europeans exploited the economic values of the Australian Alps with little regard for the natural values. The gold rushes of the 1850s, an onslaught of people driven by a desire for riches, brought profound physical and social changes with the building of roads and towns throughout the Alps. Logging of the montane forests began informally, based on local needs, but quickly turned into an organised industry.

The combined effect of all of these prior uses has led to a great diminution of the 'natural' areas of the Alps. Realisation of its increasing scarcity has led to increased pressure for nature conservation as a land use.

Much later the natural values of the Australian Alps were recognised as being highly significant, particularly in relation to water catchment and recreation. Conflict arose between groups using the Alps for economic gain and those interested in the preservation and reservation of the Australian Alps for nature conservation.

Proposals for an Alpine National Park became more frequent and more popular. After a long campaign by conservation groups, bushwalkers and scientists, Kosciuszko State Park (as it was then called) was established in 1944; it became Kosciuszko National Park in 1967. In Victoria, Bogong National Park was declared in 1981, complementing the already well-established Mt Buffalo National Park (declared in 1908). Since then many other parks have been declared in Victoria's Alps, the majority of them finally combined in 1989 to form a contiguous Alpine National Park. In the ACT, Namadgi National Park was declared in 1984.

About 62% of the total area of the Austalian Alps is permanently reserved in protected areas such as National Parks and Conservation Reserves. The protected areas, which are contiguous and extend from Canberra in the ACT to Licola in Victoria are known collectively as the Australian Alps national parks. Much of the area outside National Park is also public land, reserved for various other community purposes.

Going up the mountain - how does life change?

Tableland (NSW) or foothills (VIC)

Elevation: lower slopes, Vic: 300-600m NSW: 300-800m, ACT: 700-900m.
Climate: warmer, lower rainfall, generally no precipitation in the form of snow.
Landform: foothills, low plateaus.
Vegetation: woodlands, shorter trees with heathy shrub or grassland understorey.
Soils: hard-setting and poorly sructured soils, duplex soils.

Tableland is plateau that is less elevated than in the alpine and subalpine zones. Tablelands are extensive in NSW. In Victoria the landforms found generally at this elevation are foothills.

Montane

Elevation: high slopes, Vic: 300-1350m, NSW: 300-1500m, ACT: 700-1300m.
Climate: mean midwinter temperatures greater than 0°C, very high precipitation, snow falls but does not persist.
Landform: steep slopes dissected by deep gullies, escarpments, deep gorges and waterfalls.
Vegetation: tall wet open forests, dry open forests, rain forests.
Soils: alpine humus soils, brownish gradational soils, friable gradational soils.

The montane forests with their mix of tall eucalypts and other forest tree species form the most extensive zone in the Australian Alps.

Subalpine

Elevation: treeline and immediately below, Vic: 1350-1750m, NSW: 1500-1830m, ACT: 1300-1900m.
Climate: mean midsummer temperatures greater than 10°C, very high precipitation, snow persists for 1 month or more.
Landform: undulating plateaus, shallow basins, rolling hills.
Vegetation: subalpine woodlands, mostly scattered snow gum with herbfield, grassland or heathland understorey.
Soils: lithosols, alpine humus soils, peats.

Slightly higher midsummer temperatures in this zone enable Snow Gums (Eucalyptus pauciflora) to grow.

Alpine

Elevation: above the treeline, Vic: 1750m+, NSW 1850m+. ACT: 1600m+ and cold air drainage basins below the treeline.
Climate: mean midsummer temperature below 10°C, very high precipitation, snow persists for more than 4 months of the year.
Landform: rolling summits, exposed ridgelines, rocky outcrops.
Vegetation communities: herbfields, grasslands, bogs and fens, heathlands.
Soils: shallow lithosols, shallow alpine humus soils, peats.

The effects of low temperatures and high precipitation in this zone are compounded by strong winds and severe frosts. Trees are unable to grow here.

The Australian Alps Education Kit

For more information please refer to the Australian Alps national parks list of references