What is the Great Dividing Range?
The Great Dividing Range is Australia's largest mountain range, running about 3,500 kilometres along the east coast from Cape York in Queensland to western Victoria.
The range is not one continuous ridge but a series of mountain ranges, plateaus and hills. It includes the Australian Alps, the Blue Mountains and the Atherton Tableland. Its highest point is Mount Kosciuszko.
The range divides rivers that flow east to the Pacific Ocean from those that flow west toward the interior, such as the Murray and Darling. This division gives the range its name and shapes where rain falls and where people live.
A barrier for settlers
In the early years of the Sydney colony, the steep Blue Mountains blocked inland travel. In 1813 Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth found a route across, opening the western plains to farming.
Many of eastern Australia's most popular national parks, ski fields and water catchments sit in the range, making it vital for tourism and drinking water.
Did You Know?
The eastern side of the range receives much more rain than the western side, which lies in a rain shadow.