The Eastern Highlands, New South Wales and Victoria

The Eastern Highlands include about one-sixth of the continent or nearly 500,000 square miles of area. It is a complex region of uplifted blocks and folds with intervening lowlands and a narrow, discontinuous coastal plain. The highland region parallels the eastern and southeastern coast for a distance of nearly 2500 miles. The width varies from about 100 miles at each end to as much as 250 miles in the middle portions.

The Eastern Highlands reach their greatest elevations in the southeastern corner of the continent, where, near the border of New South Wales and Victoria, Mt. Kosciusko rises to 7328 feet (the highest point in Australia). Mount Bogong (elevation 6508 feet) is the highest point in Victoria. Elevations above a mile are also reached on the New England Plateau in northeastern New South Wales and on the Atherton Plateau in northeastern Queensland. Most of the Eastern Highland has elevations between 1000 and 3000 feet. About 80,000 square miles lie above the 2000-foot contour line.

The existence of parallel ranges with intervening uplands along with broad uplifted blocks, deeply dissected by streams, produces a wide variety of land forms and exposures. The coastal plain is narrow and discontinuous because extensions of the uplands reach the sea at many points.

Four important plateau areas stand out conspicuously in the Eastern Highlands sometimes called the great Dividing Range, because of their superior elevation and considerable extent. These divisions from north to south are: (1) the Atherton Plateau, (2) the New England Plateau, (3) the Blue Mountain Plateau, and (4) the Monaro Plateau. A number of less significant uplands include the Buckland Tableland, the Toowoomba Upland, the Warrumbungle Range, and the Liverpool Range.