Brindabella Ranges
The Brindabella Range, commonly called The Brindabellas or The Brindies, is a mountain range on the border of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, rising to the west of Canberra. It includes Namadgi National Park in the ACT and the Bimberi Nature Reserve and Brindabella National Park in New South Wales, and forms the northernmost section of the Australian Alps, reaching 1,913 m at Bimberi Peak on ancient granite country over 400 million years old, interspersed with volcanic outcrops.
Description
The range spans steep slopes and precipitous valleys through to subalpine plateaus, and acts as an important water catchment for the Cotter River system. It sits at the northern tip of the Australian Alps bio region, marking the boundary with the South Eastern Highlands bio region and the eastern edge of the Riverina.
Habitat and ecological role
The Brindabellas carry wet eucalypt forest dominated by alpine ash, mountain gum and ribbon gum at lower elevations, transitioning to subalpine snow gum woodland and alpine tea-tree thickets above about 1,400 m. This lower-elevation wet sclerophyll (tall open) forest occurs in moist mountain and higher foothill country and can include alpine ash, mountain gum, Victorian blue gum, brown barrel (Eucalyptus fastigata), narrow-leaf peppermint, manna gum, mountain ash and candlebark in pure or mixed stands, with a canopy generally over 30 m and often taller than 50 m. Higher slopes carry snow gum woodland adapted to cold, snowy conditions, with grasslands and shrubs providing transitional habitat on drier ridges and plateaus.
Position in this vault
The Brindabella Ranges are the broader geographic and elevational setting for the wet sclerophyll forest type referenced elsewhere in this vault — the tall eucalypt canopy of Eucalyptus fastigata and its associates, the shrub and small-tree layer including Acacia dealbata subalpina and the fern understorey of Dicksonia antarctica sit within this range’s moist gully and mid-altitude forest zones, grading upward into the subalpine snow gum woodlands and alpine areas at higher elevation.