Over
the past three decades the Foundation has acquired more than 350,000 hectares
of land.
Places of natural beauty, cultural significance or habitat for threatened
species became protected and created or extended 22 National Parks and
Nature Reserves. Discover one Foundation Park in each PAWS issue. (See
previous issues for reports on Bouddi
NP, Willandra
NP, Cathedral
Rock NP, Morton
NP, Washpool NP and World Heritage listed Mungo
NP).
For this issue, Keith Muir reports from a trip to Sturt National Park. The Foundation acquired 187,899 hectares (Mount King Station) as the core of the park; more than half of the total park area.
Sturt
National Park – NSW’s wildest corner
Keith Muir, Director of the Colong Foundation for
Wilderness
All photos by Keith Muir |
Sturt National Park is a large, diverse arid land park, over 300 kilometers north of Broken Hill by a good quality dirt road. Other remote outback parks are more frequently visited, such as those of the Kimberly District of Western Australia, but Sturt and a trip to the NSW outback possibly more rewarding. My work colleague Andrew Cox and I were easily able to schedule four national parks into our two week trip to the NSW’s ‘Corner Country’, so why not give it a go?
The Department of Environment and Conservation has recently built a tourist road to Cameron Corner in the north west of NSW, which makes it possible for two wheel drive vehicles with good clearance to visit Sturt National Park (although be prepared for several hundred kilometers of dirt road).
The western third of Sturt is covered in red parallel sand dunes, and offers the best opportunity to see the park’s population red kangaroos. These red sand dunes in the park blew in from the Strzelecki Desert in drier Pleistocene. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times to wander in the dunes but stay in sight of the road or you may become lost very quickly.
There are four camping sites in the park and the Mount Wood shearer’s quarters is available for accommodation on request. One camp, near RAMSAR listed Lake Pinaroo, is where Charles Sturt established Fort Grey during his search for an inland sea in 1845. The lapping waters of this ephemeral lake have for eons washed the iron from the sand along the foreshore. So when you stand in the middle of this usually dry lake you can see startlingly white wind blown sand dunes away off in the distance. From there you can also begin to grasp the arid intensity of the weather.
One thing that compensates the prickles and the stones is a universe of stars to keep you up late staring at the sky. You will find that the Milky Way really is milky and in it hides a mythical Emu from the dreamtime. Buying a star atlas for the trip will keep everyone happy for hours.
Mount Wood Station and the Outdoor Pastoral Museum, another project of the Foundation (Click here to find out more), are located in the south east quarter of the park and are fascinating artifacts of our cultural heritage.
They explain better than any book how the wool industry became established in the outback in the 1890s. What is more, the arid climate has preserved the homestead and its industrial artifacts so that they seem only a fraction of their real age, including an array of old steam engines.
Sturt National Park is in the grip of a seven year drought. Only untreated water is available on the park from the camp grounds so it is wise to carry at least one 20 litre container of water if you plan an extended stay. Wood fires are strictly prohibited as in all arid land parks. Sturt is located in the hottest part of NSW, so the best time to visit is winter or spring. If you intend to visit the park, contact the NPWS Tibooburra office on (08) 8091 3308, you won’t be disappointed.
In
future issues read about:
Cecil Hoskins Nature Reserve
Coturaundee Nature Reserve
Crowdy Bay National Park
Davis Scrub Nature Reserve
Dural Nature Reserve
Little Llangothlin Nature Reserve
Mallee Cliffs National Park
Maroota Historic Site (Devil's Rock)
Mutawintji National Park
Myall Lakes National Park
Nombinnie Nature Reserve
Oxley Wild Rivers National Park
Warrabah National Park
Yathong Nature Reserve
Yuraygir National Park
