Australian Mountain Peaks
Cache Name: AMP008 - Mount Ossa
Peak ID: 8
Elevation: 1617m
State: TAS
Location: Central Highlands of Tasmania
Coordinates: 41°52′12″S 146°01′48″E
Cache Size: 500ml plastic container
Mount Ossa is the highest mountain in Tasmania with a summit elevation of 1,617 metres. It makes up part of the Pelion Range within Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia.
The Mount Ossa highland area spans the boundary between the Big River and Northern Tasmanian Aboriginal nations. It was first surveyed by Charles Gould in the 1860s and named after Mount Ossa in Greece following the theme of classical Greek names set by George Frankland, an early Tasmanian surveyor. However, its location was marked as on what is now called Mount Nereus, and later surveyors alternatively referred to is at Parsons Hood, Mount Dundas, Mount Blackhouse or simply numbered it. For years it was thought that Cradle Mountain was the highest in Tasmania, but Ossa was confirmed to be the highest mountain after an aerial survey in 1954.