The Conondale Range is a mountain range

Mountain range

A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...

 in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, located between Maleny

Maleny, Queensland

Maleny is a small, scenic town north of Brisbane on the Blackall Range overlooking the Sunshine Coast hinterland in Queensland, Australia. Nearby towns include Landsborough, Montville and Peachester...

, Kenilworth

Kenilworth, Queensland

Kenilworth is a small town in the upper Mary Valley area of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. This is a rural area, about 50 km from the coast, with dairy farming as the major industry. Local visitor attractions include a cheese factory and art galleries as well as walking, camping...

, Kilcoy

Kilcoy, Queensland

Kilcoy is a small farming town and part of the Somerset Region Local Government Area in South East Queensland, Australia. The township lies on the D'Aguilar Highway, 94 km north west of the state capital, Brisbane, and just to the north of Lake Somerset...

 and Jimna. The range is the most westerly part of the Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast, Queensland

The Sunshine Coast is an urban area in South East Queensland, north of the state capital of Brisbane on the Pacific Ocean coastline. Although it does not have a central business district, by population it ranks as the 10th largest metropolis in Australia and the third largest in...

 hinterland and part of the Great Dividing Range

Great Dividing Range

The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...

. The highest point on the range is Mount Langley reaching 868 m above sea level. This is also the highest point in the Brisbane River catchment.

Lower foothills of the range around Kilcoy

Kilcoy, Queensland

Kilcoy is a small farming town and part of the Somerset Region Local Government Area in South East Queensland, Australia. The township lies on the D'Aguilar Highway, 94 km north west of the state capital, Brisbane, and just to the north of Lake Somerset...

 are used for grazing

Grazing

Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...

. Most of the steep forested slopes of the range are state forests and Conondale National Park

Conondale National Park

Conondale is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 98 km northwest of Brisbane.-External links:*...

.

The mountains are the source of the Brisbane River

Brisbane River

The Brisbane River is the longest river in south east Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay. John Oxley was the first European to explore the river who named it after the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane in 1823...

. Creeks on the south of the range drain into the Stanley River

Stanley River (Queensland)

The Stanley River in Queensland is the main tributary of the Brisbane River. The Stanley River valley extends roughly 35 km westwards from the area south of Maleny to Kilcoy before veering southwards....

 and directly into Lake Somerset

Lake Somerset

Lake Somerset is an artificial lake created by the Somerset Dam on the Stanley River in South East Queensland. The dam was completed in 1953 providing flood mitigation and water storage for the cities of Brisbane and Ipswich and is the site of a small 4 MW hydroelectric power station.At full...

. To the north creeks flow into the Mary River

Mary River (Queensland)

The Mary River is a river system in South East Queensland, Australia. The river rises at Booroobin in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, west of Landsborough...

.

Fauna

Some 1620 km² of the Conondale Range is classified by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 as an Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

 because it supports an isolated, and the northernmost, population of the endangered Eastern Bristlebird

Eastern Bristlebird

The Eastern Bristlebird is a species of bird in the Bristlebird family Dasyornithidae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, and temperate grassland...

, which was only discovered in the 1980s. It is also home large populations of the Black-breasted Button-quail, Pale-yellow Robin

Pale-yellow Robin

The Pale-yellow Robin is a species of passerine bird in the Petroicidae family. It is endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is a non-descript bird with grey head and olive upperparts, white throat and yellow underparts. The sexes are...

, Paradise Riflebird

Paradise Riflebird

The Paradise Riflebird, Ptiloris paradiseus, is a medium-sized, up to 30 cm long, passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae family. The male is black with an iridescent greenish blue crown, throat and central tail feathers. It has a black curved bill, black feet, dark brown iris and yellow mouth...

, Regent Bowerbird

Regent Bowerbird

The Regent Bowerbird, Sericulus chrysocephalus is a medium-sized, up to 25 cm long, sexually dimorphic bowerbird. The male bird is black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. It has yellow bill, black feet and yellow iris...

, Green Catbird

Green Catbird

The Green Catbird, Ailuroedus crassirostris is a species of bowerbird found on subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. Its colouring is emerald green, with faint black markings on the face and white streaks on the neck.Green...

 and Australian Logrunner

Australian Logrunner

The Australian Logrunner is a species of bird in the Orthonychidae family. It is endemic to eastern Australia...

.

The extinct Gastric-brooding frog

Gastric-brooding frog

The gastric-brooding frogs or Platypus frogs were a genus of ground-dwelling frogs native to Queensland in eastern Australia. The genus consisted of only two species, both of which became extinct in the mid-1980s...

 and endangered Fleay's Barred Frog

Fleay's Barred Frog

The Fleay's Barred Frog is a large species of frog restricted to small pockets of rainforest in northern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland, Australia.-Distribution:...

 are two frog species endemic to the Conondale Range and parts of nearby regions.

See also

• Blackall Range
  Blackall Range
  The Blackall Range is a mountain range in South East Queensland, Australia. The first European explorer in the area was Ludwig Leichhardt. It was named after Samuel Blackall, the second Governor of Queensland....
  
  
• Bunya Mountains
  Bunya Mountains
  The Bunya Mountains are a distinctive set of peaks forming an isolated section of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland. The mountain range forms the northern edge of the Darling Downs near Bell and Dalby. The mountains are south of Kingaroy and just to the south west of Nanango...
  
  
• List of mountains in Australia