Wonderful places

Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain is the central feature of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, part of Tasmania's World Heritage area.The park is characterised by a rugged, glaciated landscape with over 25 major peaks and a wide range of glacial formations - tarns, glacial lakes, moraine deposits, U-shaped valleys and waterfalls.The area has some of Australia's most spectacular scenery and abounds in Australian native wildlife: you can expect to see Rufus wallabies (Pademelons), Bennetts wallabies, wombats, brush tail possums and currawongs. If you are lucky you might also see Tasmanian devils, spotted tail quolls, green rosellas and even see a platypus
Archaeological research in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park has revealed many Aboriginal sites consisting of stone tools and quarries which suggests that people moved mainly through the valleys with occasional visits to higher areas.
Cradle Mountain was named in 1827 by the explorer Joseph Fossey who decided it bore a remarkable similarity to a cradle. It was first climbed by a European in 1831 when the explorer Henry Hellyer successfully reached the summit. Surveyor General George Franklin passed through the area in 1835 and he was followed by prospectors, trappers and settlers.