Werrikimbe National Park
Encyclopedia
Hastings River
The Hastings River is a large river on the Mid North Coast of the Australian state of New South Wales that empties into the Tasman Sea, a branch of the South Pacific Ocean, at Port Macquarie....
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, about 486 km north of Sydney. This national park is about 80 km west of Wauchope
Wauchope, New South Wales
-People from Wauchope:* Iva Davies - Musician, Icehouse* Alison Langdon - Channel Nine News Reader - Today Show* Phil Jamieson - Musician, Grinspoon* Andrew Stoner - NSW National Party of Australia leader, Member for Oxley...
and 90 km east of Walcha
Walcha, New South Wales
Walcha is a parish and town at the south-eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia.The town serves as the seat of Walcha Shire. Walcha is located 425 kilometres by road from Sydney at the intersection of the Oxley Highway and Thunderbolts Way...
on the eastern escarpment of the Great Dividing Range
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australia's most substantial mountain range and the third longest in the world. The range stretches more than 3,500 km from Dauan Island off the northeastern tip of Queensland, running the entire length of the eastern coastline through...
. It is part of the Hastings-Macleay Group of the World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
Gondwana Rainforests of Australia inscribed in 1986 and added to the Australian National Heritage List
Australian National Heritage List
The Australian National Heritage List is a list of places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia. The list includes natural, historic and indigenous places...
in 2007.
Description
Werrikimbe Park is noted for a rich diversity of plants and animals, rainforest, extensive wilderness, scenic wild rivers and opportunities for outdoor recreation in a remote location. This national park contains an AboriginalAustralian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
stone arrangement of two stone rings, bora rings, where initiation ceremonies were held.
Access and facilities
All access roads to the park have a gravel surface, winding and steep in places. These roads are unsuitable for caravans. Beyond the Mooraback Road there is a four-wheel driveFour-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, 4WD, or 4×4 is a four-wheeled vehicle with a drivetrain that allows all four wheels to receive torque from the engine simultaneously...
(4WD) trail to Youdales Hut visitor area (which is only accessible by a 4WD with low range, and obtaining a key for the locked gate from either the National Parks and Wildlife Service
National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales)
The National Parks and Wildlife Service is part of the Office of Environment and Heritage - the main government conservation agency in New South Wales, Australia....
or Apsley Motors in Walcha. There are five visitor areas with basic facilities — three on the eastern side near the edge of the escarpment, and two on the west, on the plateau.
Camping sites are available at:
- Brushy Mountain campground (20 sites) on the north-eastern edge of the park. Campsites are suitable for: car and trailer (though not caravan) next to campsite. Facilities: toilets, amenities block, picnic tables, wood barbecues
- Mooraback campground (5 sites) at the north-western end of the park. Facilities: toilets, picnic tables, wood barbecues
- Plateau Beech campground (5 sites), on the eastern side of the park. Campsites are suitable for: people who are happy to walk a short distance from car to tent. Facilities: Pit/composting toilets, amenities block, picnic tables, wood barbecues
The Bicentennial National Trail
Bicentennial National Trail
The Bicentennial National Trail , formerly known as the National Horse Trail is the longest marked multi-use trail in the world, stretching 5,330 kilometres from Cooktown, through New South Wales to Healesville, 60 km north-east of Melbourne...
passes through the western edge of the Werrikimbe Wilderness along the headwaters of the Hastings River
Hastings River
The Hastings River is a large river on the Mid North Coast of the Australian state of New South Wales that empties into the Tasman Sea, a branch of the South Pacific Ocean, at Port Macquarie....
and onto the Kunderang Brook. Horses and vehicles are not permitted within the declared Wilderness.
History
The Mooraback area was one of the earliest settlements along the "Falls Country" to the east of Walcha, with records showing the first settlers grazed blocks at Mooraback in the 1850s. The names of some of these settlers are reflected in the names featured in the park: Bishops Swamp, Cleghorns Creek and Careys Trail.During the 1950s some manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
mining was carried out in what is now within the park confines.
Flora and fauna
There is a great variety of vegetation here, depending on rainfall and altitude: eucalyptEucalypt
Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...
woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
s, coachwoods, southern sassafras
Atherosperma
Atherosperma moschatum, the Southern Sassafras or Blackheart Sassafras is an evergreen tree native to the cool temperate rainforests of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales in Australia. It is common in the rainforests of Tasmania and Victoria, but more scattered and rare in the higher altitudes...
, stinging trees
Dendrocnide
Dendrocnide is a genus of 37 species of shrub to large tree in the nettle family Urticaceae. They have a wide distribution across South-East Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands.They are colloquially known as stinging nettles or nettle trees...
, long-leaf waxflowers
Philotheca myoporoides
Philotheca myoporoides , commonly known as Long-leaf Wax Flower, is a shrub in the family Rutaceae. The species is endemic to south-eastern Australia...
and yellow carabeens
Sloanea woollsii
Sloanea woollsii, commonly known as Yellow Carabeen, is a large tree species with plank-buttresses that is native to northeastern NSW and eastern Queensland, Australia. Its southern distributional limit is near the town of Bulahdelah at Tallowwood Forest Park and O'Sullivans Gap Reserve.S...
with their flying buttressed trunks. Werrikimbe is home to the rare plants such as Chiloglottis
Chiloglottis
Chiloglottis is a small genus in the orchid family Orchidaceae.The botanical name of the genus is derived from Greek words, referring to the tongue-shaped lip...
bird orchids, downy guinea flowers and fairy lanterns
Thismia
Thismia is a genus of myco-heterotrophic plant in family Thismiaceae.Species include:* Thismia americana * Thismia clavarioides K.R.Thiele* Thismia melanomitra* Thismia rodwayi F.Muell...
. These forests also contain the only examples of filmy king fern
Leptopteris fraseri
Leptopteris fraseri, known as the Crepe Fern is a plant occurring in eastern Australia. The habitat is wet places, mostly on the Great Dividing Range. It is found in caves, near waterfalls, in dark shady places in the cooler rainforests....
known to occur in northern New South Wales. The Antarctic beech
Nothofagus moorei
Nothofagus moorei, is an important Gondwana relict of the rainforests of the southern hemisphere. It occurs in wet, fire free areas at high altitude in eastern Australia....
forest, found at the end of the North Plateau Road, is estimated to be up to 1,000 years old and forms the largest compact southern beech forest in existence. The threatened parva subspecies of Pygmy Cypress Pine
Callitris oblonga
Callitris oblonga, also called South Esk Pine, Pigmy cypress pine, River pine, or Tasmanian cypress pine, is a species of conifer in the Cupressaceae family. It is endemic to Australia, and is threatened by habitat loss....
occurs on the eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands in the park.
Werrikimbe is the habitat of at least 22 threatened animal species. The rare Hastings River Mouse
Hastings River Mouse
The Hastings River Mouse is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.It is found only in Australia.-Habitat:These rodents often prefer damp and moist environments, along drainage lines if necessary...
was considered to be extinct until rediscovered in the park in 1981; it frequents the heathlands and open forest areas near streams. The Australian Brushturkey, Koala
Koala
The koala is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
, Eastern Whipbird
Eastern Whipbird
The Eastern Whipbird is an insectivorous passerine bird native to the east coast of Australia, its whip-crack call a familiar sound in forests of eastern Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Heard much more often than seen, it is a dark olive-green and black in colour with a distinctive white...
, Powerful Owl
Powerful Owl
The Powerful Owl , also known as the Powerful Boobok, is a species of owl native to south-eastern and eastern Australia, the largest owl on that continent...
, gliders, quoll
Quoll
The quoll, or native cat, is a carnivorous marsupial native to mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. It is primarily nocturnal and spends most of the day in its den. There are six species of quoll; four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea...
s and lyrebird
Lyrebird
A Lyrebird is either of two species of ground-dwelling Australian birds, that form the genus, Menura, and the family Menuridae. They are most notable for their superb ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. Lyrebirds have unique plumes of neutral coloured...
s may be seen. The park has been identified as an Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
(IBA) by BirdLife International
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
because it contains one of only five known populations of Rufous Scrub-bird
Rufous Scrub-bird
The Rufous Scrub-bird is a bird species in the family Atrichornithidae. It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests...
s. It also supports Flame
Flame Robin
The Flame Robin is a small passerine bird native to Australia. It is a moderately common resident of the coolest parts of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Like the other two red-breasted Petroica robins—the Scarlet Robin and the Red-capped Robin—it is often simply but...
and Pale-yellow Robin
Pale-yellow Robin
The Pale-yellow Robin is a species of passerine bird in the Petroicidae family. It is endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is a non-descript bird with grey head and olive upperparts, white throat and yellow underparts. The sexes are...
s, Paradise Riflebird
Paradise Riflebird
The Paradise Riflebird, Ptiloris paradiseus, is a medium-sized, up to 30 cm long, passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae family. The male is black with an iridescent greenish blue crown, throat and central tail feathers. It has a black curved bill, black feet, dark brown iris and yellow mouth...
s, Green Catbird
Green Catbird
The Green Catbird, Ailuroedus crassirostris is a species of bowerbird found on subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. Its colouring is emerald green, with faint black markings on the face and white streaks on the neck.Green...
s, Regent Bowerbird
Regent Bowerbird
The Regent Bowerbird, Sericulus chrysocephalus is a medium-sized, up to 25 cm long, sexually dimorphic bowerbird. The male bird is black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. It has yellow bill, black feet and yellow iris...
s and Australian Logrunner
Australian Logrunner
The Australian Logrunner is a species of bird in the Orthonychidae family. It is endemic to eastern Australia...
s.