Mount Field West
PH Gell, 'Mount Field from the Denison Plains', c 1853 (W.L. Crowther Library)
Mount Field West (1434 metres) is the highest point of the Mount Field National Park, which was declared in 1916, making it the equal oldest Park in Tasmania with Freycinet National Park.
Originally called Mt Humboldt after the German scientist, it was renamed by James Sprent in 1853. Some confusion remained until the purge of place names of German origin during the First World War.
The current name is derived from the New South Wales circuit judge, Barron Field, who made two tours of duty to Van Diemen's Land in 1819 and 1821. Initially Mt Field East was called Mt Field.
Mt Field West is a six-hour return walk from Lake Dobson via the Rodway Range. The summit itself is a bluff overlooking the Florentine Valley and many of the mountains of the Southwest National Park.