Discover the Highest Point in Victoria

The highest point in Victoria, Australia, once hosted indigenous ceremonies and the eating of an unusual staple: the bogong moth. Let’s take a look at this spot in the Victorian Alps and learn just a bit about the height, the location, and the peoples of the highest point in all of Victoria.

What is the Highest Point in Victoria, Australia?

The highest point in all of Victoria, a state in Australia, is located within Alpine National Park, in the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range. This point is the highest mountain in the state at 6,516 feet above sea level and known as Mount Bogong. This mountain peak is also one of the tallest in all of Australia. This is both in terms of elevation above sea level and in terms of base-to-summit heights.

The mountain is popular among backcountry skiers, hikers, campers, and mountain bikers.

Where Did Mount Bogong Get Its Name?

Mount Bogong goes by other names in the Indigenous languages of Australians. Specifically, the name Warkwooler from the Waywurru and Dhudhuroa nations which basically means the mountain where Aboriginal people collected the boo gong fly (bogong moth). In the Dhudhuroa language, the name Bugung also refers to the mountain, literally meaning “brown moth” referencing this moth.

A Brief History of Mount Bogong

Towering above the Kiewa River valley, Mount Bogong has long held significance for the people of the region. The Aboriginal people hold dear the Victorian Alps, with numerous cultural sites, oral histories, and ancestral stories based in the region. In long ago times, the Aboriginal tribes gathered from the coasts and southwest in the ranges to meet for inter-tribal ceremonies, feasting on the Bogong moths, and exchanges of cultural objects.

With the influx of European settlements, indigenous groups were removed from their traditional lands. It’s believed that visitation to Mount Bogong ceased by the mid-1800s, with cattle grazing taking over the region. Eventually, hikers and skiers took over the region.

Ascent Routes for Mount Bogong

For folks eager to hit the highest point in Victoria themselves, Mount Bogong is a hikers paradise. Many routes wind their ways upward. These include the Staircase Spur, Eskdale Spur, Long Spur, Duane Spur, Quartz Ridge, and Granite Flat Spur trails. Each trail involves at least a 2,000 climb from the creek or saddle at the base of each spur. The two primary trails are the Staircase and Eskdale spurs.

Wildlife and Plants Around the Highest Point in Victoria, Australia

Covered in tall Alpine Ash trees in the lower slopes, Mount Bogong is home to many animals which thrive in conifer forest at high elevations. Most of the vegetation around the mountain consists of alpine shrubland, herbfield, and grasslands. You could spot the local bogong moth, pygmy possum, or smoke mouse among the trees. Head further in and you could see the powerful owl, spotted tree frog, she-oak skink, or the broad-toothed rat, among many other birds and mammals.