Australian Mountain Peaks
Cache Name: AMP010 – Bellenden Ker
Peak ID: 10
Elevation: 1590m
State: QLD
Location: Bellenden Ker Range, Cairns
Coordinates: Near 32°00′S 151°27′E
Cache Size: 500ml plastic container
Mount Bellenden Ker is the second-highest mountain in Queensland, Australia, with a height of 1,593m. It is named after the botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler. Located 60 km south of Cairns near Babinda, it is adjacent to Mount Bartle Frere, the state's highest peak, part of the Bellenden Ker Range which is also known as the Wooroonooran Range.
The two mountains dominate the Josephine Falls section of the Wooroonooran National Park. Both peaks are made of resistant granite and are remnants of an escarpment that has been eroded by the Russell and Mulgrave Rivers.
In 1873, Walter Hill, Queensland's first Colonial botanist, undertook an expedition to northern Queensland to collect native plants and included a trip to Mount Bellenden Ker. In the same year Robert Arthur Johnstone climbed the peak while exploring the coastal lands south of Cooktown with George Elphinstone Dalrymple. Another expedition to the summit, led by Archibald Meston (1851-1924), was conducted in early February to early March 1889.