14 NOTES ON MT. ANNE AND THE WELD HIVEH VAI.LEV. 



The valley opens out a little between Mt. Anne and Mt. 

 Weld, and then narrows as the river runs between Mt. Weld 

 and the Snowy Mountains in a steep-sided valley over 3,000 

 feet deep. For the three miles before its junction with 

 the Huon it runs through a bi'oad alluvial plain. The river 

 consists of long: deep pools separated by series of rapids. 

 The river is difficult to cross throughout the lower half of 

 its course, and appears liable to floods. It is one of the 

 finest rivers in Tasmania, with a very considerable flow of 

 water, and the scenery along the quiet reaches rivals that 

 on the Gordon. A fine view of the valley of the Weld, 

 which compares favourably with the gorges of the Forth 

 and Mersey in the North, may be obtained from the slopes 

 of Mt. Bowes. 



Tf I rj rj m i/n ^..r / 



The eastern side of the valley of the Weld is formed 

 by the Jubilee Range and the Snowy Mountains, both run- 

 ning roughly north and south from the Styx Valley to the 

 Huon, the Jubilee being about 10 miles long and lying west 

 of the northern and less elevated extension of the Snowy 

 Mountains. The Jubilee Range is a line of sharp, partly 

 isolated, quartzite peaks, displaying the rugged outline and 

 bare, precipitous flanks usual in these earlier Pala?ozoic 

 ranges. It averages about 3,000 feet high, and when 

 opened up will prove one of the most picturesque pieces of 

 mountain scenery near Hobart. The Snowy Moitntains are 

 more elevated, but round in contour, as is the case with mcst 

 of our diabase mountains. Their summit is roughly east 

 of the summit of Mt. Weld, and their western slopes are 

 broken hy cliffs and huge talus slopes. 



The Huon rises in the forest-covered southern slopes of 

 Mt. Wedge and flows in a generally southerly direction to 

 the south in a series of considerable bends and loops through 

 a flat, swampy, buttongrass plain in places ten miles broad 

 and clearly of glacial origin. The plain is continued to the 

 north-west to Lake Pedder and the Serpentine Valley, and 

 in places the flatness of the country makes it quite impos- 

 sible to fix the location of the Huon-Gordon divide. The 

 Huon, 20 miles south of Mt. Wedge, turns sharply to the 

 east and ultimately joins the Weld, which thus becomes one 

 — and probably the most considerable — of its tributaries. 



