West Coast Range - History and Exploration

History and Exploration

Early European exploration of the range was made by explorers, and by convicts escaping from Macquarie Harbour Penal Station on Sarah Island. Most occurred in the late nineteenth century, but as late as the 1940s some government maps had "unexplored" or "insufficient survey" or words to that effect.

Perhaps the most salient sentinels on speedy decisions - of the mountains that are viewable from Macquarie Harbour - most were named after proponents for and against the ideas that Charles Darwin was putting forward in the late 19th century. The irony is those who were against Darwin were given the higher mountain names, while the smaller were named after his supporters.

There were very small mining settlements in the Tyndalls, on Mount Darwin and Mount Jukes, and possibly very small camps of short duration in other locations. Linda in the Linda Valley is probably the only other remaining named location with population in a valley in the range. Queenstown lies in the Queen River valley on the western slopes of Mount Owen, or south western slopes of Mount Lyell, and is in effect 'out' of the range.