Sutherland Falls
Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox waterfall Sutherland Falls is a waterfall near Milford Sound in New Zealand's South Island. The falls are located 13.5nm South West of Chao Pass.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At 580 metres (1,904 feet) the falls are the tallest waterfall in New Zealand.<ref name="readersnatural">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Jock Phillips. Waterfalls – A land of waterfalls, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Template:ISBN. Updated 1 March 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2010.</ref>
The water falls from Lake Quill in three cascades: the upper is 229 m tall, the middle is 248 m, and the lower is 103 m tall. A vertical fall of 580 m is made over 480 m of horizontal distance, thus the mean grade of falls is approximately 56 degrees. Template:Citation needed
The base of Sutherland Falls is a 90-minute (return) walk from Quintin Public Shelter on the Milford Track.<ref>Milford Track – Track description, New Zealand Department of Conservation. Retrieved 19 May 2011.</ref>
Sutherland Falls are visible in the background of the eagle scene in Peter Jackson's fantasy film The Hobbit.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
Sutherland Falls was first known to Europeans when a Scottish settler, Donald Sutherland,<ref>Template:DNZB</ref> saw them in 1880.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He initially claimed the falls were over Template:Cvt tall, which would have made them the highest in the world by far. Later surveys showed that this claim was significantly inflated, and they have been confirmed to actually be Template:Cvt tall.<ref name="readersnatural" />
Lake Quill, which forms the source of the falls, was named for the first European explorer who climbed up the cliff face to find it in 1890.<ref name="readersnatural" />