page_title: Skiing in Australia
section_title: History and major locations
hierarchical_section_title: Skiing in Australia / History and major locations
context_page_description: Skiing in Australia takes place in the high country of the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, as well as in the Australian Capital Territory, during the southern hemisphere winter.
  Skiing began in Australia at the goldrush town of Kiandra, New South Wales, in 1861. The first ski tow was constructed near Mount Buffalo, Victoria, in 1936. Australian skiers competed in the Winter Olympics for the first time in Oslo 1952 and have competed in all subsequent Games, winning medals at every Games since 1998. Malcolm Milne became the first non-European to win a ski race world cup in 1969, and Olympic medalists include Zali Steggall, Alisa Camplin, Dale Begg-Smith, Lydia Lassila and David Morris in skiing and Torah Bright in snowboarding.
  Australia has extensive skiable terrain during the southern hemisphere winter in the south eastern states and Australian Capital Territory, between elevations of around 1250 m to 2200 m. Elevation of the snowfields in Australia varies with latitude; however, viable winter snows are generally found above 1500 m: Thredbo, near Mount Kosciuszko, has Australia's highest lifted point at 2037 m and its base elevation is 1365 m.
context_section_description: Towns with frost, snow and even ice include Barrington, New South Wales, Barrington Tops National Park, Bendemeer, New South Wales, Orange, New South Wales, Stanthorpe, Queensland, Applethorpe, Queensland, Warwick, Queensland, Walcha, New South Wales, Armidale, New South Wales, Wangaratta, Victoria and many more in all states and territories except the Northern Territory.
  The sport of skiing is now practised in three States: New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, as well as in the Australian Capital Territory, during the Southern Hemisphere winter. Skiable terrain stretches through large areas of territory from June to October and a number of well serviced resorts have been developed, including: Thredbo, Perisher Ski Resort, Charlotte Pass and Selwyn Snowfields in New South Wales; Mount Buller, Falls Creek, Mount Hotham, Mount Baw Baw and Mount Buffalo in Victoria; as well as the small resorts of Ben Lomond and Mount Mawson in Tasmania.
  New South Wales has the highest terrain and ski resorts: Thredbo's Karel's T-bar terminates at 2037 metres, Perisher's highest lifted point is a close second at 2034 metres and Charlotte Pass at 1990 metres. In Victoria, the highest lifted points are at Mount Hotham with 1845 metres, Falls Creek at 1842 metres, and Mount Buller at 1805 metres.
  Jindabyne is the main service town for the New South Wales resorts, but most Australian resort centres have on-snow accommodation. Other ski-service towns include Cooma and Adaminaby in NSW and Bright in Victoria. Canberra is situated around two hours' drive from the New South Wales ski-fields, while Melbourne is in good proximity to some of the Victorian resorts (less than three hours' drive to Mount Buller and just 120 km from Mount Baw Baw).
  Australia's highest town, Cabramurra, New South Wales, has private skiing facilities for residents and the resort village of Dinner Plain in Victoria also has ski facilities.
  The mainland's highest peak is Mount Kosciuszko at 2228 m.
caption: Alpine National Parks of the Australian mainland.
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