Ben Lomond National Park, Alpine nature reserve in Northern Midlands, Australia.
Ben Lomond National Park is a mountain in north-east Tasmania built around a central massif with a plateau above 1,200 metres, covering roughly 85 square kilometres. Legges Tor, at 1,572 metres, is the highest point; Stacks Bluff at the southern end drops 600 metres to a cliffline. Dolerite dominates the plateau, and a small ice cap once covered it during the Pleistocene.
The modern name was given by Colonel Paterson, who founded the first settlement in northern Tasmania in 1804, after the Scottish mountain of the same name. In colonial times 'Ben Lomond' referred only to the southern end of the massif and the country around the southern escarpment; the name did not appear on maps for the whole massif until the 1900s, when Stacks Bluff also appeared.
The name was given by Colonel Paterson, who founded the first settlement in northern Tasmania in 1804, after the Scottish mountain of the same name. The palawa kani name is turapina, recorded as turbunna or toorbunna, with the suffix bunna/pina thought to mean tableland or plateau. Lake Youl was known as minamata, and that name survives in the Menamatta Tarns.
Jacobs Ladder is a zig-zag road that climbs from the foothills to the ski village and the plateau; walking tracks offer an alternative route to the village and summit. The locality lies about 64 km east of Longford and east of Launceston. Weather on the plateau changes quickly, so check conditions before setting out.
The park contains around 220 plant species and provides habitat for wombats, Bennett's wallabies, Forester kangaroos, eastern quolls, echidnas, and platypuses. This variety of animals in a single alpine region shows how these species adapt to diverse terrain.
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