Owen Stanley Range

The Owen Stanley Range is the south-eastern part of the central mountain-chain in Papua New Guinea. Its highest point is Mount Victoria at 4,038 metres (13,248 ft), while its most prominent peak is Mount Suckling.

Owen Stanley Range was seen in 1849 by Captain Owen Stanley aboard HMS Rattlesnake while surveying the south coast of Papua and named after him, although he saw them only from his ship.^[1] The eastern extremity of the range is Mount Victoria, which was climbed by Sir William MacGregor in 1888, and it extends as far west as Mount Thynne and Lilley. But the name is generally used to denote the whole of the chain of the Papuan Peninsula, from Mount Chapman3,376 metres (11,076 ft) to the south-eastern end of the island, and to include Mount Albert Edward3,990 m (13,091 ft) which is really separated from it by the Wharton Chain.

The range is flanked by broken and difficult country, particularly on the south-western side. There are few practicable passes, the easiest being the famous Kokoda Track which crosses the range between Port Moresby and Buna and was in use for more than 50 years as a regular overland mail-route. Another route used by the 900 men of the US 2nd Battalion, 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Division, was the Kapa Kapa Trail, parallel to but 50 kilometres (30 mi) to the southeast of the Kokoda Track. They took nearly five weeks to cover the 210 kilometres (130 mi) track over extraordinarily difficult jungle terrain, from 14 October to 20 November 1942.

Immense ridges, or "razorbacks," followed each other in succession like the teeth of a saw. As a rule, the only way the troops could get up these ridges, which were steeper than along the Kokoda Trail, was either on hands and knees, or by cutting steps into them with ax and machete. To rest, the men simply leaned forward, holding on to vines and roots in order to keep themselves from slipping down the mountainside.^[2]

على الرغم من أن إنشاء طرق للسيارات ليس مستحيلاً، إلا أنه سيكون بالغ الصعوبة والتكلفة. في الواقع، تم إنشاء طريق خلال الحرب العالمية الثانية يمتد من واو شمالاً إلى بولدوغ جنوباً، ويُعرف باسم طريق بولدوغ . ويعود السبب الرئيسي في فشل اليابانيين في تأمين بورت مورسبي كقاعدة لهم في أوائل عام ١٩٤٢ إلى استحالة نقل المعدات الثقيلة عبر هذه السلسلة الجبلية. تتميز الجبال بوعورتها وانحدارها الشديد، مع وجود هضاب خصبة متفرقة تُزرع فيها حدائق غذائية محلية.

تم تسمية نوعين من الزواحف نسبة إلى سلسلة جبال أوين ستانلي، وهما Papuascincus stanleyanus و Toxicocalamus stanleyanus . ^{[ 3 ]}

• الموسوعة الأسترالية . المجلد 6، صفحة  430. غرولير.
• لغات أوين ستانلي رينج

• الوسائط المتعلقة بـ "أوين ستانلي رينج" على ويكيميديا ​​كومنز