Mount Beerwah
Encyclopedia
Mount Beerwah is the highest of the ten volcanic plug
s in the Glass House Mountains
range, 22 km north of Caboolture
in South East Queensland
, Australia
. It was formed 26 million years ago during the tertiary period.
Mount Beerwah has two peaks, the taller of which is 556 metres high. It is one of the most visually prominent mountains in south-east Queensland
. The first white person to ascend the peak was Andrew Petrie
with his son John Petrie
. Its name comes from the words "birra, or "sky," and "wandum," "climbing up."
In the mythology
of the region, Mount Beerwah was the mother of all the other mountains in the region except Mount Tibrogargan
, the father. Local aboriginals disliked climbing the mountains for reasons unknown.
The mountain is basically a column of trachyte
. One side features a dramatic, inward leaning cliff face known as the Organ Pipes. At its base is a number of small caves.
It is legal to climb Mount Beerwah and Mount Tibrogargan; the views from the summit are rewarding. There is a 2.6 km trail up from a state government maintained parking lot. The start of the trail is a "level 5 difficulty" walk that turns into a climb that can be done without equipment. Even experienced hikers should not attempt this trail unless they have at least three hours of daylight and there is no chance of rain. Depending on fitness, climbers should plan on taking two to three litres of water per person.
Mount Beerwah has been closed to climbing for a number of years. The damage from a rock fall is still evident and there has been no attempt to fix handrails and re-open the track. Fines can be issued if people access areas that are closed to the public.
Volcanic plug
A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic landform created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When forming, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of pressure if volatile-charged magma is trapped beneath it, and this can sometimes lead to an...
s in the Glass House Mountains
Glass House Mountains (Queensland)
The Glass House Mountains are a group of eleven hills that rise abruptly from the coastal plain on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. The highest mountain is Mount Beerwah at 556 m above sea level, but the most identifiable of all the mountains is Mount Tibrogargan which appears like a...
range, 22 km north of Caboolture
Caboolture, Queensland
Caboolture is an urban centre approximately north of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. Caboolture is considered to be the northernmost urban area of the greater Brisbane metropolitan region within South East Queensland, and it marks the end of the Brisbane suburban commuter...
in South East Queensland
South East Queensland
South East Queensland is a region of the state of Queensland in Australia, which contains approximately two-thirds of the state population...
, 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...
. It was formed 26 million years ago during the tertiary period.
Mount Beerwah has two peaks, the taller of which is 556 metres high. It is one of the most visually prominent mountains in south-east Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
. The first white person to ascend the peak was Andrew Petrie
Andrew Petrie
Andrew Petrie was a builder, architect and Australian pioneer.Petrie was born in Fife, Scotland and trained as a builder in Edinburgh, where he married Mary Cuthbertson in 1821. John Dunmore Lang brought him, his wife and four sons to Sydney in 1831 with other Scottish mechanics to form the...
with his son John Petrie
John Petrie
John "Jocky" Petrie was a Scottish football player who played for Arbroath F.C..He holds the record for the most goals ever scored in a senior British football game with 13 goals. This occurred during Arbroath's famous 36–0 victory over Bon Accord F.C...
. Its name comes from the words "birra, or "sky," and "wandum," "climbing up."
In the mythology
Australian Aboriginal mythology
Australian Aboriginal myths are the stories traditionally performed by Aboriginal peoples within each of the language groups across Australia....
of the region, Mount Beerwah was the mother of all the other mountains in the region except Mount Tibrogargan
Mount Tibrogargan
Mount Tibrogargan is one of the many mountains in the Glass House Mountains National Park, north-northwest of Brisbane, Australia. It is a volcanic plug of hard alkali rhyolite that squeezed up into the vents of an ancient volcano 27 million years ago....
, the father. Local aboriginals disliked climbing the mountains for reasons unknown.
The mountain is basically a column of trachyte
Trachyte
Trachyte is an igneous volcanic rock with an aphanitic to porphyritic texture. The mineral assemblage consists of essential alkali feldspar; relatively minor plagioclase and quartz or a feldspathoid such as nepheline may also be present....
. One side features a dramatic, inward leaning cliff face known as the Organ Pipes. At its base is a number of small caves.
Climbing
Mount Beerwah has been closed to climbing for a number of years. The damage from a rock fall is still evident and there has been no attempt to fix handrails and re-open the track. Fines can be issued if people access areas that are closed to the public.