Frenchmans Cap is a mountain in the West Coast, Tasmania, Australia. The mountain is situated in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park.
At above sea level, it is within the top thirty highest mountains in Tasmania.
Location The mountain lies east of the West Coast Range, yet due to its prominence, it can be seen from Macquarie Harbour.see picture below titled Frenchman from Sarah, with description – View from Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour with Frenchmans Cap on the eastern skyline It lies south of the Lyell Highway from which it can be viewed from various locations, and south west of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.
The peaks of the Frenchmans area include Frenchmans Cap (), Clytemnestra and Philps Peak (both ), and Philps Ridge ().
Etymology Frenchmans Cap lies in the traditional lands of the Aboriginal Tasmanians, most likely the Toogee nation. The traditional names for Frenchmans Cap are trullenuer (trul.len.neur), toindy (toin.dy) or mebbelek.
Even though the peak was an early landmark for ships sailing the west coast, the first recorded use of Frenchmans Cap was in 1822 in connection with Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, from where the peak was visible. The origin of the name is attributed to its appearance from some angles as looking like a Frenchman's cap, notably the Liberty cap worn during the French Revolution (1789–1799).
A variation of that was reported by Henry Widdowson, who wrote in 1829 that the name was derived from "its generally being covered with snow and bearing some resemblance to the shape of dress which invariably adorns the head of a French Cook".
History The distinctive shape of the mountain was used as a guiding beacon by many, largely unsuccessful, parties of escaping convicts as they attempted to struggle through the dense scrub of Western Tasmania to the settled districts further east. It was mentioned as a geographical reference in the account later dictated by convict Alexander Pearce to authorities, following his capture.
The earliest European recorded to have ascended was James Sprent and his trigonometrical party in 1853.Although not specifically referring directly to the triangulation conducted by Sprent on Frenchmans, it is a discussion of his work in the task – Another ascent as part of a gold prospecting expedition was described by Tully in 1857.Hobart Town Advertiser, Saturday 21 February 1857, page 2
In 1941 the Frenchmans Cap National Park was created and its boundary was in effect the Franklin River. This park was subsumed into the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park in the 1990s.
The country around the mountain is invariably referred to by the books and the material written about the Franklin River. Johnson Dean's book gives a graphic account with maps and pictures the nature of the country.
Access
Access to the mountain is usually via a multi-day bushwalk from the Lyell Highway. The Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service and other authorities in Tasmania give advice about the access and preparation needed – due to the changing conditions of the area.
Early tracks In 1910, and 1913 tracks were cut up the mountain from Crotty, but both were abandoned. A 1931 track starting from the Lyell highway and passing by Lake Vera (similar to the present track) was more lasting, and Frenchman's began to be recognised as a tourist asset.
By 1947 there was a relatively permanent track in place, with significant trackwork done by bushwalking clubs. By 1948 there was a hut under construction at Lake Tahune, near the base of the peak. This hut was destroyed by a bushfire in 1966.
A replacement hut, Tahune #2 was completed in 1971 - a prefabricated design that slept 16 people in two two-tier bunks and was heated by a coal fuel stove.
Lake Vera Hut was built in 1979 and sleeps 20 people in two two-tier bunk configurations.
Track improvements from Dick Smith donation In 2008, Australian businessman Dick Smith, a keen bushwalker, was dismayed at the condition of the "Sodden Loddon's" section of the track. The buttongrass plains were not holding up to the number of walkers coming through, and the track had turned to waist deep mud in many sections. He donated $1.1 million over a decade, matched by Parks Tas, which allowed for duckboards to be placed across the buttongrass, the track diverted around the damaged South Loddon Plains and Lake Tahune Hut rebuilt.
The new Tahune hut is architecturally designed, well insulated with a hydro-electric power supply and electric heating and sleeps 24 people.
Climbing For climbers, Frenchmans Cap offers a variety of trad routes on generally sound, quartzite rock. In keeping with the name of the mountain some of these climbs also have French names including A Toi La Gloire (better known as The Sydney Route), a , 13-pitch, grade 17 climb on the south-east face and Tierry Le Fronde, a , six-pitch, grade 16 climb on the Tahune Face.
Serious climbing has occurred since the 1960s, as detailed in a 1990 article in Rock by Stephen Bunton. Jon Nermuts Tasmanian climbing page serves as the main information resource for routes on the main faceFrenchmans Cap – thesarvo – Confluence as well as Gerry Narkowicz's description in Climb Tasmania.
Painting and photography Frank Hurley's black and white images from the 1950s, which are in the National Library's online collection, provide accessible close-up views of the features around Frenchmans Cap.Hurley, Frank, 1910, Frenchmans Cap. summit [with four figures] [picture] : [Frenchman Range, Tasmania] / [Frank Hurley] <http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an23504639> – as an example from the series
Literature Barry Maitland's 2008 mystery novel Bright Air contains a vivid description of a climb of Frenchmans Cap. It also features in For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke and the non-fiction book Hell's Gates: The terrible journey of Alexander Pearce, Van Diemen's Land cannibal by Paul Collins (Hardie Grant, 2002). A more recent book is by Simon Kleinig in 2012. Richard Flanagan’s, “Gould’s Book of Fish”, includes a journey to Frenchman’s Cap by the protagonist, Billy Gould.
See also
References
Further reading
External links Histories of Lake Tahune Hut and Lake Vera Hut.