| McPherson | |
|---|---|
 Mount Barney, highest point of the range | |
| Highest point | |
| Peak | Mount Barney |
| Elevation | 1,359 m (4,459 ft) |
| Coordinates | 28°17′S152°42′E / 28.283°S 152.700°E /-28.283; 152.700 |
| Geography | |
  McPherson | |
| Country | Australia |
| State(s) | Queensland, New South Wales |
| Region(s) | South East Queensland,Northern Rivers |
| Rivers | Condamine River |
| Range coordinates | 28°20′S153°00′E / 28.333°S 153.000°E /-28.333; 153.000 |
| Parent range | Great Dividing Range |
| Borders on | Teviot Range,Tweed Range,Border Ranges,Main Range |
TheMcPherson Range is an extensivemountain range, a spur of theGreat Dividing Range, heading in an easterly direction from nearWallangarra to thePacific Ocean coastline. It forms part of theScenic Rim on the border between the states ofNew South Wales andQueensland. Further west of the McPherson Range is theMain Range. Towards the coast the range continues into theBorder Ranges and other mountainous terrain formed by theTweed Volcano.
The Australian electoralDivision of McPherson was named after the mountain range.
Wilsons Peak is considered to be the intersection of the Great Divide and the McPherson Range.[1] There are five waterfalls in this part of the range includingTeviot Falls,Queen Mary Falls,Daggs Falls andBrowns Falls. Other notable mountains in the range includeMount Lindesay andMount Barney.
The range contains a number ofnational parks, includingMount Barney National Park,Border Ranges National Park andLamington National Park among others which possessWorld Heritage listing, as theGondwana Rainforests of Australia.
TheSydney–Brisbane rail corridor and theLions Road pass over the range at Richmond Gap, as does theMount Lindesay Highway and theNerang-Murwillumbah Road. A third passage through Teviot Gap, provides a road route betweenBoonah andKillarney near Wilson's Peak.
The ranges were first explored by white settlers in 1828. The party was headed byAllan Cunningham andPatrick Logan while searching for a route to theDarling Downs from the newly establishedMoreton Bay penal colony.[2] Logan had climbedMount Barney thinking that he was onMount Warning until he reached the summit and saw the true Mount Warning further south. Realising they were on another range they named it the McPherson Range after Major Duncan McPherson.[3][4] Logan namedWilsons Peak and Mount Shadforth, which is now known as Mount Toowoonan.[5]
The McPherson Range was the location of the1937 Airlines of Australia Stinson crash, which went missing on a flight between Brisbane and Sydney in 1937.Bernard O'Reilly, a local farmer, trekked through thick forests and rugged terrain to discover the wreck and two emaciated, badly injured survivors, nine days after the crash.[6]
The sub-tropical rainforest on the range has never been damaged by severebushfires (until the fires of 2019)and contains more than 20 species of rock and tree orchids.[7]
Thestream lily is a perennial plant found along creeks and gullies of the range. The extinct fern speciesAntrophyum austroqueenslandicum may still exist in unsurveyed parts of the range.[citation needed]
The uniqueLamington spiny crayfish colours has evolved with white in New South Wales valleys and blue crayfish in Queensland's section of the range.[8]
The rainforests contain important populations of the endangeredrufous scrub-bird, and the vulnerableAlbert's lyrebird, both of which are confined to south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales.
Media related toMcPherson Range, Queensland at Wikimedia Commons
