Mount Kosciuszko

Mount Kosciuszko [mæɔnt ˈkɔziˌɔskəʉ] (often misspelled Mount Kosciusko) is the highest mountain on the mainland of Australia, at 2228 m. It is located in New South Wales in the Snowy Mountains.

The highest mountain in Australia is Mawson Peak (2745 m) on the island of Heard, which is not part of the Australian continent. As the highest mountain of the Australian continent and thus one of the Seven Summits is counted today, especially among alpinists mostly the Carstensz Pyramid (4884 m) in New Guinea, but sporadically Mount Kosciuszko was also called one of the Seven Summits.

Mount Kosciuszko was named in 1840 by the Polish explorer and first climber Paweł Edmund Strzelecki in honour of the Polish and US national hero Tadeusz Kościuszko.

The mountain is surrounded by the Kosciuszko National Park, which is the largest in New South Wales with an area of 6900 km² and was established to protect Australia's unique alpine flora and fauna.

Not far from Mount Kosciuszko is Mount Townsend, which at 2209 m is only slightly lower. The names Mount Townsend and Mount Kosciuszko were originally assigned to the other mountain. Elevation measurements revealed that Mount Kosciuszko, originally thought to be higher, was smaller than Mount Townsend. In order for Mount Kosciuszko to remain the taller mountain anyway, the New South Wales Lands Department swapped the names of the two peaks.

Mount Kosciuszko is no challenge from a mountaineering point of view, an easy but long hiking trail leads to the summit.

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