Strzelecki, Sir Paul Edmund de (1797-1873), a Polish explorer and scientist, climbed and named Mount Kosciuszko, the highest peak in the Australian Alps, in 1840. He was interested in geology and mineralogy, and he explored much of New South Wales and Tasmania. In 1839, he found small quantities of gold near Hartley and Wellington, in New South Wales. He claimed that the Bathurst area contained gold in larger quantities. In 1840, he went from Mount Kosciuszko through Gippsland to Western Port and Melbourne. The track was so rough that he abandoned his horses and many geological specimens.