Cover Story

The Park is home to an abundant variety of flora and fauna – the most commonly seen animals, frequently represented in rock art, are kangaroos and emus. Other animals include goannas, snakes, euros and a small colony of the yellow-footed rock wallaby — the only known colony in NSW.

The terrain is magnificent with gorges lined with river gums and the occasional rock pool to discover. Birdwatchers can enjoy the tones of corellas, budgerigars, apostle birds and magpies or may glimpse a wedgetail eagle or the rare peregrine falcon. Entry to Mutawintji Historic Site without a guide or ranger is not permitted. Tours are conducted between April and November.No food or fuel is sold at Mutawintji NP so bring sufficient supplies of each.

Broken Hill 08 8088 5933

'sandstone plateaux with gorges, sandplains, terminal floodplains, red clay and River Redgums...a meeting place for Aboriginal tribes from Wilcannia, White Cliffs and through to the South Australian border' — MH

The story of Kuluwirru in Mutawintji (excerpts only)

This is (part of) the story of the Kuluwirru Ancestor god who lived in the sandstone caves of Nutharungee Hills just north of Mutawintji. Here the seven sisters — that beautiful cluster of misty stars now in the northern sky — were then on the land teaching the people the law. They were called the witu witu terranya, the good teachers. Frog thinya lived under the rocks — a cunning sly frog. He worked on the people and led them into bad ways…Kuluwirru, a powerful god, was angered by the weakness of the people…all of the people must be taught a lesson. …a great drought gripped the land day after day, month after month the weather became drier…

Myalla Lake became a bed of dry red dust. Rock hole after rock hole dried up (and) most of the kangaroos left the country…even the rock wallabies and euros stayed deep inside the caves…

In Mutawintji the starving people had gathered by the last of the waters …

Kuluwirru’s lesson doesn’t finish yet. He went north of Yunt Unna and blew up Kuntawunti Mountain range we know as codda rundi…he unleashed a terrible storm...the storm kept rolling in from the north and soon rain poured from it filling the rock holes….trapping and drowning anything in its path on the floodplain.

But some people survived by climbing the muddy hills ...here they dug shelters in the soft country not yet turned to rock. In these shelters that are found all around through these hills the people left their hand stencils to show their relationship to this land…the water receded (and) Kuluwirru began to make Mutawintji beautiful to live in … Kuluwirru punished the mischievous thinya frog by taking away his powers ..so that is why they are so small at Mutawintji and sit on the edge of rock holes hardly making a sound….

To hear the whole Dreaming story, visit Mutawintji National Park in person.

Thankyou to Maureen O'Donnell, Badger Bates
and the Mutawintji Aboriginal Management Board
for allowing the National Parks Journal to copy their precious words.

Peery National Park (41,680 ha) is the newest national park in the far west — gazetted in 2000. The Park is one of three reserves located on the Paroo River system and the Paroo wetland is one of the most regularly flooded systems of the arid catchment zones — minor flooding occurs every year and major flooding approximately every five years.

The long-lasting water supply has made the area an important focus of Aboriginal life for thousands of years.

Today, the Paroo River overflow is the only river in the Murray-Darling Basin to be unregulated with the implication that the area can sustain its rich and diverse ecosystem. And indeed the Peery Lake wetlands display this diversity — 55 species of waterbirds (including waterfowl, the threatened Freckled Duck and the Blue-billed Duck) have been identified in the Park and over 60,000 waterbirds have been recorded in the area in a single month.

Threatened fauna species known to inhabit the Park also include the Narrow-banded Snake, Australian bustard, Pink cockatoo, Pied Honeyeater and the Large Blotched Python. The Park is located within a Mulga Land Bioregion and will contest the degradation widely associated with Mulga and alluvial land zones due to grazing or changed fire regimes.

Mound Springs, an uncommon landform in Australia, abound in Peery NP – they are the only known springs in NSW on a lakebed. The Mound Springs support the endangered forbs, Salt Pipewort, and the still-to-be desribed species of aquatic forbs recorded at this site.

Cameron Chaffey, NPWS Ranger for Peery, advised that plans are still in the making for tracks and other facilities in the Park — access is via Wanaaring Road or Mandalay Road. Both roads into the Park are closed in the wet. The Broken Hill Visitors Centre is organising tours to Peery NP during school holidays this year. Broken Hill NPWS Visitor Centre 08 8088 5933

More Reserves in West and...East

NPWS, aided by significant funding under the National Reserves Systems Program, has purchased many important properties in Western NSW over the past two years that will hopefully be reserved in the next year — around 15 new national parks or nature reserves and 10 major additions to existing reserves.

Elsewhere in NSW, an active program of land purchase over the past few years will generate, over the next year, several new reserves on the NSW coast and up to 40 significant additions to existing parks and reserves. Six new reserves and up to 70 additions to existng reserves are planned for the ranges and tablelands including around 20 areas in identified wilderness.

Information provided by Rob Dick
Reserves Establishment Co-ordinator, NPWS

Mungo National Park (27,847 ha), the focal point of the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area, is a surreal, mystical place steeped in and renowned for its Aboriginal past.

Here, a wheelchair-accessible boardwalk enables all visitors to contemplate the variegated Walls of China, ancient lunettes which encircle the ancient lakebed’s eastern shore.

The shifting sands of these crescent-shaped dunes have unearthed a chronicle of of Australia's unique megaflora (pre-Ice Age) and the habitation of the first peoples, including the oldest recorded evidence of human ritual burial on earth.

The park’s undisturbed Mallee provides a home for kangaroos, echidnas, lizards, geckos, and birdlife including emus and orange and white-fronted chats.

Mungo NP is currently under joint management between the traditional owners (Mutthi Mutthi, Paakantji and Ngiyampaa) and the NPWS, following the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Amendment (Aboriginal Ownership) Act 1996.

"a fascinating area north of Balranad ... the Walls of China, lunettes, sanddunes and lakebeds alongside historic shearing sheds and the relics of past grazing wool eras". - MH

There are also plans in the future for an increase in size of Mungo National Park, both within and outside the Willandra Region World Heritage Area.

Accommodation in the old shearers’ quarters or the motel-style Mungo Lodge (outside the Park) is available if you’re all camped out.

Buronga 03 5021 8900

Gundabooka National Park (43,592 ha) features the rugged Gunderbooka Range of ancient rust coloured rock rising to 500 metres The whole park is of great significance to the Ngema people and is said to be Bourke’s 'Uluru'.

Facilities are still being developed The NPWS has recently acquired a cattle station and until it has been gazetted into the Park, no dedicated funding is available for improved signage or for adequate interpretation of the Aboriginal sites, in association with the local elders. Special Discovery tours are planned for the spring School holidays.

Bourke 02 6872 2744

NPA's Alex Tucker* writes...
It is essential to call at the NPWS office in Bourke to record your intention to visit Gundabooka and to have a full briefing. Some 'experienced bushwalkers' from Sydney have declined the latter which only proves that not all men from the east are wise or as Shakespeare said “Man, Proud Man, most ignorant of what he’s most assured ...” Really experienced walkers know that it is a different country out west from either the coast or the western slopes.

A word of warning...
A General Practitioner living in Bourke has suffered heat stroke in Gundabooka NP which is about 50 km from her home. Obviously she knew the potential hazard, wore appropriate clothing and had carried sufficient water for her expected duration of walking.

I have experienced a mild but frightening attack of heat exhaustion while walking by myself on an unusually hot and windless morning in Ku-ring-gai Chase. So don’t walk alone if you can avoid it and always take more water than you expect to need.

*Alex Tucker
also represents the Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs NSW
www.bushwalking.org.au

Sturt National Park (310,634 ha) is the most remote reserved area in NSW. Emergent from the rolling downs, 'jump-up' country and red Strzekecki dunes are the striking Rainbow Rocks and stark Olive Downs Polygons.

An island of regeneration, it shelters kangaroos, the rare Flame Spider-Flower, lizards and birds such as the emu, grey falcon and Australian bustard.

The Ramsar-listed Lake Pinaroo in particular provides valuable refuge for many endangered bird species. Hosting an exceptional density and variety of Aboriginal sites, the area also bears traces of European settlement and exploration.

Other features include the Wild Dog Fence bordering the park and Cameron Corner, where NSW, QLD and WA conjoin.

Tibooburra 08 8091 3308

Sturt National Park – jump up visible in background
Photo: Marion Hawley

The Barrier Rangers, a local Broken Hill bushwalking club and member of the Bushwalking Confederation of NSW, suggests that visiting bushwalkers check information carefully before embarking on a walk. Conditions change quickly so if you are planning an unorganised or solo walk in parks where guided tours are not mandatory, seek local information.

Culgoa National Park (22,006 ha) encompassing the remote north-western river and floodplain, has a diversity of natural and cultural features so extraordinary that, in 1997, it saw the NPWS awarded the World Wildlife Fund’s New Australian Reserve of the Year.

Vegetation ranges from coolibah woodland, open grassland and brigalow to gidgee and chenopod and supports a range of important wildlife. Such fauna includes the endangered Australia bustard, grey falcon, painted honeyeater, pink cockatoo, brolga, koala, striped-faced dunnart and little pied bat.

Heritage-wise, there are significant Aboriginal campsites and scarred trees as well as the historic homestead of Dennawan. Visitor facilities are being developed.

Bourke 02 6872 2744

Kinchega National Park (44,260 ha), on the Darling River, is remarkable for its representation of massive river red gums and rare Purple-Wood Wattle shrublands.

A bird-watchers idyll, Lake Menindee and Lake Cawndilla host a variety of waterfowl including cormorants, egrets, black swans, pelicans and spoonbills, with the adjacent wetlands providing rookeries and refuge for species such as the vulnerable freckled duck.

The glittering waterways are superimposed onto red sand plains, where emus, kangaroos, euros, and the endangered kultarr dwell. The restored Kinchega woolshed is listed on the NSW Heritage Register and, as at Mungo, lunettes have disclosed many Aboriginal artefacts and fossils. Camp by a billabong and enjoy the photogenic dusks.

Ramps from shearing sheds reveal Kinchega's past
Photo: Mike Cufer/NPWS WISE 2000

Broken Hill 08 8088 5933

Willandra National Park (19,386 ha), is north-west of Hillston off the Ivanhoe-Hillston Road, reminds visitors of what Willandra meant to some people of the far west in past times — wool! Visitors can wander around the homestead, gardens and shearing shed, and see the many waterbirds and kangaroos. A restful, interesting place to stay.

Car-based and caravan camping is available near the homestead or you can stay in on e of the historic buildings (bookings phone 6966 8100).

Griffith 02 6966 8100

Hot Tips

* Some far western national parks are conducting special Discovery tours during school holidays in 2002 to mark the Year of the Outback. Check with local NPWS office.
* The topographical maps prepared by NSW Dept Land and Water Conservation are an invaluable tool for planning trips in the west — MH

Walking in Willandra National Park with Neville Schrader, NPA, Lachlan Valley

If magnificent vibrant sunsets or stunning clear sunrises are missing from your life then Willandra National Park is the place you need to visit. Willandra NP, situated approximately 64 km north-west of Hillston in central western NSW, comprises 19,386 hectares of semi-arid riverine plains country. Willandra Creek meanders through the northern section of the park, with a weir near the homestead providing a good spot for wildlife. Late in the afternoon, a walk along the creek will flush Water Rats or Little Bitterns and a variety of waterbirds, such as crakes.

The plains country after rain, is covered in a carpet of wildflowers and large mobs of Emus and Red Kangaroos feed and laze around under the bluebush and saltbush. Orange Chats in small family parties will often be encountered as they feed on the ground or flutter to the tops of the nearest bush, as can the odd family of Stubble Quail or button-quail be observed to dart for the nearest grassy thicket, with bare claypans turning up Australian Dotterals as they attempt to blend into the surrounds. In spring and summer the harsh, harmonious call of Brown Songlarks as they drift down in song flight, advertising their territorial claims and gathering their harem for the commencement of breeding adds to the atmosphere. Willandra is one place were the solitude of nature can truly be enjoyed.

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