Adelaide Party’s Experiences in Gammon Ranges
The most amazing sight in the Gammon Ranges was possibly the narrow chasm which split Cleft Peak, and on either side of which rose sheer walls of quartzite rock for perhaps 1,000 ft., said Mr. Warren Bonython, a chemical engineer at ICI, on his return last week-end with other members of a party who explored the Gammon Ranges.
Mr. Bonython arranged the trip, and with him were the vice-master of St. Mark’s College (Mr. R. B. Lewis) and Messrs. D. Harvey and M. Nicholson, industrial chemists.
At the ranges they were joined for part of the time by Mr. W. Thomas, manager of Balcanoona Station, and in crossing the ranges from south to north they co-operated with two members of the Kensington Gardens Rover Scout party. At the same time a party of Linden Park Rover Scouts was in another part of the ranges.
Seismograph Set Up
Mr. Bonython said that the scientific side of the trip consisted of setting up a seismograph which would be left there for a month to record any possible earth tremors in the ranges, some surveying and the collection of certain geological information.
Other activities included the crossing from south to north of the Gammon Plateau and an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cleft Peak (named by him on a previous trip)—a precipitous wall of rock in the eastern basin of the ranges.
“We entered the cleft, which splits Cleft Peak,” said Mr. Bonython. “Rain was falling and the peak was entirely hidden by mist. We had to wait until the next day to make an attempt to climb to the peak. We reached to within 200 ft. of the top, but found the rock too unstable for further progress to be made with safety.”
Mr. Bonython said it was possibly the first time that white men had entered the Cleft.
Rain fell on three occasions while the party was in the ranges.
