GLAM/Newsletter/September 2022/Contents/Australia report

This Month in GLAM – Volume XII, Issue IX, September 2022

Australia report

Behind the scenes with Australia's Wiki Loves Earth 2022 winner

The Pinnacle, Grampians National Park, Victoria, Australia

The Grampians National Park is one of Victoria’s most well known and visited national parks. It offers a plethora of hiking opportunities in which to see the magnificent sandstone landscapes that have been sculpted over a period of millions of years. Being an avid hiker, who is also into landscape photography, this is the perfect place for me. I had been to the Grampians a number of times previously and knew that in the right weather conditions, fog fills the valley below, while the tops of the mountain peaks poke above the, providing a viewpoint above the ‘sea’ below.

During one of my visits to the park in 2017, I had identified that such conditions were due to occur the next day so I drove up to the Sundial carpark, the closest point to the Pinnacle lookout, the night before and camped the night there. The next morning I set out before dawn to get the Pinnacle, the highest peak of the surrounding mountain range, and when I reached the summit I was greeted to the scene that I had envisioned. Fog completely blanketed the valley below, and as the sun was starting to rise, it was illuminating the surrounding landscape in a rich, golden glow. My aim in taking this photograph was to convey the dreamy, ethereal landscape that I saw and share that through the photographic medium.

I entered the Wiki Loves Earth 2022 competition after I saw a banner advert for it on the Wikipedia website. Having browsed the previous entries that had taken out some of the places, I thought that some of my photographs might be in for a shot, so I decided to give it a try and enter a few. The Pinnacle is my favourite out of each of the shots that I entered/placed within the competition.

Mount Murchison, Tasmania

Located in the rugged west coast of Tasmania, Mount Murchison is a stunning, steep mountain peak, rising out of the landscape between the towns of Tullah and Queenstown. I had seen the trail head marker in passing a few times when being on this side of Tasmania, and decided during my time there in 2019 that I would make the attempt to summit it. The track is not for the faint hearted or first time hikers, with the track ascending very steeply and being difficult to navigate due to the lack of markers. However, I ended up making it to the top of the summit, even with fog rolling in around me and was able to get this shot before I was enveloped in it. The pandani that can be seen in the foreground is endemic to the region and is well known for it’s presence in the alpine regions of central, western and southern Tasmania.

Fitzroy Island, Queensland

This photograph was taken at Nudey Beach, on the western coast of Fitzroy Island, located about an hour’s ferry ride from the Far North Queensland town of Cairns. This beach was ranked as Australia’s best beach in 2018, and it’s not hard to see why. Isolated and containing pristine white sands, lush green tropical greenery and a stunning array of underwater sealife, this beach really has it all. This photograph was taken on my first and only trip to the island so far in which I had an absolute ball snorkelling along the various beaches here, whilst also hiking up to the summit of highest point on the island and exploring the turtle rehabilitation centre. It is truly a beautiful island in every sense of the word and definitely a place worth exploring if you are ever in the area.

Behind the scenes with Australia's Wiki Loves Earth 2022 winner

The Pinnacle, Grampians National Park, Victoria, Australia

Mount Murchison, Tasmania

Fitzroy Island, Queensland

Further Reading