Great Dividing Range

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Great Dividing Range" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article may contain unverified or indiscriminate information in embedded lists. Please help clean up the lists by removing items or incorporating them into the text of the article. (November 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Great Dividing Range
Eastern Highlands Great Divide
Great Dividing Range
Highest point
Peak	Mount Kosciuszko, Snowy Mountains
Elevation	2,228 m (7,310 ft)[1]
Coordinates	36°27′21″S 148°15′49″E / 36.45583°S 148.26361°E / -36.45583; 148.26361
Dimensions
Length	3,500 km (2,200 mi) North–South
Geography
The Great Dividing Range consists of a complex of mountain ranges, plateaus, upland areas and escarpments.
Country	Australia[2]
States/Districts	New South Wales Queensland Victoria Australian Capital Territory
Range coordinates	25°S 147°E / 25°S 147°E / -25; 147
Geology
Rock age	Carboniferous

The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughly parallel to the east coast of Australia and forms the fifth-longest land-based mountain chain in the world, and the longest entirely within a single country. It is mainland Australia's most substantial topographic feature and serves as the definitive watershed for the river systems in eastern Australia, hence the name.

The Great Dividing Range stretches more than 3,500 kilometres (2,175 mi) from Dauan Island in the Torres Strait off the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through Queensland and New South Wales, then turning west across Victoria before finally fading into the Wimmera plains as rolling hills west of the Grampians region. The width of the Range varies from about 160 km (100 mi) to over 300 km (190 mi).^[3] The Greater Blue Mountains Area, Gondwana Rainforests and Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Areas are located in the Range. The highest place in Australia, the 2,228 m (7,310 ft) Mount Kosciuszko, resides in the Snowy Mountains portion of southern Great Dividing Range.