Nightcap Range
{{Short description|Mountain range in New South Wales, Australia}}
{{Infobox mountain range
|name = Nightcap Range
|other_name =
|photo = Nightcap Range from the south.jpg
|photo_alt =
|photo_caption = Southern elevation of The Nightcap Range in northern New South Wales; left: Mount Burrell (part); centre: Mount Neville; right: Mount Nardi
|country_type =
|country = Australia
|region_type = State
|region = New South Wales
|border =
|biome =
|topo_map =
|topo_maker =
|highest = Mount Burrell
|elevation_m = 933
|elevation_system = {{AHD}}
|coordinates = {{coord|28|31|S|153|13|E|type:mountain_region:AU-NSW|format=dms|display=inline}}
|coordinates_ref = {{NSW GNR|id=KWjLoerXan|title=Mount Burrell|accessdate=10 May 2015}}
|length_km = 25
|width_km =
|area_km2 =
|length_orientation = SE
|width_orientation =
|length_ref =
|width_ref =
|area_ref =
|parent = Great Dividing Range
|range_coordinates = {{coord|28|33|S|153|20|E|type:mountain_region:AU-NSW|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|formed_by =
|geology =
|period =
|orogeny =
|map = Australia New South Wales
|map_alt =
|map_caption = Location of the Nightcap Range in New South Wales
|map_relief = 1
|relief = 1
}}
File:Nightcap-range-openstreetmap.jpg.]]
The Nightcap Range is a mountain range located in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, in the area between Lismore and the New South Wales-Queensland border. It includes Mount Burrell and Mount Nardi as well as containing the Nightcap National Park. The range is mainly covered with relict warm temperate rainforest and contains several rare and/or endemic species, most notably the Nightcap oak and the Minyon quandong.
Description
The range is a spur off the Great Dividing Range and extends generally southeast from Mount Burrell for about {{convert|25|km}} to Peates Mountain.{{NSW GNR|id=ujqwBKZTuj|title=Nightcap Range|accessdate=10 May 2015}} It is separated from the remainder of the Great Dividing Range by the Nimbin Gap. The Range forms the southern flank of the Mount Warning (Tweed) shield volcano and geologically, is formed from the Lismore Basalts which are then overlain successively by the Nimbin Rhyolites and finally the Blue Knob Basalts.Big Volcano (Wollumbin) Visitor Guide: [http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/natural/natparks.htm#Nightcap National Parks of the Tweed Volcano Region] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202053432/http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/natural/natparks.htm#Nightcap |date=2020-02-02 }}Big Volcano (Wollumbin) Visitor Guide: [http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/natural/lostwrld.htm The Lost World - Records in the Rocks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314025525/http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/natural/lostwrld.htm |date=2013-03-14 }}
The highest peak in the range is Mount Burrell at {{convert|933|m}} above sea level. Other major peaks are Mount Neville at {{convert|919|m}}, Mount Nardi at {{convert|812|m}}, Mount Matheson at {{convert|804|m}}, and Peates Mountain at {{convert|604|m}}. The name "Blue Knob" is applied to a prominence on the top of Mount Burrell (with "Sphinx Rock" another geological feature adjacent to the main elevated section); the names "Blue Knob" and "Mount Burrell" are also used for the names of settled areas (districts) at the base of the range.[https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC10416?opendocument 2016 Census QuickStats: Blue Knob][https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC12749?opendocument 2016 Census QuickStats: Mount Burrell]
Man made features
The summit of Mount Nardi is the site for several transmission towers which are used for FM radio, digital television and formerly, analogue TV and fixed wireless broadband internet transmissions,{{cite web|url=https://fmscan.org/transmitter.php?r=f&t=37700051|title=Mount Nardi FM transmitter info|work=fmscan.org|access-date=4 August 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://ozdigitaltv.com/transmitters/NSW/5-Mt-Nardi|title=Mt Nardi Digital TV Broadcast Site|work=ozdigitaltv.com|access-date=4 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804045148/https://ozdigitaltv.com/transmitters/NSW/5-Mt-Nardi|archive-date=4 August 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/12/08/4144249.htm|title=Offline: Northern Rivers telco Linknet powers down Mt Nardi service|work=ABC North Coast NSW|date=9 December 2014|access-date=4 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731090939/http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/12/08/4144249.htm|archive-date=31 July 2016|url-status=live}} as well as some mobile phone services. The summit can be reached by a bitumen road via Nimbin which cost £32,000 to construct in tandem with the first tower in 1962 (the tower itself costing only £10,000trove.nla.gov.au: The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) Wed 16 May 1962 Page 4: [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/47508714 Country men solved problem that beat world experts]) and is the starting point for several walking tracks including the Historic Nightcap walking track, which once was the principal route taken by travellers and postal workers between Lismore and Murwillumbah.{{Cite web |url=https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/north-coast/lismore-area/lismore/attractions/historic-nightcap-walking-track |title=Visit NSW: Historic Nightcap Walking Track |access-date=2019-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216072552/https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/north-coast/lismore-area/lismore/attractions/historic-nightcap-walking-track |archive-date=2019-12-16 |url-status=live }}
The range contains the Nightcap National Park{{cite web|url=http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=20936&op=248&cmd=sp&c=1&x=153%2E35486&y=%2D28%2E55411&w=40000&mpsec=0|title=Map of Nightcap Range, NSW|work=Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia|access-date=10 May 2015}} and forms part of the catchment for Rocky Creek Dam which is located to the north of Lismore, and provides the drinking water supply for a large portion of the Northern Rivers area.
Notable flora
File:Bushfire-Nightcap Range November 2019.jpg
The range is the only known locality for the Nightcap oak, Eidothea hardeniana, a member of the Proteaceae, with a known population only around 100 wild plants, recognised and named in 2002.
{{Cite journal |last1=Weston |first1=P. H. |last2=Kooyman |first2=R. M. |year=2002 |title=Systematics of Eidothea (Proteaceae), with the description of a new species, E. hardeniana, from the Nightcap Range, north-eastern New South Wales |journal=Telopea |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=821–832 |doi= 10.7751/telopea20024022|doi-access=free }} Much of its habitat was devastated by a bushfire on the range (the Mount Nardi bushfire) in November 2019.{{cite web |last1=Shoebridge |first1=Joanne |first2=Catherine | last2=Marciniak |title=Gondwana-era rainforest stand of nightcap oak devastated by unprecedented bushfire |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-18/gondwana-era-nightcap-oak-devastated-by-bushfire/11877770 |website=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=18 January 2020|date=18 January 2020}} The range is also notable for containing the majority of known sites for the extremely restricted Minyon quandong, a medium sized tree in the Elaeocarpaceae, which had been recognised as a distinct species for some time but formally described only in 2008. {{Cite journal | last1= Maynard | first1= David | last2= Crayn | first2= Darren | last3= Rossetto | first3= Marco | last4= Kooyman | first4= Robert | last5= Coode | first5= Mark | year=2008 | title= Elaeocarpus sedentarius sp. nov. (Elaeocarpaceae)—morphometric analysis of a new, rare species from eastern Australia | journal= Australian Systematic Botany | volume= 21 | issue= 3 | at= pp. 192–200 (196–199), Figs 3, 4 | url= http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/SB07031.htm |doi=10.1071/SB07031}}
Derivation of locality names
According to the Richmond-Tweed Regional Library's "Place Names of the Tweed, Brunswick and Upper Richmond Regions", the name "Nightcap" is a corruption of "night camp", as used by the original surveyors of the range and subsequent travellers; beyond Nimbin, further along the old Murwillumbah to Lismore route through the mountains, the small settlement of Coffee Camp retains its original, similarly derived name unaltered. Mount Matheson is named for the Government Surveyor George Matheson who, with his assistant Arthur Gracie, surveyed the track over the Nightcap Range in the early 1870s. Mount Burrell (stated as originally spelled with a single "l") is possibly from the Aboriginal word "burrul", meaning "wallaby", while Mount Nardi (previously considered a portion of Mount Matheson) is named for Terania Shire Councillor Angelo Nardi who served from 1956 to 1961.Richmond-Tweed Regional Library (1984). Place Names of the Tweed, Brunswick and Upper Richmond Regions.
Gallery
File:Distant view of Mount Burrell (2).jpg|Distant view of Mount Burrell, the westernmost portion of the Nightcap Range
File:Nightcap Range from SW.jpg|The Nightcap Range in NSW, Australia, distant view from south-west
File:Mt-nardi-towers2.jpg|Telephoto view of the three transmission towers on Mount Nardi
File:Mt-nardi-towers-1.jpg|Close-up view of the Mount Nardi transmission towers; from the front: the ABRN6 digital TV tower; the central tower (Telstra-2); the NRN8 (originally: RTN-8) original analogue TV tower
File:Sunrise over the summit of Mount Nardi from the south.jpg|Sunrise over the summit of Mount Nardi from the south, showing the radio and digital television transmission towers
File:Mt-nardi-towers-2.jpg|Communications towers on Mount Nardi, New South Wales, Australia: the ABRN-6 tower (digital TV + more)
File:Mt-nardi-towers-3.jpg|Communications towers on Mount Nardi, New South Wales, Australia: the central tower (Telstra-2)
File:Mt-nardi-towers-4.jpg|Communications towers on Mount Nardi, New South Wales, Australia: the central tower (Telstra-2) - detail
File:Mt-nardi-towers-5.jpg|Communications towers on Mount Nardi, New South Wales, Australia: the NRN8 (originally: RTN-8) tower (former analogue TV + other current uses)
File:Protestor falls.jpg|Protesters Falls
File:Rainforest at Protest Falls, Nightcap NP.JPG|Rainforest at Protesters Falls, Nightcap NP
File:Rainbow through Minyon Falls.jpg|Rainbow through Minyon Falls
File:View at Minyon Falls, Nightcap NP.JPG|View at Minyon Falls, Nightcap NP
See also
{{stack|{{portal|New South Wales|Mountains}}}}
- {{section link|List of mountains of Australia|New South Wales}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- www.echo.net.au: [https://www.echo.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Fires-Near-Me-Mt-Nardi-18.11.2019-.jpg Area burned in the November 2019 Mount Nardi bushfire, as at 18 November 2019] (original article [https://www.echo.net.au/2019/11/roads-open-residents-affected-mt-nardi-fire/ here])
{{New South Wales mountains |state=autocollapse}}