Australian Mountain Peaks
Cache Name: AMP019 – Mount Barrow
Peak ID: 19
Elevation: 1414m
State: TAS
Location: Tasmanian Northern Slopes, near Launceston, Tasmania
Coordinates: 41°22′12″S 147°24′36″E
Cache Size: 500ml plastic container
Mount Barrow is a mountain in the northern region of Tasmania, Australia. It is located 22 kilometres east-north-east of Launceston. The mountain habitat is a mixture of temperate old-growth rainforest, subalpine and alpine landscapes.
The mountain formed an imposing barrier to settlers for long into the 19th Century and the steep rainforest country behind the mountain was visited infrequently. In the 1830s the country was explored by George Robinson and the botanist Robert William Lawrence, who both commented on the steep and difficult country. The hinterland was subject to scientific exploration by Paul Strzelecki in 1846 and prospectors gradually opened up the rugged country in the northeast after that time.
By the late 1870s settlement had made inroads into the surrounding valleys and the forests began to be exploited for their wood, as well as clearing country for emerging settlements such as Nunamara, Patersonia and Diddleum Plains.
Mount Barrow is the main television and FM radio transmission site for northeast Tasmania. The broadcasting and telecommunication structures are subject to ice build-up and have shields incorporated into their designs to prevent damage from falling ice. Due to the rugged terrain, the programme reaches the sites via microwave links instead of the usual fibre optic cables. Electrical power reaches the facilities by an overhead line running up the eastern side of the mountain.