How much higher is the tallest mountain than the second highest mountain in Australia?
Polish explorer Paul Edmund de Strzelecki discovered and climbed both peaks in 1840. He first climbed Mt Townsend, believing it to be the highest peak in the Australian Alps. Using his numerous geological instruments, Strzelecki determined that another peak was higher, and climbed Mt Kosciuszko. Because of this discrepancy, it has never been truly determined whether Strzelecki’s naming of the peaks was actually the other way around. There is some evidence to suggest that the New South Wales Lands Department changed the names of the peaks around, in accordance with Strzelecki’s desire to name the highest peak after Polish patriot, Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
