Mount Kosciuszko (/ˌkɒziˈʌskoʊ/ KOZ-ee-USK-oh;[4] (Polish pronunciation: [kɔɕˈt͡ɕuʂ.kɔ] kosh-CHOOSH-koh) Ngarigo: Kunama Namadgi)[5][6] is mainland Australia's highest mountain, at 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level.

It is located on the Main Range of the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park, part of the Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves, in New South Wales, Australia, and is located west of Crackenback and close to Jindabyne, near the border with Victoria.

Strzelecki wanted to investigate the climate, geology, paleontology and geography of NSW and to publish his findings.

In the presence of Macarthur he named the higher summit Mount Kosciusko after the famous Polish-Lithuanian military leader who died in 1817.

The NSW Department of Mines discovered Lendenfeld's mistake and assigned the name Mount Townsend to the second-highest mountain of the range.

His study reaffirmed that the mountain named by Strzelecki as Mount Kosciuszko was indeed, as the NSW maps had always shown, Australia’s highest summit.

According to Uncle John Casey, the mountain's Ngarigo name has "been Kunama Namadgi for 4,000 years, since we've been on country, until the white man came in the early 1800s and that's when they changed it".

However, Iris White, the chairperson of the Southern Kosciuszko Executive Advisory Committee, disputed that account, stating "that name is not from our language.

[20] Plant species found in the mountain include: Mount Kosciuszko is the highest summit in mainland Australia.

Until 1977 it was possible to drive from Charlotte Pass to within a few metres of the summit, but in 1977 the road was closed to public motor vehicle access due to environmental concerns.

The walking path is popular in summer, and is a mesh walkway to protect the native vegetation and prevent erosion.

[22] Australia's highest public toilet was built at Rawson pass in 2007,[23] to cope with the more than 100,000 people visiting the mountain each summer.

The Hannel's Spur Track trailhead (sign) is about a 1.4-kilometre (0.87 mi) hike SSE of the Geehi Rest Area on the Alpine Way road between the towns of Thredbo and Khancoban.

Although not in Australia, Puncak Jaya in New Guinea, Indonesia, which stands at 4,884 m or 16,024 ft, is the highest mountain in the Australian continent as well as Oceania.

[29] Australian rock band Midnight Oil recorded a song called "Kosciusko" on its 1984 album Red Sails in the Sunset, referring to the mountain.