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Kamay Botany Bay National Park

The Kamay Botany Bay National Park is a heritage-listed protected national park that is located in the eastern part of Botany Bay in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The 456 ha national park is situated approximately 16 km south-east of the Sydney central business district, on the northern and southern headlands of Botany Bay. The northern headland is at La Perouse and the southern headland is at Kurnell.

The visitor attraction, natural conservation and heritage conservation area at Cape Solander Drive is also known as Kamay Botany Bay National Park (North and South) and Towra Point Nature Reserve, La Perouse Monument, Tomb of Père (Fr.) Receveur, Macquarie Watchtower and Cable Station. The property is owned by NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and managed by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, both agencies of the Government of New South Wales. Kamay Botany Bay was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 29 November 2013, and was added to the Australian National Heritage List on 10 September 2017. It is also included in a UNESCO World Heritage serial nomination 'The Rise of Systemic Biology'.

The area is recognised for its outstanding cultural and historic heritage values to Australia. It is a place where botanist Sir Joseph Banks and naturalist Dr Daniel Solander collected plant specimens in 1770 as part of the first landing of the Endeavour in Australia. Banks and Solander collected many iconic Australian plant species, including some type specimens; these have important scientific and research value. The national park is also the site where Captain James Cook first set foot on Australian soil in 1770, marking the beginning of Britain's interest in Australia.

Geological history
Botany Bay lies within a small tectonic depression known as the Botany Basin which in turn is situated within the larger Sydney Basin comprising modified sedimentary deposits laid down about 270 million years ago during the Permian period. The northern and southern headlands feature cliffs of Hawkesbury sandstone cliffs, which was formed during the Triassic period, between 200 and 250 million years ago.

On the Kurnell Peninsula, about 20,000 years ago at the height of the ice age, the Kurnell headland was a sandstone hill. The old dunes formed much of what is now Botany Bay and the Kurnell headland. Between 18,000 and 10,000 years ago, as the sea level rose, seagrass, salt marsh and mangroves developed and moved inland. The first evidence of Indigenous occupation of the area appears to be about 12,000 years ago. At this time the swales of the old dunes contained swamps.

By 7,400 years ago the sea level stopped rising and the cliffs and rock platforms at Kurnell were eroded by wave action to form sheer cliffs. Between 9,000 and 6,000 years ago the Kurnell isthmus began to form as the mud and sand of the Georges River built up.

The locations now known as Silver Beach and Bonna Point were subject to a buildup of sand from about 6,500 years ago. At about the same time a series of parallel dunes formed behind Bate Beach and Towra Point as the Georges River estuary shifted and sand and mud were dropped to the north of the Kurnell isthmus. The mud and sand deposit breached sea level and a dune formed on the deposit. This dune was vegetated with Kurnell dune forest, treed wetland, littoral rainforest, mangroves, sheoaks and saltmarsh.

From 4,500 years ago swamps developed in the low parts of the dunes and a series of moving dunes formed as a result of violent weather events. These new dunes covered the peninsula and the tidal flats of Botany Bay. Here again, swamps formed in these new dunes, allowing soils and dune forest to develop. As these dunes eroded, sandstone was exposed and eventually sandstone heath colonised that area. Between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago the sea level dropped to current levels.

Aboriginal people pre-contact
Most archaeological evidence relates to Indigenous occupation in the area from about 3,000 to 2,000 years ago. People living to the south of Botany Bay to Nowra spoke the Dharawal language group. The people moving through and living in the Kurnell area were the northernmost clan of the Dharawal speakers, the Gweagal. On the northern headland the people were most likely Cadigal people of the Darug language group.

The people living on the headlands and shores at the entrance to Botany Bay benefited from the many food and other resources and the mild climate of the area. On both shorelines are many midden sites providing evidence of the rich variety of sea foods enjoyed by the Indigenous people, as well as reptiles and mammals which also lived in the heath and forests. Fishing was the major source of food for the Indigenous people of the area. Fish hooks were made from turban shells, and fishing lines and nets were made from bark and native grasses. Timber from the forests at Kurnell and La Perouse provided bark for huts, canoes, and coolamons, and lomandra leaves were woven together to make bags.

Many of the local plants were edible, such as the roots of the common fern and warrigal, a spinach-like leafy plant that grew along the local fresh water streams on both northern and southern headlands. Other foods included the nectar from Banksia flowers and witchetty grubs which lived in the stems of banksia and wattle.

Because of its bountiful resources, the north and south headlands of Botany Bay were important ceremonial gathering places for the Dharawal on the south of Botany Bay and the Darug on the northern shores. At Kurnell there are several important ceremonial sites, including a bora ring used for rites and an ochre pit located near the current site of the oil refinery which provided pigment for such ceremonies.

Kurnell was possibly a semi-permanent home for the Gweagal. A marker tree distinguished by a ring-shaped hole in its trunk marks the site of a women's camp. The area also contains carved trees from which the bark for canoes and coolamons were taken and a women's birthing site, indicating the intensive use of the area by the pre-contact Gweagal community.

Aboriginal ancestral remains have been reburied in the park. These remains, taken from the Botany Bay region, were stored in various museum collections until repatriation. For Aboriginal people, the return of ancestors' remains to Country is highly significant because it then reunites ancestors with Country.

Similarly, the La Perouse section of the park contains evidence of everyday lives of Aboriginal people before European settlement, including middens and engravings that illustrate the everyday observations and preoccupations of the Indigenous people before European contact.

Arrival of Cook
In the days preceding 29 April 1770 Dharawal people of the southern coastal area between Nowra and Kurnell observed a large "white bird" (oral tradition of the local people) or "floating island" which was Lieutenant James Cook's Endeavour, as it passed along the coast towards the headlands of Kamay ( Botany Bay). Further south the Yuin people attributed their sightings of the Endeavour to "Gurung-gubba", the pelican of their Dreamtime stories. The Endeavour entered Botany Bay and lay anchor opposite the location of a small bark hut village on the southern shores of Kamay Botany Bay. Here James Cook and some of his crew prepared to land on the shores of Gweagal country. It is now understood that Cook's bold arrival and landing on Dharawal land was a severe breach of Indigenous etiquette and an affront to the traditional owners of the land at Kurnell.

In traditional Aboriginal culture it is customary for visitors to wait to be invited to approach the custodians of that area, so when Cook and his men landed, the local people attempted to discourage the strangers from entering the land: two warriors painted in ceremonial ochre threatened the British with spears, to which Cook ordered either one or two muskets fired. One shot found its mark and hit one of the warriors, who ran to find a shield and continued the defence of his country. As Cook and his party landed, one of the warriors threw a spear before they retreated and commenced to ignore the intruders for the entire time the British were anchored in the bay. This is consistent with the customary right of country owners to demand to meet visitors on their own terms.

During the following eight days the passengers and crew of the Endeavour explored the shores and hinterland areas around Botany Bay. The main purpose of visiting Botany Bay was to obtain fresh water for the next leg of the journey. On the second day of their stay, Cook and his men found a stream located near the bark hut village, from which they replenished the ships water supplies. The stream still flows today.

The location of the Endeavour's landfall and Cook's claim of the east coast of the continent for Britain is now commonly known as Captain Cook's Landing Place.

One of the most significant activities undertaken that week was the botanical collecting by Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, noted pupil of Carolus Linnaeus. On completing his studies in Sweden, Solander travelled to England to promote the Linnaean system of classification and soon took up a position classifying collections at the British Museum. He was employed by Banks in 1768 to assist him on Cook's voyage of exploration.

Banks and Solander collected many plant and animal specimens at Botany Bay, including many which had not been collected or described previously and became the type specimens of species and genera, including the Banksia, named for Joseph Banks. Much of the collection work was carried out near the landing place and in the area now known as Towra Point and its wetlands, as well as on the northern shore of Botany Bay.

The extent and quality of the specimens collected led Cook to name the bay Botany Bay in acknowledgment of the important work undertaken by Banks and Solander. Besides being described and classified by Solander, every specimen was sketched by Sydney Parkinson. These sketches were rendered as watercolours when Banks and Solander returned to England and then engraved and later included in the publication Banks' Florilegium.

Arrival of Phillip
On 18 January 1788, eighteen years after the first visit by the British, Governor Arthur Phillip arrived at Botany Bay with the First Fleet, where they intended to establish the first British settlement in the colony. While anchored in Botany Bay a number of officers established seemingly friendly contact with the Aboriginal people, exchanging whistling tunes, confirming humanity and gender and exchanging gifts. On the southern shores they introduced a child travelling with the fleet to the Aboriginal people there.

Phillip was disappointed at the lack of water on the shores of the bay and dismayed by the large numbers of Aboriginal people inhabiting the place. By 26 January 1788, Phillip had left Botany Bay and sailed for Port Jackson, where the first settlement in Australia was made.

Arrival of Lapérouse
At the same time, Botany Bay was visited by the French expedition under the command of Jean-Francois Galaup de Lapérouse, whose frigates La Boussole and Astrolabe anchored near Frenchman's Beach on 24 January 1788. Captain Hunter of the First Fleet established contact with the French in the absence of Governor Phillip.

The French ships had sailed from Samoa, where they had been involved in a battle with the Samoans. Numerous people on both sides were killed and injured. One of those injured in the event was the expedition's priest and naturalist, Père Receveur. Receveur died at La Perouse on 17 February 1788 and was the first French person to be buried on the mainland. He was interred in a headland grave marked with a common headstone. In 1829, a tomb was erected over the site of his grave.

The French spent six weeks at La Perouse, during which time they repaired damage done during the Samoan battle. An observatory was established on the northern headland for the use of Joseph Lepaute Dagelet, whose observations and scientific experiments are among the first European scientific endeavours in Australia. Dagelet undertook calculations on map positions of Botany Bay and carried out astronomical observations which he later shared with Englishman William Dawes.

The departure of Phillip and then Lapérouse from Botany Bay marked a period of time where, at least on the southern shores of the bay, Aboriginal people did not come into much contact with Europeans. The Kurnell headland was a remote spot and was not subject to a land grant until 1815. On the northern shores of the bay, the La Perouse peninsula remained relatively unsettled until the 1860s and 1880s, when a pioneering fishing community worked the waters at Botany Bay and lived in La Perouse.

While their land was not immediately settled by Europeans, white colonisation had a profound impact on the people of the area, the most significant being the spread of disease such as smallpox. There are caves at Little Bay just north of the northern section of the Botany Bay National Park and also a cave on Cape Solander in the southern section of the park in which it is believed that skeletal remains from these outbreaks were found, though this has not been confirmed.

Settlement during the 19th and 20th centuries: La Perouse
By 1830, the land which is now the northern section of Botany Bay National Park was dedicated as a Government reserve. From about 1820, a small contingent of Government troops were stationed at La Perouse headland to scout for the unexpected arrival of ships and to monitor and control smuggling activity. By 1822, these troops were housed in Macquarie's Tower, a sandstone castellated watchtower. From 1829, when the monuments to Lapérouse and Pere Receveur were erected, the watchtower was used as accommodation for a caretaker employed to look after the Lapérouse Monument and the tomb of Père Receveur. These monuments are still frequently visited by the French and are the site of events such as a memorial ceremony on Bastille Day each year, a mass to Père Receveur and Lapérouse Day.

In 1831, the watchtower was acquired by the Customs Department to house a tide waiter, or customs officer, and two boatmen who manned the La Perouse customs house outstation.

By 1869, in response to the perceived threat of armed attack by foreign forces, a program to bolster the colony's defences was in place and a military road was constructed to the La Perouse headland. By 1871 a gun battery was in place on Henry Head. In 1881 a large "mass concrete" fort was under construction on Bare Island; it was operational by 1890.

La Perouse headland was the site where the overseas underwater telegraphic cable emerged in 1876. The first makeshift facility of tents and huts was replaced in 1881 by a brick cable station sited centrally on the west of the headland overlooking Frenchman's Beach. After 1917, when it was no longer used as offices for the telegraph company, it became a nurses' home and later a home run by the Salvation Army. Most recently it is used as the La Perouse Museum.

Many Aboriginal people who had traditionally lived in the La Perouse area left after the establishment of European settlement, but by the 1870s Aboriginal people, including descendants from families associated with La Perouse and Botany Bay, along with Aboriginal people from the south coast, began to return to the area. When George Thornton, the government's Protector of Aborigines, started removing Aboriginal people from urban areas, he was successfully lobbied by a group from La Perouse, who were allowed to remain at the La Perouse camp. Thornton even constructed huts for them at the camp, justifying the decision to parliament by arguing that the camp was economically viable. By 1881 there were two camps with 35 Aboriginal people recorded to be living at La Perouse and a further 15 in Botany Bay within the boundaries of what is today Kamay Botany Bay National Park.

In 1881, there was an outbreak of smallpox in the colony. To deal with the epidemic, an isolation hospital was established at Little Bay; it became known as the Coast Hospital and then in 1934 became Prince Henry Hospital. Associated with the Coast Hospital is the Coast Cemetery, which is located south of the hospital and now is enclosed by Kamay Botany Bay National Park.

The Coast Hospital Cemetery is an Aboriginal Place and is an important burial, repatriation, and reburial site for the La Perouse and Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land councils and Dharawal Aboriginal people. In 1881, the first part of the Coast Hospital Cemetery was opened. This section was used until 1897, when a northern burial section was established and used until 1952. The cemetery was used as a burial ground for the La Perouse Aboriginal reserve, though it served predominantly as a burial ground for patients who died of infectious diseases at Prince Henry Hospital. There are 90 marked graves in the Coast Hospital Cemetery, but it is estimated that up to 3,000 people are buried there. The area was selected as an Aboriginal repatriation and reburial site because of its long-standing significance to the local Aboriginal people. The cemetery contains the burials of several family members. Aboriginal ancestral remains were reburied within the Dharawal Resting Place (previously known as the Little Bay Cemetery Resting Place) in 2002 and 2005. Members of the La Perouse and Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land councils and other Dharawal descendants regularly visit the area, maintaining close connections to Country and ancestors.

A small Anglican Aboriginal mission was established in the area in 1885 and a church built in 1894. In 1895 the camp at Frenchmans Bay, La Perouse was gazetted as an Aboriginal reserve. The people who lived there worked as fishermen, in the Chinese Gardens, or at the timber mills and wool washes in the area, or they made boomerang and other artefacts for sale to tourists, who flocked to the area after the construction of the tramway to La Perouse at the turn of the century. Many women and children crafted shell decorations for sale.

During the Great Depression, La Perouse was the site of a shanty town known as Happy Valley, which was located within the boundaries of the Botany Bay National Park behind Congwong Beach. Those who arrived at Happy Valley simply selected a spot and erected their home from corrugated iron or whatever could be found. Reputedly there was much positive interaction between residents at Happy Valley and those on the Aboriginal reserve. While life was hard at Happy Valley, some unemployed residents valued the site for its carefree existence and beach access. In 1939, after intense lobbying by the neighbouring golf club, Randwick Council moved all the residents to more suitable accommodation and demolished the shanty town.

During the 1960s, a wave of new white residents arrived at La Perouse and lobbied for the removal of the reserve at Yarra Bay. The Aboriginal community has resisted these efforts and the La Perouse community remains one of the strongest and most established Aboriginal communities in Sydney.

Settlement in the 19th and 20th century: Kurnell
In 1815, Governor Macquarie made a grant of 700 acres of land to James Birnie at Kurnell. Here Birnie established a farm, raising vegetables and stock and constructing a homestead on the site of the current Alpha House near Captain Cooks Landing Place in the Kamay Botany Bay National Park.

In 1821, another grant was made of 1,000 acres at the nearby Quibray Bay to John Connell, a free settler who arrived in NSW in 1801 and set up a large ironmongery in Sydney. When in 1828 Birnie was declared insane, Connell bought Alpha Farm, and by 1838 he owned almost the entire Kurnell Peninsula. His grandson John inherited the estate on John senior's death in 1851. He cleared the land heavily and sold the timber to the Sydney market.

Facing financial ruin in 1860, John Connell Jr mortgaged his landholdings at Kurnell to Thomas Holt, who took ownership in 1861. Holt, a successful wool merchant and member of the Legislative Council, was a prominent and influential figure in the New South Wales.

Holt established a scientific oyster farming program at Quibray Bay, attempted to raise sheep on specially planted pastures of imported grass and dabbled in timber and even coal mining on the Kurnell Peninsula. This work was done with the assistance of many employees, including a number of Aboriginal people such as William Rowley, a Gweagal man, who was also an enterprising local fisherman born at Towra Point.

Despite Holt's efforts at Kurnell, none of the enterprises were very successful, and by 1881 he began subdividing the estate. Even this exercise was not successful, and unsold lots within the current national park were set aside as a public reserve in the 1899, along with an area similarly reserved at an earlier date. The reserve, totalling 100 hectares at the time, was managed by a trust under the auspices of the Department of Lands.

From the 1820s Captain Cook's Landing Place was a popular destination for people with an interest in European history in Australia. Many people visited various places of interest, such as the plaque at Inscription Point, which had been installed by the Philosophical Society of Australasia in the early 1820s. In 1870 Thomas Holt erected Cook's Obelisk to mark the European arrival at Botany Bay. To cope with the area's increasing visitation, Holt built the first wharf at Kurnell just adjacent to the obelisk, and a steam ferry began to operate some time around 1882. The reserve was the responsibility of the Department of Lands up until 1967 and was managed by a trust right up until 1974. The trust employed a caretaker and field staff to maintain the reserve. It also spent considerable time and money on siting and erecting monuments to Cook and his crew. In 1918 the trust erected the Solander Obelisk and in 1947 the Banks Memorial.

A cottage was erected on the site of the first Alpha Farm House, providing accommodation for visitors as well as for the reserve caretaker, whose wife operated a kiosk from the kitchen.

In the years after the Second World War, under the management of the trust, the area became a hugely popular holiday destination for campers. Families who faithfully returned to camp there each year set up semi-permanent camps in small timber cabins and tents painted with calcimine for weatherproofing, with stoves and camp beds. Most of their food they brought with them, but fresh milk was sourced daily from the caretaker's wife, who managed a herd of cows which roamed the reserve. Holiday camping at the park continued until around 1977, when the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service discontinued this use and disposed of the semi-permanent dwellings.

Like La Perouse, the Kurnell section of Botany Bay National Park had a shanty town. This was established in the cliff overhangs and caves overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Cape Solander and Tabbagi Gap. The earliest dwelling was built in 1919, and others were constructed during the Great Depression in the 1930s. These dwellings were constructed of tin and timber, and stoves and other home wares were installed to make the place comfortable. They continued to be used during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s by recreational fishermen and local eccentrics.

The Aboriginal people of La Perouse retained a strong link with the Kurnell section of the Botany Bay National Park throughout the 20th century. Kurnell was a frequent destination for family groups who would travel over by ferry and spend the day fishing, swimming, foraging for bush foods. The banks of Cook's Stream was a source of warrigal greens, and further afield one could find five-corner berries, wombat berries and sarsaparilla.

Sonny Simms, who grew up at La Perouse in the 1930s and 1940s, recalled that the resources of the bay, its fish and shellfish, were an important supplement to the family's food resources when his father left and his mother became the sole provider for her family of nine children. The family would travel to Kurnell, where their mother taught them how to catch fish, lobster and abalone. The fish caught would be cooked in an old five-gallon drum and eaten on the spot.

Other resources found in the park and at Towra Point were the mangrove knees, which up until the late 1960s were harvested to make boomerangs for the tourist trade. The shells for the La Perouse women's shell craft work were collected from the beach at Wanda.

The huge sand dunes and their large freshwater ponds were a strong memory for Sonny Simms, who as a child regularly swam in these. The dunes survived relatively unaffected up until the 1950s, when the oil refinery was established there. It was not until the Sydney building boom in the late 1960s and 1970s that the demand for sand resulted in the dunes becoming degraded by sand mining over much of the Kurnell Peninsula.

In 1967 the reserve at Kurnell was handed over to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which, besides its environmental charter, had custody of historic sites, of which Captain Cook's Landing Place at Kurnell was one. By 1974 National Parks and Wildlife Service was able to take on the full management of the park and the reserve trust was disbanded. The Botany Bay National Park was finally gazetted in 1988.

Under the management of National Parks and Wildlife Service much work has been done to redress the balance in articulating the Aboriginal and European historical and cultural values of the place. This is evidenced in the renaming of the longstanding Commemoration Day ceremony as the Meeting of Cultures ceremony and the structured involvement of local Aboriginal elders in the ceremony. In addition Aboriginal people have been closely involved in other important events in the park, such as the start to the Olympic Torch Relay in 2000, which was begun by one of the Aboriginal park rangers. A significant amount of work has been done to the interpret the history and connections of the site: in particular, the opening of interpretive walks and the re-opening of the freshwater stream.

Perhaps the most significant events to have been held in the park in recent years have been the repatriation burials. These events are of great importance to the local Aboriginal community as local elders received back the remains of their ancestors from public institutions where they were studied and regarded as curiosities in their own land. The La Perouse museum precinct in Botany Bay National Park is to be reinvigorated, with the NSW Government and Randwick City Council moving to lease the historic site.

Description
The total area of the proposed listing is 878 ha. 492 ha of the listing comprises Kamay Botany Bay National Park, situated on the north and south sandstone headlands of Botany Bay. The headlands create the dramatic entrance to Botany Bay, which is located about 14 km south of the centre of Sydney. The listing boundary also includes the Towra Point Nature Reserve, an area of 386.4 ha of wetlands located to the west of Kurnell village in Botany Bay.

Northern section
Approximately 168 ha of Kamay Botany Bay National Park is located on the northern headland and includes Cape Banks, the coast land at Cruwee Cove, Henry Head, Congwong Beach, scrub-covered dune to Anzac Parade and the peninsula on the north-eastern corner of Botany Bay known as La Perouse Headland. As Bare Island and the causeway joining it to the mainland are already listed on the State Heritage Register, they are not included in the curtilage of this listing.

The coast is characterised by rocky sandstone cliffs demonstrating a fine example of the stratification of Hawkesbury sandstone. The cliff formations are punctuated by large gorges, the result of eroded basalt dykes which formed in the sedimentary rock in the early Tertiary period.

The sandy soils are covered with diverse vegetation comprising over 350 species once common in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, including rare species and communities. The most common vegetation cover is heath Banksia community (Banksia ericifolia), prickly tea tree (Leptospermum juniperinum) and paperbark (Melaleuca nodosa). To the west of the park is a thick covering of coastal tea tree scrub (Leptospermum laevigatum) consisting of coast banksia (Banksia integrifolia) and bangalay (Eucalyptus botryoides). In sheltered areas such as behind little Congwong Bay lies a low closed forest of smooth-barked apple (Angophora costata).

Rare vegetation communities in the park include the wet heath between Henry Head and Cape Banks and the closed forest around Happy Valley. The stands of Eastern Suburbs banksia scrub are considered to be an endangered community. An area of land bordering on Grose Street contains over 140 species, including plants regarded as rare and the last remaining example of the full diversity of Eastern Suburbs banksia scrub. It also contains several rare freshwater swamps. This part of the park attracts over 70 species of native birds, as well as possums, flying foxes, bats and snakes.

The northern section of Kamay Botany Bay National Park contains a number of sites relating to the pre-contact Aboriginal occupation, including rock engravings and shell middens.

The La Perouse Headland contains significant historic items including Macquarie Watchtower, Lapérouse Monument, Père Receveur's grave, the cable station (now the La Perouse Museum), the Coast Cemetery, fortifications including Henry Head Battery and Fort Banks, and the site of the Happy Valley settlement.

The Macquarie Watchtower is a two-storey, octagonal Sydney sandstone tower approximately 7 m tall. The walls are topped by a castellated parapet that was reconstructed c. 1961. The structure has window openings which have been in-filled with sandstone blocks and an entry door on the southern facade.

The former cable station is a two-storey rendered masonry building situated on a grassy knoll of La Perouse Headland facing north overlooking Frenchman's Bay. The orientation of the building is attributed to the positioning of the telegraph cable, which came ashore at Frenchman's Bay. Designed by the Colonial Architects Office, the building has a single-storey veranda on its northern facade and a U-shaped plan. Originally symmetrical, the building has had additional bays added to either end of the building.

Also situated on the La Perouse Headland is a monument to the French expedition of 1788 led by Jean-Franois de Galaup Lapérouse and the grave of Père Receveur. The Lapérouse monument has a central obelisk topped by a spherical brass astrolabe. It is mounted on a base and surrounded by a low wall topped with a steel picket fence. Plaques have been placed around the monument commemorating the voyages of other French ships. The headstone and tomb of Père Receveur, the priest and naturalist of the French expedition, was erected many years after his death. The grave was initially marked by an inscription on a tree and over time became more formalised.

Behind Congwong Beach is the location of a former settlement known as Happy Valley, a collection of shacks erected during the Depression. The shacks have been removed and vegetation has regenerated. There is potential for archaeology dating from this period of occupation.

There are coastal fortifications located on Henry Head and Cape Banks designed and constructed by the British army from the late 19th century onwards.

Behind the headland is the original Coast Hospital Cemetery, which is now a designated Aboriginal Place: the Dharawal Resting Place – Coast Hospital Cemetery. It contains approximately 3,000 burials. There are some headstones and the remains of a paved stone road to the site. Aboriginal ancestral remains were reburied within the Dharawal Resting Place (previously known as the Little Bay Cemetery Resting Place) in 2002 and 2005.

Southern section
The southern section of Kamay Botany Bay National Park covers an area of about 324 ha on the eastern end of the Kurnell Peninsula. The area of the park to the north-east of Kurnell village is bounded by the waters of Botany Bay and large rock platforms. This area, which is sometimes referred to as "The Meeting Place", extends over approximately 20 ha of the eastern part of the park. Silver Beach is located here.

The Meeting Place precinct contains many items of pre-contact Aboriginal heritage: shell middens, burial sites, a bora ring, a birthing tree and other items of Aboriginal heritage significance. It also contains post-contact heritage items of significance to both European and Aboriginal history.

The Meeting Place contains a number of monuments and memorials to Cook; the botanist Solander; Sir Joseph Banks; and Forby Sutherland, an Endeavour crew member who died at Botany Bay. It also contains Alpha House, previously known as the Kurnell accommodation house, constructed by the Captain Cook's Landing Place Trust in 1902. The accommodation house was built on the remains of two earlier dwellings, and a cellar of one of these remains beneath the cottage.

An important element, historically and environmentally is the stream that flows into Botany Bay near the landing place. It was here that Cook and his party restocked their fresh water supplies under the eye of the local Aboriginal people. There have been a number of archaeological excavations in this area, on the flat between the wharf and the stream, and in the vicinity of the Alpha House site. The area is considered to have high archaeological potential. The place is marked by a plaque and by more recent interpretive works.

The southern and eastern boundary of the park follows the 40 m high Hawkesbury sandstone cliff landscape of Cape Solander, which is punctuated by deep narrow gorges at Tabagai Gap and Yena Gap. Further to the south this rocky coastal boundary gives way to sand dunes which extend south to Potter Point. Within the cliff landscape and dunes of this area there have been archaeological excavations, these areas are also considered to have archaeological potential. Dune landscape characterises the southern part of the park inland. Vegetation is mainly Kurnell dune forest, which grows on the sand hills that overlook the coast where Cook is said to have landed. There are pockets of dry eucalypt forest on the higher reaches, and this forest continues over Cape Solander Drive and up to the sandstone heights approaching the sandstone cliffs falling to the ocean on the east.

The area down to Potters Point supports heath lands on sandstone and heath on dunes, which are characterised by old man banksia (Banksia serrata), sheoak (Allocasuarina distyla) and grass trees (Xanthorrhoea resinosa). There are also wetlands on sandstone and wetlands in dunes which sustain native grasses (Gahnia sieberiana and Scirpus littoralis), lemon-scented bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus), and heath banksia (Banksia robur), which are rare in the Sydney region. As well as pockets of dry eucalyptus forest, there are also several pockets of Kurnell dune forest in the southern reaches of the park and important patches of littoral rainforest.

Among the diversity of fauna living on the Kurnell Peninsula are endangered or vulnerable species. The green and gold bell frog (Litoria aurea) and the tinkling froglet (Crinia tinnula), both threatened, have been recorded in the southern part of the park, along with the more common eastern long-necked tortoise (Chelodina longicollis). Ninety-six species of bird frequent the scrub, forest wetlands and shores of the Kurnell Peninsula. Some of the species noted to be of local, state or regional significance are the Japanese snipe, whimbrel, Arctic jaeger, common eastern tern, peregrine falcon, red-necked stint, powerful owl (threatened), silvereye, red-browed finch, New Holland honeyeater and superb fairywren.

Towra Point Nature Reserve
Within the nature reserve is the Towra Point Keeping Place Aboriginal Place, which is an Aboriginal reburial site where ancestral remains have been returned to Country. Evidence of past Aboriginal occupation (campsites evidenced by shell middens and stone artefact scatters) can be found in the local area. Local vegetation is dominated by sclerophyll forest and includes coast banksia and tea tree.

The Ramsar listed wetlands reserve of 386 ha is located on the shores of Botany and Wooloware bays to the west of Kurnell village. The Towra Point landscape of alluvial and marine sands supports vegetation communities that are now rare in the Sydney region. There are vegetated dunes and coastal banksia woodlands, littoral rainforest patches and stands of rare bangalay and swamp oak forests. There are also a few stands of the magenta brush cherry (Syzygium paniculatum), a species listed as vulnerable. The area contains saltmarshes which support a rare sedge, Gahnia filum, which grows at the edge of the marshes, located on the land side of mangroves. The Towra Point wetlands are home to a large variety of local and migrating wading and shorebird species, as well being the second most important breeding site for the little tern (Sternula albifrons) and the only breeding place in the Sydney region. Other species which live in the wetlands include the pied oystercatcher (Haematopis longirostris), terek sandpiper (Tringa terek) and peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), all of which are listed as threatened in NSW. Full details of the vegetation communities at Towra Point can be found in Towra Point Nature Reserve Plan of Management.

Features
A number of memorials commemorating Australia's history are located at the entrance to the Kurnell Peninsula portion of the park. This area has a coast walk connecting the memorials and is near the information centre and a museum.

The Kurnell Peninsula portion includes much of the eastern half of the promontory, adjacent to the Caltex Oil Refinery. The area is bordered by sandstone cliffs, eroded to a few metres above sea level in the north and higher in the south. The highest point is about 100 m above sea level and there are two mapped lookouts, Kurnell Lookout and Houston Lookout. Hills of dry sclerophyll bushland include Botany Cone at 55 m above sea level and Long Nose at 101 m. There are many small points and cliff formations and several walking tracks. The carpark and lookout at the end of the Yena Track is popular for whale watching in the migration season.

Also present in the park is the Cape Bailey Light, a lighthouse built in 1950.

Heritage listing
As at 29 July 2013, Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve are of outstanding state heritage significance as a rare place demonstrating the continuous history of occupation of the east coast of Australia. The place holds clear and valuable evidence of Indigenous occupation prior to European settlement and the natural history of the state. It is also the place where the shared history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia began. It was the place where Lieutenant James Cook first stepped ashore to claim the country for Britain and plays a central role in the European history of arrival, the history of Indigenous resistance, dispossession and devastation through illness, land grants, cultivation and development.

Traditional Aboriginal custodians of the land and the current Aboriginal community have strong historical association with Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve. Gweagal warriors resisted the arrival of Cook and continue to be important symbols of Aboriginal resilience. There are two important burial repatriation sites within the curtilage which are designated Aboriginal Places and have high social significance for the Aboriginal community.

The place is also significant for its historical association with important European explorers and scientists and their life's work. These include James Cook, Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, Comte de Lapérouse, Père Receveur and Joseph Lepaute Dagelet. It is also associated with the First Fleet and the first Governor of NSW, Arthur Phillip.

The place is of state significance for the technical achievement of Banks and Solander who during their visit in 1770 made the first important collection of fauna and flora from Australia which included some items that had never before been described and classified. Previous archaeological excavations indicate that Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve have significance for their high level of archaeological potential.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve have aesthetic value as landmark headlands and natural areas with a collection of historic monuments that, combined, have important symbolism to the state of NSW. Both northern and southern parts of the national park, together with the nature reserve, contain a valuable research resource relating to Indigenous occupation, the natural history of the state and the early settlement of the colony.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve are of state heritage significance as they contains rare remnant vegetation and flora communities and is a critical link in the network of parks and reserves that conserve the biodiversity of NSW.

The La Perouse part the national park provides evidence of the history of French exploration in the Pacific in the late 19th century and continues to have ongoing cultural associations with the French community today.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 29 November 2013 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.

The geological and botanical features of Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve are of state heritage significance for their ability to demonstrate the natural history of the state.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve also have the ability to clearly demonstrate Indigenous pre-contact history of the state and to demonstrate aspects of the way of life of the Aboriginal people before European settlement.

Kamay Botany Bay Park is of exceptional heritage significance for the state as the place where the shared Indigenous and European history of Australia began. It was the place where Lieutenant James Cook first stepped ashore to claim the country for Britain and the first meeting place between Indigenous people and the colonisers. The place plays a central role in the European history of arrival and the history of Indigenous dispossession and devastation through illness, land grants, cultivation and development. The meeting of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia is a story that is central to the development of the colony and of symbolic importance to the state.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park is historically significant as it was the first point of landing of the first fleet of settlers in Australia and the site of later developments in colonial defences and customs regulation. It also demonstrates the early development of communications in the colony. The park is historically significant as it contains evidence of French exploration during the late 18th century.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve are historically significant as the place where Joseph Banks's and Daniel Solander's unique botanical collection was sourced and later classified using the Linnaean system of classification. Kurnell Peninsula and Towra Point were the sites of the first scientific investigation of the east coast of Australia by British scientists.

The former Cable Station at La Perouse is significant for its role in telegraphic communication connecting New Zealand with Australia by sub-marine cable for the first time in 1876.

The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history.

Traditional Aboriginal owners of the land and the current Aboriginal community have strong historical association with Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve. The place is associated with the Gweagal warriors who resisted the arrival of arrival of Cook and the crew of the Endeavour.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve is significant for its association with important European explorers and scientists and their life's work. These include James Cook, Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, Comte de Lapérouse, Compte de Receveur and Joseph Lepaute Dagelet.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park has an important association with the First Fleet and Governor Arthur Phillip, first Governor of NSW. Governor Macquarie is also associated with the site as he commissioned the erection of the earliest known sandstone tower building in Australia, the Macquarie Watchtower. The place is also associated with French explorers under the command of Comte de Lapérouse who were the first Europeans to stay in the place for an extended period of 6 weeks.

The Kurnell Peninsula has an important association with one of the colony's noted entrepreneurs and politicians, Thomas Holt. It also has historic association with members of the Aboriginal community who lived and worked with the first settlers on the Kurnell Peninsula and those who lived at La Perouse throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and whose descendants continue to live in the area.

The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

The cliffs edging the sea side entrance to Kamay Botany Bay National Park in both the northern and southern sections are of state heritage significance for their strong and dramatic landmark qualities that take on a symbolic aspect in relation to the historic events that took place after the Endeavour laid anchor inside Botany Bay and Cook stepped onto Dharawal land.

As well as the natural features of the site there are significant structures which have aesthetic value. The former cable station was designed by the noted colonial architect, James Barnet. The two-storey octagonal sandstone tower with castellated turret top built in circa1811, as a military guardhouse and lookout station, is a distinctive feature on the headland. The Doric column memorial to the Lapérouse expedition is another feature of the grouping on the northern headland. On the southern headland a commemorative obelisk marking Captain Cook's landing site erected in to 1822 is another distinctive landmark.

The green peninsula of Towra Point Nature Reserve is an aesthetically appealing natural landscape amidst an otherwise industrial or suburban setting on the south side of Botany Bay.

The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

Both the northern and southern sections of the Botany Bay National Park are of state heritage significance for members of the local and statewide Aboriginal community as it is the site of the first meeting of Indigenous and European cultures. For many people who live locally and throughout the state it is the home of their ancestors, it is the place where their ancestors are buried and where they lived before Europeans arrived. It is also important to Aboriginal people as one of the earliest sites of resistance to British colonisation. The place is also an important site of cultural renewal as the story of the arrival of Cook and those that followed remains an important story within the Aboriginal community.

The Towra Point Keeping Place Aboriginal Place and the Dharawal Resting Place - Coast Hospital Cemetery repatriation sites are highly significant places to members of the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council and the Dharawal Aboriginal people associated with Botany Bay. Visitation to these sites enables Dharawal people to maintain close connections to Country and ancestors.

Cook's landing place is important to the European community as it marks the arrival of the British and the establishment of Britain's southernmost colony. It is regarded as the birthplace of the European Australian Nation and the first meeting place of Aboriginal and British communities.

The northern shores of Botany Bay, the La Perouse peninsula, has a very special association for the French community in Australia and French people overseas as it was the last landfall of the noted French explorer, Jean-Francois Galaup de Lapérouse. The esteem the expedition is held in is marked by the Monument to Lapérouse commissioned in 1829 by the French and the annual ceremonies celebrating the visit of Lapérouse.

The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

The place is of state significance as a place of important technical achievement with the collecting efforts of Banks and Solander who during their visit in 1770 made the first important collection of fauna and flora from Australia. The Banks and Solander collection included many items that had never before been described and classified. The publication of Banks' Florilegium, a full colour edition which included illustrations and descriptions of the entire collection from the voyage in 1770, was the culmination of Banks's and Solander's work.

Previous archaeological excavations indicate that Kamay Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point Nature Reserve have significance for their high level of archaeological potential.

The La Perouse headland is significant as the place where the crew of Lapérouse's expedition of exploration made camp was where Joseph Lapaute Dagelet set up his observatory and made the first astronomical observations in Australia.

The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park is a unique place with state level rarity values as it is the place where the British colonisers first stepped ashore in Eastern Australia and the meeting place of Indigenous and white colonial Australia.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park and the Towra Point Nature Reserve wetlands contain rare remnant vegetation and fauna communities threatened and endangered species and vegetation communities such as: the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub community, the littoral rainforest and Kurnell dune forest, a vast array of threatened and endangered bird species such as the little tern, frogs such as the green and gold bell frog and mammals like the grey headed flying fox. The park is an important link in the network of parks and reserves in NSW and plays an important role in conserving the biodiversity of the state.

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park contains evidence of the intensive occupation by Indigenous people before the arrival and settlement by Europeans and is representative of the pre-contact Indigenous cultural landscape.

The remnant vegetation communities of Towra Point Nature Reserve and Kamay Botany Bay National Park are representative of the original vegetation communities which would have been evident from Sydney Cove to Port Hacking.

Kamay Botany Bay National Park is a representative example of a site with an extensive grouping of memorials commemorating highly significant historic events: the historic meeting of Indigenous and British cultures, the exploration of Captain James Cook, the important scientific collection work undertaken on the site by Banks and Solander, the noted French explorer Comte de Lapérouse and his party.

Towra Point Nature Reserve and Kamay Botany Bay National Park represent the role of parks and reserves in the conservation of biodiversity.

title: Kamay Botany Bay National Park


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Bouddi National Park

The Bouddi National Park is a coastal national park that is located in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 1532 ha national park is situated 93 km northeast of Sydney. A section of the national park extends into the Tasman Sea, creating fully protected land, shore and marine habitats. The park contains one of the last mature temperate rainforests on the Central Coast, Fletchers Glen.

History
The Bouddi National Park was originally known as the Bouddi Natural Park. It received its name at the second meeting of the park trust held on 5 July 1936. Other names considered were Maitland Bay Park, Cape Three Points Reserve and Gerrinbombi Park. The reason for the choice was that Bouddi is the authenticated aboriginal name of the most conspicuous feature of the district and appears on maps as early as 1828. Bouddi is an indigenous word for the heart. The trust had been founded the year earlier to manage the reserve and had representation from the NSW Federation of Bushwalking Clubs and Erina Shire Council.

In 1967 the park, by then totalling about 1310 acre, was dedicated as a national park under the newly passed legislation and was renamed Bouddi State Park. Its management became the responsibility of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, and soon afterwards the trust was reconstituted as an advisory committee. On 1 January 1974, the National Parks and Wildlife Act dispensed with the category of state parks and Bouddi was renamed Bouddi National Park.

Geology and climate
The rocks underlying the Bouddi peninsula is primarily Hawkesbury sandstone. The coastal areas contain several examples of tessellated pavements and laterite plateaus. There are also significant examples of the Terrigal Formation.

Flora
The Park contains three broad categories of vegetation: heath, Eucalyptus forest and grassy woodland.

Fauna
The park contains a wide diversity of animal life. A number of mammal species, including microbats, greater gliders and other marsupials are found in the Park. Reptile species present include lace monitors, green tree snakes and water dragons. Over 150 species of bird have been documented in the area.

The marine component of the Park has similarly high biodiversity. The marine extension of the park was found to have led to a 70% increase in fish numbers in the area than nearby comparators, and 60% higher numbers of species. A number of large mammals regularly frequent the area, including humpback whales, southern right whales and bottlenose and common dolphins. Leopard seals and fur seals have occasionally been seen on coastal rock platforms.

Nearby National Parks
The following National Parks are within 50 km of Bouddi National Park:

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Bouddi National Park


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Bournda National Park

The Bournda National Park is a 2655 ha protected area in New South Wales, Australia, managed as a national park by NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, and was established on 24 April 1992. It forms part of the Ulladulla to Merimbula Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for swift parrots.

Description
The park is 343 km south of Sydney near Tathra. Bournda National Park spans from Kianinny Bay, on the southern side of Tathra, south for about 13 km. There is a good walking track, along the coast for most of its length.

The park is host to three main bodies of water. Wallagoot Lake is a large salt water lake that last opened up to the ocean in June 2008. Bondi Lake is of ecological significance as it is the closest fresh water lake to the ocean in the region. Finally, Bournda Lagoon is a brackish (half salt water / half fresh water) lagoon that is periodically open to the ocean. The lagoon is a popular swimming spot for locals and campers alike. Good camping facilities are available at the Hobart Beach camp ground.

The park was once a State Recreation Area and became a National Park in 1992. Adjacent to the park is the Bournda Nature Reserve, which was established in 1972 and is 6,088 ha in size. Both areas are included in the management plan by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Walking tracks

 * Hobart Beach to Bournda Lagoon - 2.6 km
 * Hobart Beach to Scotts Bay - 1.3 km
 * Hobart Beach to Tathra via the Kangarutha Track - 12.0 km
 * Bournda Lagoon round trip via Bournda Island - 6.0 km

title: Bournda National Park


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Brindabella National Park

Brindabella National Park is an 18454 ha national park in New South Wales, Australia, that is located approximately 267 km southwest of Sydney central business district in the Brindabella Range. Much of the eastern boundary of the national park forms part of the western border of the Australian Capital Territory with New South Wales.

On 7 November 2008, the park was registered on the Australian National Heritage List as one of eleven areas constituting the Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves.

title: Brindabella National Park


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Brisbane Water National Park

Brisbane Water National Park is a national park on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. The national park is situated 70 km north of Sydney and 12 km southwest of Gosford. It consists the Brisbane Water and Mooney Mooney Creek waterways.

The National Park includes the Lion Island and the Spectagle Island near the Pacific Ocean. Brisbane Water National Park features fertile valleys which runs along the northern side of the Hawkesbury River towards Brisbane Water and the Pacific Ocean. The national park has an area of 11506 ha and is inhabited by the Darkinjung people.

Features
The park has many pleasant and interesting walks that can vary from mild to rugged. One walk that can be easily accessed via public transport, is the walk to Pindar Cave on the escarpment above the Wondabyne railway station, which is a request-stop on the Central Coast railway line. The Great North Walk, that leads from Sydney to Newcastle, passes through the park.

The national park is bounded to the south by the Hawkesbury River; to the west by part of the Pacific Highway, part of the M1 Pacific Motorway, and the Peats Ridge Road; with the latter also forming the northern boundary; and to the east by the Brisbane Water, the Central Coast railway line, and urban areas. The Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge, part of the Central Coast Highway, part of the Pacific Highway and part of the M1 Motorway bisect various sections of the national park.

Region Description
Brisbane Water National Park is described as a ‘living space’ for plant and animal communities in the National Parks Plan of Management. The park is a sanctuary for plant and animal communities to adapt and migrate in the face of climate change. The size and shape of the park should allow adjustment in the Northwest and South for biological adjustment. The park is a system of reserves protecting the states significant waterways of the lower Hawkesbury River, Broken Bay and Brisbane Water. The park also protects a range of Aboriginal sites and extends the representation of rock art from the Sydney Basin in the National Park systems. The geology is mainly in the Hawksbury series of cross bedded quarts sandstone, conglomerates, and grey and red shales.

Biology and Ecology
The park covers enough area to provide critical nesting and breeding sites for several species whose territories range over surrounding rural and urban areas. For many of these species the park provides the only secure available land for them to find seclusion from human impacts. For many of these plant and animal species the park is the only available habitat which provides the necessary resources for their survival such as tree hollows. The main vegetation communities found in the park are low-open forests, low-open woodland, and open woodland accompanied by either a dry or moist understorey. Rainforest communities occur in sheltered sections of valleys and along streams. 20 vegetation communities are represented in the park, all of which are considered endangered under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. 5 are listed as critically endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC). The critically endangered communities listed in the EPBC act in the park are: Blue Gum High Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion, Littoral Rainforest in the New South Wales North Coast, Lowland Rainforest in the NSW North Coast and Sydney Basin Bioregions, Shale Sandstone Transition Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion, and Western Sydney Dry Rainforest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion.

The Blue Gum High Forest is a tall open forest community where the Sydney blue gum (Eucalyptus saligna) dominates the canopy layer. Other tree species that occur in this community are: blackbutt (E. pilularis), forest oak (Allocasuarina torulosa), and Sydney red gum (Angophora costata). Species occurring in the shrub layer are ones adapted to moist habitats. Only around 4.5% of the Blue Gum High Forest remains, now occurring in small remnants. It only occurs in areas where rainfall is high and soil fertility is good. For this reason it can only occur in small sections which are suitable for growth. Understorey species rely on bird and mammal species to distribute seeds and this community does not cope well in fire events. The Blue Gum High Forest is known to occur in Brisbane Water National Park and is now reliant on national park status as protection from habitat degradation, as well as good park management with regards to invasive species control and fire regimes.

Flora
A number of areas in Brisbane Water National Park contain rare and endangered plants. It is likely that these remnant populations demonstrate the ways that environmental conditions have changed in the past few thousand years. In some cases these rare species are remnants of populations that would have been extensive before widespread clearing took place for urban and agricultural use. The park encompasses a wide variety of flora with 814 species recorded. The diversity of plant species and plant communities is reflective of variations in geology, soils, hydrology, aspect, and fire history. Ten of the recorded plant species are considered to be rare and several others are uncommon or restricted in their distribution. The park hosts a number of vulnerable and threatened species as listed under the EPBC act. Vulnerable species include: thick-leaf star-hair (Astrotricha crassifolia), Camfield's stringybark (Eucalyptus camfieldii), Deane's paperbark (Melaleuca deanei), and Grevillea shiressii. The endangered Somersby mintbush (Prostanthera junonis) is also present in the park. The donkey orchid (Diuris bracteata) has been recorded in the area in recent times after having been listed as extinct under the commonwealth status. The donkey orchid resides in dry sclerophyll woodland and forest with a predominantly grassy understorey. Recordings in the Gosford and Wyong areas are the only existing species known to survive.

The vulnerable Camfield stringybarks (Eucalyptus camfieldii) range in NSW has contracted and is now only found in small numbers isolated mainly to nationals parks surrounding Sydney. The species is either a mallee-like shrub or a tree up to 9 metres bearing heart shaped leaves as a juvenile. Too frequent or not frequent enough wildfire activity is a threat to its survival, where frequent fires impact its ability to grow seed capsules and infrequent fires result in competition from taller vegetation. The main threats to this species are: Competition from invasive non-native species and degradation of habitat from weeds, inappropriate or changed fire regimes including frequency, intensity, and timing, habitat loss and fragmentation from development, and low genetic diversity as a result of contracted population numbers.

The endangered Somersby mintbush (Prostanthera junonis) is only known to occur in the Somersby Plateau area in 9 locations after having been previously present in a broader range. The bush grows low with most of the branches growing along the ground to a maximum height of around 30 cm. Its flowers are pale mauve to almost white. Most of the remaining population are present in Brisbane Water National Park and face similar threats to Camfield's Stringybark which are: habitat degradation, invasive weed competition, and inappropriate fire regimes.

Fauna
The allocation of land in the National Park has provided and conserved valuable habitat to a range of vulnerable and endangered species as listed under the EPBC act. In total 261 species of fauna have been recorded in the park. all of which are listed as protected by the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (except invasive species). 26 native mammal species are known to occur in the park and 30 species of frog which represent 9 of the continent's 27 genera have been recorded. 50 species of reptiles representing one-third of the continent's reptile genera are also found in the park.

Over 150 species of birds have been recorded. Habitat destruction and fragmentation has impacted many of the species, this is an example of the significance of preserved habitat which the park provides. A number of birds found in the park are considered rare in the Sydney bioregion due to lost habitat, these include: Collared sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrhocephalus), Pacific baza (Aviceda subcristata), Lewin's rail (Rallus pectoralis), Buff-banded rail (Rallus philippensis), Yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus), Glossy black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami), Gang-gang cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum), Powerful owl (Ninox strenua), Australian masked owl (Tyto novaehollandiae), and the Red-browed treecreeper (Climacteris erythrops).

The endangered swift parrot (Lathamus discolour) has been recorded in the park during their migration from Tasmania between March and October. This species returns to foraging sites depending on food availability and available habitat in tree hollows. The critically endangered regent honeyeater (Anthochaera Phrygia) has been sighted in the park. Regent honeyeater range has contracted significantly in recent times and they face a significantly high risk of extinction in the near future The regent honeyeater is a flagship species whose conservation benefits a wide variety of other threatened and vulnerable woodland fauna. Foraging non breeding flocks are recorded on the Central Coast every few years and rely on healthy woodland which is species rich for their survival.

Other migratory bird species known to visit the park are the white-throated needletail (Hirundapus caudacutus), The Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia), and the white-bellied sea-eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster). These seasonal bird species are protected under several migratory bird agreements with China, Korea, and Japan.

Other than birds, the following EPBC endangered species are known to occur in the park: giant burrowing frog (Heleioporus australiacus), green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), which is now restricted in distribution on the Central Coast, spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), lLong-nosed potoroo (Potorous tridactylus), grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), large-eared pied bat (Chalinolobus dwyeri), and the New Holland mouse (Pseudomys novaehollandiae).

Rosenberg's goanna (Varanus rosenbergi), eastern pygmy possum (Cercartetus nanus), and the squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) are species listed as vulnerable which inhabit the park.

All of these species are listed as endangered and vulnerable on the EPBC threatened species list mainly due to habitat loss, fragmentation of suitable habitat, degradation of habitat such as removal of dead trees and logs, introduction of feral species, inappropriate fire regimes, and climate change. The spotted tail quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) is in serious decline due to habitat loss, competition from predators, and poisoning from humans. The quoll occupies a large home range meaning they require a lot of space for foraging, and is therefore mainly restricted to large reserves and national parks. The species require suitable den sites which can be tree and log hollows, rock outcrops, and caves. Habitat fragmentation and degradation are severe impacts for this species as smaller parcels of fragmented land do not provide the necessary habitat, rainfall, nesting sites, and prey, which the spotted tail quoll relies on for survival.

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) and the squirrel glider (Petaurus norfolcensis), are arboreal marsupials broadly distributed in Eastern Australian forests and woodlands. Arboreal marsupials rely on habitat which is influenced by the size and species of trees present, the soil nutrients, amount of rainfall, and climate. The squirrel glider and other glider species found in the park specifically rely on the shelter of tree hollows and on flowering Acacia and Banksia genus shrubs for food. Urban development, agriculture, and infrastructure is increasingly fragmenting the required habitat for these species and they are therefore more reliant on protected areas. Even species such as the Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua) that can tolerate some habitat fragmentation still rely on available tree hollows for nesting and the availability of prey. Forest dependent species such as the marsupial gliders and ground dwelling mammals are relied on for food by owl species, therefore reduction in the abundance of prey due to habitat fragmentation is an indirect impact on owls.

Environmental Threats
Brisbane Water National Park is vulnerable to various environmental threats. Introduced invasive feral animals are of particular concern, this includes foxes (Vulpes vulpes), wild dogs (Canis familiaris), and cats (Felis catus). Wild dogs and cats are of particular concern due to the proximity of the park to areas of highly urbanised land use. This makes the wild dog and cat issue particularly prevalent. Cats and wild dogs are significant predators because they interact with fauna in a number of ways, for instance predation, outcompeting natives for resources, and transmitting disease. This impacts the native fauna as wild dogs generally prey on large and medium species such as wallabies and possums, and cats prey on medium and small prey including reptiles and small mammals. These pests can cause local extinctions and are a real threat to species which are already vulnerable or endangered.

Invasive weeds are a threat to the natural processes within the park. The low fertility of the soil does not readily facilitate weed growth ), however once they become established they can quickly out compete native species and are a real threat to the vulnerable and endangered species and communities. Eroding soils from degradation and increased transport of sediment from nearby runoff can transport sediments and nutrients which encourages weed growth. An example of the significance of weed invasion is the previously mentioned Blue Gum High Forest and Somersby mintbush (Prostanthera junonis) which are susceptible to weed invasion. Pest species displace natives and alter the ecosystem functions which creates ongoing implications such as altered fire patterns and changed nutrient cycling. The proximity of urban dwellings to the national park allows weed seeds to be easily introduced on a regular basis, which means regular maintenance and monitoring is required to ensure invasive species are kept in control. The biggest threat from invasive weeds is the degradation of biological diversity and is therefore a major environmental threat within the park. Further environmental threats are present in that the park is boarded by intensive urban, industrial, and agricultural development. The larger streams which form part of the park have their headwaters and catchment areas outside the park boundary giving rise to major management issues. These management issues are largely due to altered natural processes such as sedimentation and nutrient alterations.

Park Management
The management of Brisbane Water National Park is by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS), under the Office of Environment & Heritage. Park management is vital in conserving biodiversity by offering physical protection to vulnerable and endangered wildlife. This refuge for Australian native plants, animals, and ecosystems allows research programs and conservation initiatives to be undertaken such as weeding and pest control programs to restore native habitats. Fire management strategies are developed in the balance of protecting life, Aboriginal sites, historical sites, and natural processes. The areas surrounding the national park on plateaus was easily settled, therefore the remaining area originally reserved for parkland was limited to remnant areas on the plateau and areas of the catchments in Mooney Mooney, Patonga, and Mullet Creeks, because these areas remained inaccessible for settlement, they are generally harder for access. The locations of settlements mean the national park is hemmed in on two sides by development. The threats to the park caused by intensive agricultural, urban, and industrial development on the boundaries and headwaters make the management of the park difficult, and are increasing over time with continual development proposals such as those on the Kariong and Somersby plateaus which are in various catchment areas of the park. The following are some of the other management issues in the park. Woy Woy refuse tip is an inholding within the park which is a particular management issue as it is within the Patonga Creek Catchment. Agricultural, industrial, and domestic runoff from surrounding developments have long term harmful impacts on aquatic plant communities. Weeds also spread down creek lines from runoff. Fire suppression and management trails need to be planned so potential impacts and erosion which leads to sedimentation of creeks is minimised. Dirt bikes and four wheel drive access to the park is not permitted. Physical damage to plants and soils occurs and erosion has further impacts. Their access is hard to manage as many possible entry points are available.

title: Brisbane Water National Park


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Broadwater National Park

Broadwater is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 577 km northeast of Sydney.

A wide range of various vegetation, coastal rainforests, swamps, open eucalyptus forests are a great refuge for many species of migratory birds.

Broadwater is a great place for a family trip, especially if you are a bird watcher.

title: Broadwater National Park


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Budawang National Park

Budawang National Park is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, located approximately 200 km southwest of Sydney and 25 km north of Batemans Bay. It contains part of the Budawang Mountain Range.

Budawang National Park is named after Mount Budawang. The mountain itself derives from the Aboriginal word 'Buddawong'. The vantage point afforded by the mountain was originally used to make signal fires.

The Budawang National Park is largely isolated. Its terrain is steep and rugged. The park comprises high-elevation moist forests.

Landscape
Most of the Budawang National Park lies within the southern Budawang Range. This range is characterized by rugged terrain, steep slopes and deeply incised valleys.

Wildlife
Budawang National Park's diverse landscape has created pockets of unique habitats where several plant and animal species survive.

Plants
The middle and high slopes of the hills in the park are covered in cool temperate rainforest. In the lower elevations, which are drained by small rivers and streams, the dominant vegetation is dry rainforest trees and ironwood.

Animals
The park supports good populations of swamp wallabies, greater gliders, and potoroos. Eastern grey kangaroos, common wombats, honeyeaters and white-throated tree creepers inhabit the open forest and woodland. Other notable bird species include green catbirds and lyrebirds.

title: Budawang National Park


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Budderoo National Park

The Budderoo National Park is a 7219 ha national park that is located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia; situated approximately 99 km south southwest of Sydney.

Location and features
The National Parks & Wildlife Servicemanaged park is best known for the timber boardwalk through the Minnamurra rainforest. The park features waterfalls, picnic and barbecue areas, and a visitors centre.

Budderoo is part of the 7334 ha Budderoo and Barren Grounds Important Bird Area which contains large numbers of endangered eastern bristlebirds, as well as smaller numbers of pilotbirds and rockwarblers, in a mosaic of sandstone heath and eucalypt woodland habitats.

Barren Grounds Nature Reserve is adjacent to the eastern border of the park; Yarrawa State Forest is not far from the park's western border.

title: Budderoo National Park


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Bundjalung National Park

The Bundjalung National Park is a 210 km2 national park located on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, 554 km north-east of Sydney. It protects an area of coastal plain, heathland and solitary beaches between the towns of Iluka and Evans Head.

The park features coffee rock formations that can be found on the beaches at its northern end.

Background
Along the Iluka peninsula coast at the southern end of the park are a number of closely spaced headlands that create small crescent shaped beaches of white sand. Each headland features rock platforms cut by waves and contain rock pools that are havens for intertidal marine life.

The park is named for the Bundjalung Aboriginal nation, the original occupiers of the land.

Facilities in the park include camping areas at Black Rocks (a nature-based camping area with minimal facilities, adjacent to Ten Mile Beach) and at Woody Head (which provides amenities including hot showers, cabins and a kiosk).

The park contains six picnic areas: Gummi Garra near Evans Head and Shark Bay, Old Ferry Crossing, Back Beach, Frazers Reef and Iluka Bluff on the Iluka Peninsula.

The north-eastern portion of the park contains an exclusion zone utilised by the RAAF as an active bombing range and public access is restricted. The bombing range has been in use since World War II as a training facility for target practice. Its existence predates the gazettal of the park and provides a mixed benefit in that it has preserved a large area that has been relatively untouched by human interference for many years.

title: Bundjalung National Park


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Bungawalbin National Park

Bungawalbin is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 563 km north of Sydney. Originally known as Bungawalbin Nature Reserve, it was granted National Park status in 1999. The Bungawalbin and Yarringully parks together form part of an adjacent wetland system containing important subtropical rainforests in floodplains.

title: Bungawalbin National Park


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Butterleaf National Park

Butterleaf is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 491 km north of Sydney.

In the park there is an old forest with huge trees with holes in it, which provide a home for many living creatures. Such as powerful owls, yellow-bellied, and greater gliders.

title: Butterleaf National Park


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Capoompeta National Park

Capoompeta is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 505 km north of Sydney. The park is mountainous with dry forests and rainforests, with fern basins and with important areas for wildlife. Apart from the picturesque roads leading to Glen Innes (68km), Deepwater (28km) and Tenterfield (42km) there are no facilities in the park.

title: Capoompeta National Park


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Carrai National Park

Carrai is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, 347 km north of Sydney. Not far from the north coast of New South Wales, located on a granite plateau, lies Carrai National Park. Surrounded and protected by vast areas of eucalyptus and subtropical rainforests, stands the Carrai plateau with steep slopes that dramatically descend to the Kunderang stream and the Macleay river.

title: Carrai National Park


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Cascade National Park

Cascade National Park is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, 431 km northeast of Sydney. Its establishment followed environmental campaigns, including the blockading of logging within sections that would form part of the park, such as Wild Cattle Creek.

The park covers 3,700ha of temperate and subtropical rainforest.

title: Cascade National Park


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Cathedral Rock National Park

Cathedral Rock is a national park 8 km west of Waterfall Way in New South Wales, Australia, 70 km east of Armidale and about 555 km north of Sydney.

This park is lying between the Guy Fawkes River and Macleay Range, and is about six kilometres west of Ebor, New South Wales.

The highest peak of the New England Tableland, Round Mountain, is located in the park.

This is a great place for hiking, camping, picnicking and bird watching. Black cockatoos, a rare turquoise parrot and a wedge-tailed eagle can be found circling the surrounding cliffs in search of prey.

title: Cathedral Rock National Park


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Cattai National Park

The Cattai National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Hawkesbury region of Sydney, New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 424 ha national park is situated approximately 55 km northwest of the Sydney central business district and approximately 13 km from. It includes Mitchell Park and Hope Farm.

Location and features
The national park is situated on the Hawkesbury River and consists of three areas, Cattai Park at the junction of Cattai Creek and the Hawkesbury River, Hope Farm which adjoins Cattai Park to the north, and Mitchell Park approximately 2.5 km upstream along Cattai Creek.

Part of the national park was an original First Fleet grant and the park contains important historic and archaeological resources, including a homestead built in the 1820s, ruins of a stone windmill which is thought to be the oldest industrial building in Australia, convict-built dry stone walls, and a range of other features which reflect changes in the place since the early nineteenth century. The national park also contains a number of Aboriginal sites which are of importance to our understanding of the Cattai area prior to European settlement.

The Cattai Homestead, which was constructed around 1820, and its curtilage is listed by the National Trust and the Australian Heritage Commission. The Hope Farm Mill on Hope Farm, which is also listed on the Register of the National Estate, was probably constructed around 1806 and is believed to be the oldest industrial site in Australia.

title: Cattai National Park


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Chaelundi National Park

Chaelundi National Park, a national park comprising 19174 ha, is located in the Northern Tablelands district of New South Wales, Australia.

Features
Chaelundi National Park is north-west of Dorrigo and Grafton, approximately 600 km by road north of Sydney.

Comprising 7500 ha of old-growth forest and 11000 ha of declared wilderness, the park creates a habitat for 187 (indigenous and non-indigenous) species according to the Atlas of NSW Wildlife.

The park was proclaimed in January 1997, on land formerly designated as a State-owned production forest.

Litigation
A series of cases were brought in the NSW Land and Environment Court between 1989 and 1991 by members of the North East Forest Alliance in order to protect the forest located near Dorrigo from continued logging. One key case concerned the interpretation of s.99 of the, which stated that it was an offence to "take or kill any endangered fauna". Such were the habitat values of the forest that in Corkill v Forestry Commission, Justice Paul Stein referred to the old growth forest as a "veritable forest dependent zoo". The ruling was that "take" included indirect taking by means of the habitat modification/destruction associated with logging:Corkill v Forestry Commission of New South Wales (1991) 73 LGRA 126. That decision went on appeal to the Court of Appeal, and the interpretation was upheld: Forestry Commission v Corkill (1991) 73 LGRA 247.

These legal cases were combined with an on-site blockade of logging work, the blockade being undertaken by experienced and inexperienced green activists and locals many of whom camped in the forest; using techniques such as chaining protesters inside concrete pipes and up 6 m tripods.

title: Chaelundi National Park


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Clyde River National Park

Clyde River is a national park in south-eastern New South Wales (Australia) between Batemans Bay and Nelligen. It includes 9 km of river frontage to the Clyde River, bounded on three sides by the Clyde River and on the northeast by the Kings Highway. It was created from a part of Benandarah State Forest; in 2000 10.91 km2 of the state forest was set aside as a national park. The park forms part of the Ulladulla to Merimbula Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for swift parrots.

This national park is a natural playground, where you can go fishing, kayaking, canoeing, swimming and at the same time enjoy the beautiful landscape.

Primarily, this is the land of the Walbunja people, the Clyde River has been an inexhaustible source of food for them for thousands of years.

title: Clyde River National Park


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Cocoparra National Park

The Cocoparra National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Riverina region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 8357 ha national park is situated 457 km southwest of Sydney and 25 km northeast of. The name of the park comes from the Aboriginal ''cocupara'’, or kookaburra.

Features
The park includes a prominent range of hills such as Bingar Mountain, 455 m above sea level and Brogden Mountain, 390 m above sea level, in an otherwise largely flat landscape. Adjoining the national park to the north is the Cocoparra Nature Reserve. The national park was gazetted in December 1969. The nature reserve was dedicated in 1963 with an area of 4647 ha. The Binya-Cocoparra area is classified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because of its relatively large population (of up to 50 individuals) of the near threatened painted honeyeater, as well as the diamond firetail.

The rugged, robust landscape of the park provides a large number of different habitats.

The climate is semi arid. The vegetation communities reflect this, with wattle, orchids, ironbark and blue-tinged cypress pines.

The geology comprises Upper Devonian sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates.

There are a number of day use (picnic) areas in the park and a campground at Woolshed Flat.

title: Cocoparra National Park


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Conimbla National Park

The Conimbla National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Central West region of New South Wales in eastern Australia. The 8471 ha national park is situated approximately 253 km west of Sydney, northwest of and northeast of.

Features
The park is important for the conservation of a sample of the plant and animal communities of the central west, an area which has largely been cleared and developed for agriculture. The Conimbla National Park also provides habitat for several species of threatened fauna and conserves populations of a number of plant species and communities which are now uncommon or rare because of clearing.

The park contains very attractive scenery, including a number of clifflines, a small gorge and several waterfalls. These ranges and peaks are important landscape features in the district. As it is one of the few naturally vegetated areas remaining in the district the park has the potential to be a valuable educational and recreational resource for locals and tourists.

One of the more visible features of the national park is Mount Yambira, which with its wooded chains rises 500 metres above the plain, forming a "bush island" in the middle of arable land in the west.

title: Conimbla National Park


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Conjola National Park

Conjola National Park covers 11,060 hectares and lies on the mid south coast of New South Wales, Australia, between Sussex Inlet and Lake Conjola, 165 km southwest of Sydney.

Flora
Conjola National Park is home to 18 distinct plant communities including 4 that are endangered due to urban development on the East coast of Australia. The national park is listed as being a biodiversity hotspot containing 429 species although this number is likely to rise due to further surveying of the area. Of these species 5 are threatened they include the endangered Wilsonia rotundifolia, vulnerable Wilsonia backhousia, Syzygium paniculatum, Cryptostylis hunteriana and Galium australe which was believed to be extinct in NSW. A further 8 significant species occur in the park, along with Grevillea macleayana and Pultenaea villifera which are on the national register of rare or threatened Australian plants. 'At least thirty-five terrestrial and epiphytic orchid species occur in the park.'

Fauna
Due to the great diversity of the plant world, many species of birds and wild animals can be found here. Eastern grey kangaroos and echidnas are common, but the favourite resident of park visitors is the noisy yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Zanda funerea).

Geology
The underlying geology of the park is mainly composed of the Permian Conjola formation, a series of sandstone and shale units. This is overlain by large areas of Wandrawandian Siltstone around Swan Lake. There is areas of sandstone that outcrop around Berringer Lake and West of the park. There is a sandstone shelf located approximately 30 cm under the surface of the water in Berringer lake that extenders approximately 1 metre under the surface before dropping to a depth of 8–15 metres.

Aboriginal heritage
Conjola National Park has been home to both the Budawang and Yunin people for approximately 6000 years. Aboriginal artefacts in the area include rock shelters, midden and campsite. In the middens mussels and oysters can be found. Axe grinding grooves can be found in sandstone outcrops.

title: Conjola National Park


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Coolah Tops National Park

Coolah Tops is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, 258 km northwest of Sydney, established on 5 July 1996. It is managed by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. Its World Conservation Union category is II. It is situated 30 km east of Coolah in the Liverpool Range, on the Coolah Creek Road.

The park features waterfalls that plunge from the plateau. Giant grass trees and open forest with stands of snow gums shelter gliders, wallabies, eagles and owls.

It is home to one of the largest populations of greater gliders in Australia.

Camping and walking are the main recreational activities performed here. Views from the tops are possible over the Liverpool Plains.

The sources of the Talbragar River and the Coolaburragundy River lie in the park.

The park is managed consistent with a statutory plan of management adopted in 2003.

title: Coolah Tops National Park


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Coorabakh National Park

Coorabakh is a national park located near Hannam Vale in New South Wales, Australia, 272 km northeast of Sydney.

Three volcanic outcrops known as Big Nellie (-31.70056°N, 152.52222°W), Flat Nellie (-31.71083°N, 152.51028°W) and Little Nellie (-31.69444°N, 152.50083°W) dominate the park.

The park is covered in tall eucalypt forest and shrubs on the exposed Lansdowne escarpment, while warm temperate and subtropical rainforest can be found in more protected areas. Endangered species such as the spotted-tailed quoll, powerful owl and stuttering frog can be found in the area.

Newbys Cave can be reached by following Newbys Creek from the carpark, while Newbys Lookout offers picnic facilities and panoramic views of the Manning River valley. Flat Rock Lookout (-31.68806°N, 152.50639°W) overlooks the upper Lansdowne Valley and Comboyne Plateau escarpment. Starrs Creek picnic area has a rainforest viewing platform.

The park borders the Lansdowne State Forest.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, this area belonged to the Ngaamba people.

title: Coorabakh National Park


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Cottan-Bimbang National Park

Cottan-Bimbang is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 443 km north of Sydney and 65 km south east of Walcha and was formerly a state forest. The Oxley Highway crosses the park south of Werrikimbe National Park. Myrtle Scrub Road is a 15 kilometre circuit in the west of the park that connects with the Oxley Highway.

Flora and fauna
This park is situated on the eastern escarpment with extensive tall old-growth eucalypt forest, rainforest, threatened frog species, yellow-bellied gliders (Petaurus australis) and koalas. 'Cottan-bimbang' is the local Aboriginal word for the walking stick palm (Linospadix monostachya), which grows in the park's temperate rainforests.

Blackberries (Rubus) are creating a serious weed problem in the park.

There is a barbecue area, picnic area and public toilets at Stockyard Creek on the Oxley Highway and a cleared area for picnics next to Cells River on Myrtle Scrub Road. There is a cleared area for camping at Maxwells Flat on the Causeway Road, and a long drop toilet.

title: Cottan-Bimbang National Park


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Crowdy Bay National Park

Crowdy Bay is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 271 km northeast of Sydney.

It is a great seaside retreat, close to Port Macquarie, offering hiking trails, coastal picnics, fishing, and great opportunities to observe wildlife.

The biodiversity in the park is very rich. Here you can see many types of plants and animals. These are White-bellied sea eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster), Brown striped frog (Limnodynastes peronii), Lace monitor (Varanus varius), Black sheoak (Allocasuarina littoralis), Grass tree (Xanthorrhoea spp.), and others.

title: Crowdy Bay National Park


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Culgoa National Park

The Culgoa National Park is a protected national park that is located in the north-west region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 35239 ha national park is located approximately 660 km northwest of Sydney. The nearest town is, 120 km away. The park's northern boundary is defined by part of the state border between New South Wales and Queensland.

The Culgoa River flows through the national park.

The spirit of the history and culture of the Aboriginal people, who mostly worked as colonial pastoralists, can be felt here. The whole area of the park is full of relics of the pastoral and grazing industry of that time.

Features
The national park, with its impressive river red gums and expansive floodplains, is the landscape that is thought to be representative of the Australian outback. The iconic coolabah tree, a native species, covers large sections of the park. In fact, no other national park in New South Wales has an area larger than the Culgoa's coolabah woodlands.

The park has numerous mammals, including the Common brushtail possum and Little pied bat (Chalinolobus picatus), a species of bat endemic to Australia.

The Culgoa National Park's birds present an irresistible lure for birdwatchers, who can glimpse many of the park's total of over 150 species. These include 10 species of honeyeaters and six of Australia's woodswallows.

title: Culgoa National Park


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Cunnawarra National Park

Cunnawarra is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, 80 km east of Armidale, 10 km off the Waterfall Way and 565 km north of Sydney. The 25 km Styx River Forest Way runs from the Point Lookout Road through Cunnawarra National Park to the Kempsey Road. The New England National Park adjoins the Cunnawarra National Park on the north-eastern boundary and the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park joins it on the southern corner.

The Park is part of the New England Group of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia inscribed in 1986 and added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2007.

Cunnawarra is home not only to the imposing eucalyptus trees (which are the tallest in NSW) but also to various endangered wildlife species. Here you can see glossy black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus lathami), rufous scrub-birds (Atrichornis rufescens), powerful owls (Ninox strenua) and spotted-tailed quolls (Dasyurus maculatus).

title: Cunnawarra National Park


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Deua National Park

Deua is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, 320 km south of Sydney, and 100 km east of Canberra. The nearest towns on the coast are Batemans Bay, Moruya and Narooma.

A remote wilderness area of escarpments and gullies, waterfalls, limestone caves, pockets of pinkwood rainforest and outstanding eucalyptus scenery. Deua is an important refuge for plant and animal species, many listed as threatened.

This park is traditionally associated with Aboriginal people.

Flora
Common eucalyptus species include black ash, monkey gum, messmate and white ash. More rare species include the Jilliga ash and Mongamulla mallee. High altitude rainforests occur in gullies protected from fire. They are dominated by the pinkwood, hard water fern and soft tree fern. Other habitats include swamps, bogs, riverside forest, and rocky scrub.

Fauna
Over 106 species of birds and 62 types of mammals have been recorded in Deua National Park. Particularly noteworthy is the high diversity of birds of prey, including the peregrine falcon and powerful owl. The caves provide maternity sites for a large variety of bats.

title: Deua National Park


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Dharug National Park

The Dharug National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 14850 ha national park is situated approximately 81 km north of the Sydney and 25 km west of.

The park contains the Great North Road, one of the eleven UNESCO World Heritagelisted Australian Convict Sites. These eleven sites present the story of the forced migration of convicts and the ideas and practices of punishment and reform of criminals during this time. The relatively intact Devine's Hill and Finch's Line sections of the Old Great North Road, approximately 16 km long and contained within the national park, were inscribed on the World Heritage register in July 2010.

Location and features
The park is bounded by the Yengo National Park, the Wisemans Ferry and Old Great North Roads, McPherson State Forest, private land along Mangrove Creek and the townships of and. The Popran National Park is located on the eastern bank of Mangrove Creek and the Marramarra National Park is located on the southern shore of the Hawkesbury River; making the Dharug National Park, when combined with adjoining parks, a virtually contiguous area of protected national park stretching from in the Hunter Region in the north to  in the Hills District in the south.

The Dharug National Park lies within the Sydney Basin, a major structural unit of Permian and Triassic age (270-180 million years ago) consisting almost entirely of horizontally bedded sedimentary rocks. The park lies on the northern margin of the Hornsby Plateau; a subdivision of the Sydney Basin.

Fauna
The park is full of birds and animals that you can meet during the tour. You will be greeted by satin bowerbirds, gang-gang cockatoos and green catbirds.

Etymology
The park derives its name from the indigenous Darug people, who are the traditional custodians of the area.

title: Dharug National Park