Australia Mount Alexander, from the Porcupine Road circa 1854
Mount Alexander is a mountain that is located approximately 125 km north-west of Melbourne, near the small town of Harcourt. It rises 350 metres above the surrounding area to a level of 744 metres above sea level. Being a prominent local landmark, the mountain has its name associated with the surrounding district once known as the Mount Alexander goldfields, and presently defined as the Shire of Mount Alexander, centred on Castlemaine. Most of the mountain is included within the boundaries of the Mount Alexander Regional Park managed by Parks Victoria. The mountain, known as Lanjanuc to the Jaara Jaara people, was the location of a sacred ceremonial ground and used as an outlook The first European to climb the peak was Major Thomas Mitchell on 28 September 1836 during his journey of exploration through Australia Felix. He named it Mount Byng, after John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford, a Field Marshal during the Peninsular War, but soon changed it to honour Alexander the Great, emperor of ancient Macedonia. Overlander Edward John Eyre camped the north-west slope of Mount Alexander on 8 February 1838 Despite having lent its name to the most famous gold-rush of the years 1851 and 1852 the mountain is not gold-bearing country. The underlying rock is granidiorite. A large outcrop of granite boulders on the western slopes of Mount Alexander is known as Dog Rocks. The manager of Sutton Grange Station, Lockhart Morton, named these rocks in 1846 because they were the favourite lair of packs of dingoes. This is now a popular abseiling site. Shepherd’s Flat Lookout also attained its name in the pastoral, pre-gold rush era. Alexander Tolmer established a gold escort route between Mount Alexander and Adelaide to serve South Australian gold miners in the early 1850s (the first arrived in Adelaide on 20 March 1852 with around 600 lb of gold, the second, with 1,620 lb on 4 May 1852; it also carried mail between diggers and their Adelaide families
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Photo credit: © Archivist / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
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