What are the Darling Range?

The Darling Range is a low mountain range in the south-west of Western Australia, running about 320 kilometres parallel to the Indian Ocean coast from Bindoon in the north to Donnybrook in the south. It rises to about 580 metres at Mount Cooke and forms the eastern backdrop of Perth.

The range is the eroded edge of an ancient plateau, separating the narrow Swan coastal plain (where Perth and most of the south-west's population live) from the wheatbelt and Goldfields beyond. The boundary is sharp, with the Darling Scarp rising abruptly from the plain along the geological Darling Fault. From Perth's eastern suburbs the range is visible as a long low blue ridge, often called the Hills.

The Darling Range is dominated by jarrah and marri eucalyptus forest, with some pockets of karri in the south. The forests once covered the entire range but have been heavily logged since the 19th century, with about half the original old-growth jarrah cleared or affected by selective logging. Native dieback caused by the introduced soil pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi has further damaged forest health. In 2024 the Western Australian government ended native-forest logging, the first state to do so.

The range is heavily mined for bauxite, with Alcoa and South32 operating open-cut mines that have produced more than 600 million tonnes since the 1960s, making the Darling Range one of the largest bauxite-producing regions in the world. The mined alumina is refined at Pinjarra, Wagerup, and Worsley before export. Dams across the range, including Mundaring Weir, Canning Dam, and Serpentine Dam, supply about a quarter of Perth's drinking water, supplemented by groundwater and seawater desalination. The range is also a popular weekend destination for hiking, mountain biking, and winery visits.