The Belleden Ker Range, also known as the Wooroonooran Range is a coastal mountain range

Mountain range

A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...

 in Far North Queensland

Far North Queensland

Far North Queensland, or FNQ, is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. The region, which contains a large section of the Tropical North Queensland area, stretches from the city of Cairns north to the Torres Strait...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Part of the Great Dividing Range

Great Dividing Range

The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...

 it is located between Gordonvale

Gordonvale, Queensland

Gordonvale is a small sugar-growing suburb situated in the southern end of Cairns on the Mulgrave River. At the 2006 census, Gordonvale had a population of 4,420....

 and Babinda

Babinda, Queensland

Babinda is a small town 60 km south of Cairns, Queensland. It is located in the Cairns Region.The town is noted for its proximity to two of Queensland's highest mountains Mount Bartle Frere and Mount Bellenden Ker....

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The whole of the range falls within the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area

Wet Tropics of Queensland

The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km² of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range, stretching from Townsville to Cooktown, running in close parallel to the Great Barrier Reef...

 and is covered in richly diverse world heritage

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 listed wet tropical forests, including species of flora and fauna endemic to the range. Most of the range is also a gazetted protected area named Wooroonooran National Park

Wooroonooran National Park

Wooroonooran is a national park in Queensland , 1367 km northwest of Brisbane, between Innisfail and Cairns.The park is one of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area series of national parks, and is a gazetted World Heritage site...

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Two of Queensland's highest mountains, Mount Bartle Frere

Mount Bartle Frere

Mount Bartle Frere is the highest mountain in Queensland at an elevation of 1622 metres. The mountain was named after Sir Henry Bartle Frere, a British colonial administrator and then president of the Royal Geographical Society by George Elphinstone Dalrymple in 1873. Bartle Frere was British...

 (1622 m) and Mount Bellenden Ker

Mount Bellenden Ker

Mount Bellenden Ker is the second highest mountain in Queensland, Australia. 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...

 (1593 m) form part of this range, and Walsh's Pyramid

Walsh's Pyramid

Walshs Pyramid is an independent peak with a distinct pyramid appearance, 20 km south of Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Scene of an annual footrace, held on the third Saturday in August, to its summit...

 (922 m) (one of the highest free-standing natural pyramids in the world) is located at the range's northern end .

History

The mountains were sighted by Lieutenant James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

 but weren't given the name "Bellenden Ker Range" before Lieutenant Phillip Parker King named them, on the 22 June 1819, whilst aboard the HMCC Mermaid. Lieutenant Phillip King named the range after the English botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler

John Bellenden Ker Gawler

John Bellenden Ker, originally John Gawler was an English botanist born about 1764 in Ramridge, Andover, Hampshire and died in June 1842 in the same town. On 5 November 1804 he changed his name to Ker Bellenden, but continued to sign his name as Bellenden Ker until his death...

, following the suggestion made to him by his ships own botanist, Allan Cunningham

Allan Cunningham (botanist)

Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...

. Archibald Meston

Archibald Meston

Archibald Meston was an Australian politician, civil servant, journalist, naturalist and explorer.-Personal Life:Archibald Meston was born 26 March 1851 at Towie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of Alexander Meston....

 was an early explorer of the range.

Rivers

The Mulgrave River

Mulgrave River

The Mulgrave River is a river in Far North Queensland, Australia. It flows in a northerly direction through Gordonvale and the southern outskirts of Cairns, after rising in the Bellenden Ker Range...

 rises on the southwestern slopes of the range and then flows north around the northern end and then turns south flowing parallel to the eastern side. Russell River

Russell River

The Russell River is a short river that passes east of the town of Babinda in Far North Queensland, Australia. The river rises near the highest mountain in Queensland, Mount Bartle Frere, part of the Frances Range in the Wooroonooran National Park...

 drains the southeast parts of the range. A number of waterfalls cascade off the range including Kearneys Falls

Kearneys Falls

Kearneys Falls are found on a tributary of the Mulgrave River, in the Wooroonooran National Park, in Goldsborough Valley of Far North Queensland, Australia.Access to the falls is via a 1.6 km walking track....

, Fishery Falls, Josephine Falls

Josephine Falls

Josephine Falls are located at the foot of the southern face of Mount Bartle Frere in the Wooroonooran National Park, in Queensland, Australia. The falls are a popular recreation site among locals as the water flows over a large rock to form a natural waterslide.Josephine Falls are located on...

, Tchupala Falls

Tchupala Falls

Tchupala Falls are located in the Palmerston Section of Wooroonooran National Park, North Queensland, Australia, about 20 km west of Innisfail, along the Palmerston Highway. While the walking trail to Tchupala Falls is only about 600 metres, the track in this section totals about 11...

, Wallicher Falls, Nandroya Falls, Silver Creek Falls, Whites Falls

Whites Falls

Whites Falls are found on Behana Creek, above Clamshell Falls, in the Wooroonooran National Park, in Queensland, Australia....

, and Clamshell Falls

Clamshell Falls

Clamshell Falls are found on Behana Creek, below Whites Falls, in the Wooroonooran National Park, in Queensland, Australia....

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