Mount Unapproachable
| Mount Unapproachable | |
|---|---|
  Mount Unapproachable Location in the Northern Territory | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 505 m (1,657 ft) |
| Geography | |
| Location | Northern Territory, Australia |
| Region | AU |
Mount Unapproachable is a mountain in the southwest of the Northern Territory, Australia. It is located on the northern side of Lake Neale.[1][2] It is about 505 metres (1,657 ft) above sea level. The area is very isolated: the nearest towns are Kaltukatjara (116 km away), Kintore (135 km away) and Yulara (138 km away). The mountain is mostly made of sandstone.
The mountain was named by explorer Ernest Giles in 1872. Giles was on an expedition trying to find a way across the desert from east to west, and had just found and named Lake Amadeus. He could see the mountain rising to the west, and hoped to find water there. He was, however, unable to approach the mountain because his path was blocked by the lake.[3] Giles in fact over-estimated the size of Lake Amadeus and missed the bridge of land between Amadeus and Lake Neale.[4]
In 1889, Giles' second-in-command, W. H. Tietkins, returned on his own expedition and surveyed the area.[5] He wrote that he travelled to the Bloods Range, to the south of Lakes Amadeus and Neale. He named the highest peaks Mount Harris and Mount Carruthers. From the top of Mount Harris, he could see Kata Tjuṯa, the Petermann Ranges and the Tomkinson Ranges. Tietkins then travelled eastward for three days, and reached Lake Amadeus. At the western end of the lake and on the north shore, he described a sandstone range, which he named Long's Range after his brother-in-law. He climbed a nearby set of hills, and identified Mount Unapproachable as the westernmost peak of the Long's Range.[6][7] He reported that his team reached Unapproachable around the middle of June and then spent several days travelling around the western edge of Lake Amadeus.[4] He corrected Giles' earlier mistake and successfully mapped the lake's western shore.[8][9]
Another team of surveyors visited the area in 1926, led by Donald Mackay and Herbet Basedow. On 1 July, they climbed a hill that Basedow identified as both Mount Unapproachable and Mount Harris. He found them to be the same mountain after comparing his own observations with those of Giles and Tietkens. Basedow concluded that this hill was the Mount Unapproachable that Giles had described, and that Tietkens had mistakenly renamed it Mount Harris.[5][10] On modern maps, however, Mount Harris and Mount Carruthers are indeed the names given to two peaks in the Bloods Range.
References
- ↑ G. H. Knibbs (1910). "Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia". 3. Melbourne: Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics (Australian Bureau of Statistics): 68.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ↑ "Geographical Notes". Nature. 40: 551. 3 October 1889. doi:10.1038/040551a0.
- ↑ Erwin H. J. Feeken, Gerda E. E. Feeken (1970). O. H. K. Spata (ed.). The Discovery and Exploration of Australia. Thomas Nelson. p. 191.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Staff writer (2 August 1912). "A noted explorer: interview with Mr. W. H. Tietkens". The Advertiser. Adelaide. p. 9.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Man Who Climbed Mt. Unapproachable". The Mail. Adelaide. 22 April 1933. p. 2.
- ↑ Geographical Society of Australasia (9 November 1889). "Mr. Tietkens's Explorations". The South Australian Chronicle. Adelaide. p. 5.
- ↑ William H. Tietkens (1891), Journal of the Central Australian Exploring Expedition, C. E. Bristow, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, p. 50
- ↑ D. Appleton (1891). Appletons' Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events. Vol. 15. Carl Sandburg Collections. p. 359.
- ↑ Scottish Geographical Magazine. Vol. 13. Royal Scottish Geographical Society. 1897. p. 416.
- ↑ Herbert Basedow (March 1929), "The Mackay Exploring Expedition, Central Australia, 1926", The Geographical Journal, 73 (3), Adelaide: Royal Geographical Society: 3
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