Mount Meharry
Wirlbiwirlbi
Mount Meharry is located in Western Australia
Mount Meharry
Mount Meharry
Location in Western Australia
Highest point
Elevation1,249 m (4,098 ft)[1]
Prominence836 m (2,743 ft)[2]
Coordinates22°58′S 118°35′E / 22.967°S 118.583°E / -22.967; 118.583[1]
Geography
LocationPilbara region of Western Australia
Parent rangeHamersley Range

Mount Meharry is the highest mountain in Western Australia. It is located in the Hamersley Range within the southeastern part of Karijini National Park in the Pilbara region, approximately 86 kilometres (53 mi) south-southeast of Wittenoom,[3] and 87 kilometres (54 mi) east-southeast of Tom Price.[4]

The Pandjima peoples are the traditional owners of the area.[5] The indigenous name for Mount Meharry is Wirlbiwirlbi.[6]

History

Mount Meharry is named after William Thomas Meharry (1912–1967), Chief Geodetic Surveyor for Western Australia from 1959 to 1967. It was discovered (by Westerners) by Surveyor Trevor Markey and his party in 1967. Tom Meharry directed the survey party and performed the calculations that confirmed the mountain was the highest peak in Western Australia, being 15 m (49 ft) higher than Mount Bruce which lies 62 km northwest of Mount Meharry.

After Meharry's sudden death on 16 May 1967 the Nomenclature Advisory Committee (now the Geographic Names Committee) recommended to the Minister for Lands that the recently discovered peak be named after him. The Minister for Lands Stewart Bovell approved this on 28 July 1967 and a notice naming the peak was published in the Western Australian Government Gazette on 15 September 1967.

In 1999, Gina Rinehart, daughter of Lang Hancock applied to the Geographic Names Committee to rename the mountain after her father.[7] The application was declined and in 2002 she lobbied the then-Premier Geoff Gallop with the same proposal.[8] He, too, declined the request.

Geography

The summit of Mt Meharry can be reached from the Great Northern Highway via an unsealed road 16 km (9.9 mi) in length and a vehicular track 21 kilometres (13 mi) in length. Permission should be sought from the managers of the land over which the road and track pass. These are Juna Downs Station and the Department of Parks and Wildlife, which manages Karijini National Park. In dry conditions, a two-wheel-drive vehicle can reach the national park boundary at about 800 metres elevation, requiring a walk of about 7 kilometres to the summit.

References

  1. ^ a b "Mount Meharry". Gazetteer of Australia online. Geoscience Australia, Australian Government.
  2. ^ Peakbagger: "Mount Meharry", 23 September 2007.
  3. ^ "Great Circle Distance between MOUNT+MEHARRY and WITTENOOM". Geoscience Australia. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  4. ^ "Great Circle Distance between MOUNT+MEHARRY and TOM PRICE". Geoscience Australia. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  5. ^ "My father's father was Wirrilimarra (Bob Tucker)" (PDF). Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  6. ^ "Packsaddle Mount Meharry Mount Robinson areas" (PDF). Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  7. ^ "Gallop kills Hancock plan". Australasian Business Intelligence. 4 November 2002.
  8. ^ "Call for WA mountain to be renamed after iron ore magnate". ABC News online. 3 November 2002. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
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