{{Short description|Mountain range in South Australia}} {{Other uses|Gawler Ranges (disambiguation){{!}}Gawler Ranges}} {{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Gawler Ranges | native_name = | other_name = | etymology = | image = Chaine Gawler Australie.jpg | image_caption = Columnar jointing in rhyolite at the "Organ Pipes" waterfall in the ranges | image_size = | country = Australia | state = South Australia | region = Eyre Peninsula | district = | borders_on = | highest = Nukey Bluff | elevation_m = 465 | coordinates = | range_coordinates = {{coord|32|32|S|135|22|E|type:mountain_region:AU-SA_scale:300000|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | length_km = | length_orientation = | width_km = | width_orientation = | area_km2 = | geology = Felsic Volcanics | orogeny = | age = Mesoproterozoic | map = | map_caption = }} The '''Gawler Ranges''' are a range of stoney hills in South Australia to the north of the Eyre Peninsula. The Eyre Highway skirts the south of the ranges. The Gawler Ranges National Park is in the ranges north of Kimba and Wudinna. The ranges are covered by the Gawler Ranges Native Title Claim.

==History== thumb|Wagon on the Mail road, near Thurlga turnoff The traditional owners of the Gawler Ranges are the Barngarla, Kokatha and Wirangu peoples, who have inhabited the area for at least 30,000 years and are now known collectively as the Gawler Ranges Aboriginal People.<ref name=manplan2017/> These Aboriginal peoples maintained and used rock holes in the granite rock formations as a water source.<ref name=kneebone/>

The ranges were named by Edward John Eyre after the Governor of South Australia, George Gawler in 1839.<ref name="grnp">{{cite web|url=http://www.deh.sa.gov.au/parks/pdfs/BROCHURE_GAWLER_RANGES.PDF|title=Gawler Ranges National Park|access-date=2009-11-12|publisher=Department for Environment and Heritage|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080731162708/http://www.deh.sa.gov.au/parks/pdfs/BROCHURE_GAWLER_RANGES.PDF|archive-date=2008-07-31}}</ref> This was on one of Eyre's earlier expeditions before his famous crossing of the Nullarbor Plain further west. It was on this expedition that Edward John Eyre made the first recorded sighting of South Australia's floral emblem, the Sturt desert pea, in 1839 during an early exploration of the region.<ref name="SA">{{Cite web|url=http://www.southaustralia.com/EyrePeninsulaGawlerRanges.aspx|title=South Australia - Gawler Ranges|access-date=2009-11-24|archive-date=2009-04-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417041402/http://www.southaustralia.com/EyrePeninsulaGawlerRanges.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Stephen Hack explored the range in 1856 and in 1857 the first pastoral lease was taken up in the area,<ref name=hist/> Yardea, which was set up on the site of a former Aboriginal camp and included a freshwater spring later used as the station's water source. More sheep stations were soon established, including Hiltaba and Paney Station.<ref name=kneebone>{{citation|url=https://unisa.edu.au/contentassets/d20e4cd5cf384ea686b504cd7a6c1d66/naturally-disturbed-catalogue.pdf| publisher=University of South Australia|title= Naturally Disturbed: 6 April - 7 May 2010|format=Exhibition catalogue, from an exhibition at the SASA Gallery.|date=2010|author1=Kneebone, Sue|author1-link=Sue Kneebone|author2=Jones, Philip G.|author2-link=South Australian Museum#People associated with the Museum|author3=Knights, Mary}}</ref> Two good seasons followed in 1857 and 1858, with pastoralists reporting permanent freshwater lakes on their runs. Stations were required to stock 50 sheep per square mile (19 per square kilometre) but soon properties such as Nonning were shearing flocks of 90,000.<ref name=hist/>

The first mail service from Port Augusta to Yardea commenced in 1876, with the telegraph service to Western Australia that passes through the range commencing in 1903.<ref name=hist>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtive.com.au/gawlerranges.htm|title=History of the Gawler Ranges|access-date=15 March 2015|publisher=Mt Ive Station|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317183758/http://mtive.com.au/gawlerranges.htm|archive-date=17 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Geology== [[File:Hiltaba pink granite.jpg|thumb|Pink granite at Hiltaba Nature Reserve]] thumb|Acraman Salt Lake with Gawler Range in background thumb|right|Conical Hill Track in the Gawler Range The rocks within the ranges were formed by volcanic activity between ~1595-1592 Ma, when the Gawler Range Volcanics (GRV) were erupted.<ref>[https://se.copernicus.org/articles/2/25/2011/ Pankhurst et al., 2011] A Mesoproterozoic continental flood rhyolite province, the Gawler Ranges, Australia: the end member example of the Large Igneous Province clan</ref> Approximately 30 000&nbsp;km<sup>3</sup> of dominantly rhyolitic and dacitic lava were rapidly extruded, and their eroded remnants preserve one of the most voluminous felsic magmatic events preserved on earth. Basaltic and basaltic-andesite comprise a remarkably minor component of the magmatism (<1%). The Gawler Ranges Volcanics were also erupted at remarkably high temperatures (~950-1100&nbsp;°C) for felsic magmas, and this, coupled with their very high halogen (particularly F and Cl) compositions resulted in low viscosity (runny) magmas when compared to typical rhyolites and dacites which are generally several hundred degrees cooler. This low viscosity resulted in emplacement as a series of lobate flows with a stacked pancake-like morphology which cooled rapidly resulting in porphyritic textures and widespread columnar jointing. The ranges are a small part of the Gawler craton which is a craton rich in mineral resources, although many are only recently discovered and not yet fully exploited.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

There is much pink granite in some areas, including on the Hiltaba Nature Reserve on the western side of the ranges, which is located on Hiltaba Suite granite.<ref>{{ cite thesis| author=Agangi, Andrea| date= 2011 | title=Magmatic and volcanic evolution of a silicic large igneous province (SLIP): the Gawler Range Volcanics and Hiltaba Suite, South Australia |type=PhD |publisher= University of Tasmania|url=https://eprints.utas.edu.au/11722/ |access-date= 9 January 2022}} [https://eprints.utas.edu.au/11722/1/agangi.pdf PDF]</ref>

At approximately 580Ma the Gawler Ranges were impacted by a large meteorite which excavated the Acraman impact crater, in which the modern Lake Acraman now sits. The original crater was possibly as large as 90&nbsp;km in diameter and flung fist-sized debris several hundred kilometres to the east, where it has been preserved in sediments which now comprise the Flinders Ranges.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

=== Geomorphology === The highest point is Nukey Bluff at {{convert|465|m|ft|0}} above sea level. Bornhardts dominate the landscape.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Campbell|first=E.M.|author2=C.R. Twidale|author-link2=Charles Rowland Twidale|title=The evolution of bornhardts in silicic volcanic rocks in the Gawler Ranges|journal=Australian Journal of Earth Sciences|volume=38|issue=1|pages=79–83|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=February 1991|issn=1440-0952|doi=10.1080/08120099108727957|bibcode = 1991AuJES..38...79C }}</ref> Soils are invariably dominated by the weathering products of the volcanics, and are typically red in colour due to abundant oxidised iron weathering in the arid environment. No major rivers drain the ranges, however several internal catchments feed the modern playa lakes Gairdner, Acraman, Everard, McFarlane, Harry and Island Lagoon.

==Flora and fauna== [[File:MalsplendS532-1.jpg|thumb|Splendid fairywren in the Gawler Range]]

===Birds=== There are some 140 species of birds in the Gawler Ranges, including the emu, wedge-tailed eagle, pink cockatoo and singing honeyeater.<ref name="SA" />

=== Mammals === The Gawler Ranges are home to several larger mammals, like the southern hairy-nosed wombat<ref>Deborah Furbank (2010): Briefing note on the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat. Yorke Peninsula Natural Resource Management Group [http://www.nynrm.sa.gov.au/portals/7/pdf/reports/briefing_note-southern_hairy_nosed_wombat.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325082517/http://www.nynrm.sa.gov.au/Portals/7/pdf/reports/Briefing_Note-Southern_Hairy_Nosed_Wombat.pdf |date=2012-03-25 }}</ref> and the endangered yellow-footed rock wallaby.<ref>[http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/files/4124ba12-a94d-4f04-a1e2-9e4f00b3c452/BROCHURE_GAWLER_RANGES.pdf Informationsbroschüre des Parkverwaltung, engl., pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314223351/http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/files/4124ba12-a94d-4f04-a1e2-9e4f00b3c452/BROCHURE_GAWLER_RANGES.pdf |date=2011-03-14 }}</ref>

==Nature reserve== The Hiltaba Nature Reserve, owned by Nature Foundation, abuts the Gawler Ranges National Park to the north, and works to protect many threatened species.<ref name=manplan2017>{{cite book| url=https://cdn.environment.sa.gov.au/environment/docs/93010_gawler_ranges_np_management_plan_2017_fin_web_v2.pdf| title= Gawler Ranges National Park: Management Plan 2017| date=October 2017 |publisher= Government of South Australia| author= Department for Environment & Water| author2= National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia |access-date= 9 January 2022 |pages=6, 13}} 50px [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)] licence.</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|South Australia}} *List of mountains in Australia

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Andrewartha, H.G (1972). ''[https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19430048?q&versionId=22831117 The Gawler Ranges. Report on a survey by the Nature Conservation Society of South Australia]''. NCSSA: Adelaide.

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Category:Mountain ranges of South Australia Category:Volcanoes of South Australia Category:Proterozoic volcanism Category:Bornhardts Category:Eyre Peninsula Category:Far North (South Australia) Category:Gawler bioregion