"In particular, one question comes to mind: the Australian geography bonus. The third part of that bonus asked for the second highest mountain in Australia (Mt. Townsend, if anyone cares). Now, I don't know squat about geography, but Jeff Hoppes's jaw dropped when he heard the question. My guess is that if he didn't know it, no one but the question writer probably knew the answer either." Warning: This post may contain information which is of no interest to the reader. Obviously, it is completely a matter of perspective whether or not Mt. Townsend should be asked or not, but being the author of this particular bonus, I feel a certain need to defend it, especially since it's been singled out from among the hundreds of bonuses in the set. For those who don't know or remember, the three parts of the bonus were: Murray River, Lake Eyre, Mt. Townsend. The Murray River is the longest river in Australia (one of two Australian rivers that are asked about), and Lake Eyre is the largest lake (when filled) in Australia (the only Australian lake ever asked about). Throw Mt. Kosciusko in there and you have perhaps the easiest possible bonus on Australian physical geography. I don't feel that this type of bonus would be appropriate for the usual target difficulty level of ACF Regionals. "Importance" is certainly a silly term to throw around when talking about physical geography, at least in this case, since Kosciusko and Townsend are both basically big lumps of rock. You could say Kosciusko is more "important" because it's the highest, but it's highest by only about 50 feet. You could say it's more "important" because it's named after the Polish general, but according to the Columbia Encyclopedia (it has its own listing in there), Townsend used to be called Mt. Kosciusko, and was also thought to be the highest mountain in Australia for many years, so there is at least some historical significance there. So that's my case for lovely and scenic Mt. Townsend. Perhaps when you are writing your own Australian geography bonus, you will think back to this post and will have saved a little space in your heart for this once mighty peak, now considered an also-ran by Jeff Hoppes and even Polish explorer Count Strzelecki. M. Lafer, "Michigan A"
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