Mount Meharry
Mountain in Western Australia
title: "Mount Meharry" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountains-of-western-australia", "hamersley-range"] description: "Mountain in Western Australia" topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Meharry" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Mountain in Western Australia ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Mount Meharry |
| elevation_m | 1249 |
| elevation_ref | |
| prominence_m | 836 |
| prominence_ref | |
| map | Western Australia |
| map_caption | Location in Western Australia |
| map_size | 200 |
| label_position | right |
| location | Pilbara region of Western Australia |
| range | Hamersley Range |
| coordinates | |
| coordinates_ref | |
| :: |
| name = Mount Meharry | other_name = Panyjima:Wirlbiwirlbi | elevation_m = 1249 | elevation_ref = | prominence_m = 836 | prominence_ref = | map = Western Australia | map_caption = Location in Western Australia | map_size = 200 | label_position = right | location = Pilbara region of Western Australia | range = Hamersley Range | coordinates = | coordinates_ref = Mount Meharry (Panyjima:Wirlbiwirlbi) is the highest mountain in Western Australia. It is located in the Hamersley Range within the southeastern part of Karijini National Park in the Pilbara region, approximately 86 km south-southeast of Wittenoom, and 87 km east-southeast of Tom Price.
The Pandjima peoples are the traditional owners of the area.
History
Mount Meharry is named after William Thomas Meharry (1912–1967), Chief Geodetic Surveyor for Western Australia from 1959 to 1967. Surveyor Trevor Markey and his party were the first people of European descent to discover the mountain, in 1967. Tom Meharry directed the survey party and performed the calculations that confirmed the mountain was the highest peak in Western Australia, being 15 m higher than Mount Bruce which lies 62 km northwest of Mount Meharry. Bluff Knoll, highest peak in the Stirling Range and sometimes mistaken as the state's highest, is 150 m lower than Mount Meharry.
After Meharry's sudden death on 16 May 1967 the Nomenclature Advisory Committee (now the Geographic Names Committee) recommended to the Minister for Lands that the recently discovered peak be named after him. The Minister for Lands Stewart Bovell approved this on 28 July 1967 and a notice naming the peak was published in the Western Australian Government Gazette on 15 September 1967.
In 1999, Gina Rinehart, daughter of Lang Hancock, applied to the Geographic Names Committee to rename the mountain after her father. The application was declined and in 2002 she lobbied the then-Premier Geoff Gallop with the same proposal. He, too, declined the request.
Geography
The summit of Mount Meharry can be reached from the Great Northern Highway via an unsealed road 16 km in length and a vehicular track 21 km in length. Permission should be sought from the managers of the land over which the road and track pass. These are Juna Downs Station and the Department of Parks and Wildlife, which manages Karijini National Park. In dry conditions, a two-wheel-drive vehicle can reach the national park boundary at about 800 m elevation, requiring a walk of about 7 km to the summit, including an ascent of about 450 m.
References
References
- (2004-01-16). "Mount Meharry". Geoscience Australia, Government of Australia.
- Peakbagger: [http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=11389 "Mount Meharry"], 23 September 2007.
- (2011). "Packsaddle Mount Meharry Mount Robinson areas".
- "Great Circle Distance between MOUNT+MEHARRY and WITTENOOM". Geoscience Australia.
- "Great Circle Distance between MOUNT+MEHARRY and TOM PRICE". Geoscience Australia.
- "My father’s father was Wirrilimarra (Bob Tucker)".
- (4 November 2002). "Gallop kills Hancock plan". Australasian Business Intelligence.
- (3 November 2002). "Call for WA mountain to be renamed after iron ore magnate". ABC News online.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::