Tuesday 31 March 2020

Moogerah Peaks National Park

The Moogerah peaks (Mounts Edwards, Greville, Moon and French) are ancient volcanic peaks adjacent to Lake Moogerah in the Fassifern Valley. These steep rocky peaks composed of rhyolite and trachyte are the remains of over 20 million years of erosion. In 1994 these ancient mountain monuments were amalgamated into Moogerah Peaks National Park.


The peaks of Moogerah are significant landmarks for the Ugarapul.
Mount Greville (above) is 'Moogerah' meaning thunder.

Mount Edwards (below) is known as 'Wummun'.


Mount Moon is from 'Moorm', which means 'old walkabout mountain'.

The two peaks of Mount French are known as 'Punchagin' (southern peak) and 'Mee-bor-rum' (northern peak).

Moogerah Peaks National Park is a worthwhile exploration destination. The peaks themselves are special to Aboriginal people, bushwalkers and conservationists. They are valuable remnant habitats that protect open eucalypt forest, dry rainforest, montane heath and small sheltered pockets of Araucaria vine forest. The park provides significant refuge for numerous vulnerable plants and animals, some now restricted to a single mountain. Mount Greville (767m) is a rhyolite plug rising sharply above the surrounding hilly country. With its rock cliff faces and forests, this mountain is an attractive and distinctive landmark.

It is also a great vantage point for viewing the Main Range. View to Cunningham's Gap flanked by Mt Mitchell and Mt Cordeaux.

There are two deep, narrow, steep-sided gorges in its south-eastern side – this is Waterfall Gorge.

Views east over the Fassifern and towards Brisbane from Mount Edwards.


Lake Moogerah or Moogerah Dam.


The eucalypt-forested and steep-sloped Mount Edwards is a large trachyte plug cut by Reynolds Creek to form the mountain's distinctive two peaks.

Present-day explorers checking out a modern monument – 
survey marker on Mt Greville.

Mount Greville.

When this guy below reached the top of the mountain, he kept climbing.
In the clearing stands a hiker
An explorer by his trade
He retraces the land markers
Of bound'ry lines he masoned down
Or dixoned, monumentin’
In his measure is his game
The meridian lyin' un-readin’
The closin' line land in his name...

The views from Mt Greville don't lie at all. They just lie in all directions.

Mount Moon flanked by Mt Maroon and Mt Barney. Mount Moon is also a rhyolite plug with a prominent crevice that is slowly and surely being enlarged by erosion.

Mount Maroon

Mount Barney

Waterfall Gorge, Mount Greville

The ruggedness and inaccessibility of the peaks saved many undisturbed stands of forests and significant wildlife habitats.



The peak of Greville from Waterfall Gorge.

Rock slab trail, Mt Greville southeast.


Mount Roberts, Lizard Point and Mt Steamer from Mount Greville.

Mt Greville (Moogerah) plugging Spicers Gap.

Mt Cordeaux to The Ramparts

Mt Edwards and Lake Moogerah from GrevilleMounts Asplenum, Huntley and Spicers Peak.The south end of Main Range.

The northern end of the Main Range with the hole-in-the-wall and Mt Castle at far right.

Fassifern valley and Main Range

Spicers Gap (above) and Cunninghams Gap (below).


Spicers and Cunninghams Gaps.


Mount Moon



It's not dark yet, but it’s getting towards sunset on Lake Moogerah.