Australian Mountain Peaks
Cache Name: AMP016 – Mount Woodroffe
Peak ID: 16
Elevation: 1435m
State: SA
Location: Musgrave Ranges, South Australia (HP)
Coordinates: 26°19′13″S 131°44′38″E
Cache Size: 150ml plastic container
Mount Woodroffe is located in the far northwest of South Australia, in the Musgrave Ranges. The mountain range rises some 700–800 metres from the surrounding plains and comprises massifs of granite and gneiss. It is South Australia’s highest peak, 64% of, and 793m lower than Australia’s highest peak Mount Kosciuszko.
William Ernest Giles was the first white man to pass through the area and camped to the south of Woodroffe on September 7, 1873. William Christie Gosse had previously named it Mt Woodroffe on July 20 that same year. Woodroffe was named after George Woodroffe Goyder, Surveyor-General of South Australia and an early Australian explorer. Access is limited as a permit is required to enter the Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands.
In the 1960s Mount Woodroffe was considered as a potential site for the proposed Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). It lost out due to its remoteness compared to Siding Spring in New South Wales, where the AAT sits today amongst other astronomical observatories.