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Cradle Mountain
Spectacularly beautiful area in the heart of the island which is ideal for bushwalking, located 144 km from Launceston and 83 km from Devonport, Cradle Mountain is the central feature of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, part of Tasmania's World Heritage area. The park covers an area of 124 942 ha which is characterised by a rugged, glaciated landscape with over 25 major peaks and a wide range of glacial formations - tarns, glacial lakes, moraine deposits, U-shaped valleys and waterfalls.

The area was glaciated during the last ice age (about 10 000 years ago) when a huge 6 km ice cap formed and glaciers flowed from its edges carving the landscape into dramatic shapes with their inexorable erosive powers.

The first human settlement of the region occurred when the local Aborigines moved into the highlands as the glaciers began retreating. The extensive button grass plains are a legacy of their extensive use of fire to clear pathways through the rugged terrain and to aid hunting by attracting animals to the tender shoots of the new vegetation.

Early reports of the Aborigines in the area tell of recently burnt vegetation and well constructed huts of bark some of which were still standing 25 years after the last of the people had been removed.

Archaeological research in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park has revealed many Aboriginal sites consisting of stone tools and quarries which suggests that people moved mainly through the valleys with occasional visits to higher areas.

Cradle Mountain was named in 1827 by the explorer Joseph Fossey who decided it bore a remarkable similarity to a cradle. It was first climbed by a European in 1831 when the explorer Henry Hellyer successfully reached the summit. Surveyor General George Franklin passed through the area in 1835 and he was duly followed by prospectors, trappers and settlers. As early as the 1890s there was some tourism in the area. Governor Hamilton had a house and boat shed built for visitors on Lake St Clair.