Boodjamulla National Park

Boodjamulla National Park
Lawn Hill Gorge in the park
Coordinates: 18 ° 42 ′ 5 ″  S , 138 ° 29 ′ 15 ″  E
Location:	Queensland , Australia
Specialty:	Dinosaur fossils
Next city:	Mount Isa
Surface:	2820 km²
Founding:	1984
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The Boodjamulla National Park , formerly Lawn Hill National Park has been called, is a national park in the northwest of the state of Queensland in Australia . This park with an area of ​​122 square kilometers is located 340 kilometers northwest of Mount Isa .

park

In this park there are numerous valuable minerals and petrified fossils in limestone from the Oligocene and Miocene . The sand and limestone elevations in the park were created millions of years ago. Rivers and ponds, as well as water holes, are of great importance for the development of the park's interesting and unique flora and fauna. Lawn Hill Creek, Gregory Rivers, and O'Shannassy Rivers have water year round, and the Lawn Hill River is fed by the springs of the limestone massif to the west of the park. Through the water there are palm trees and tropical plants in the park. Lawn Hill Creek, which is buried 60 meters deep in a sandstone gorge, is the habitat of numerous mammals and more than 130 species of birds.

The park was home to Lawn Hill Station, Queensland's largest cattle loading station, which was built in 1870, until December 1984. Both Riversleigh and Musselbrook are part of the park, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List because of its numerous fossils millions of years old and its unique flora and fauna .

Huge dinosaur footprints and more than 250 fossilized animal species were found in the south of the park in 1976, when Australia was still part of the ancient continent Gondwana . In Mount Isa, numerous finds are on display at the Riversleigh Fossil Center .

Lawn Hill Creek is navigable by canoes, which can be hired from Adel's Grove and Lawn Hill Gorge. At Adel's Grave there is a campsite and six hiking trails open up the national park.

Flora and fauna

In the park there are freshwater crocodiles , catfish and numerous birds such as the gray bower , sun asterisk , zebra finch , red-headed pigeon (Spinifex pigeon), brolga crane , budgie and the macaw . There are also numerous marsupials in the park, such as rock ring-tailed fish , mountain kangaroo and wallaby . Dingoes , olive pythons and echins also live there . Sweet grasses such as Spinifex and Astrebla , hardwood trees such as acacia , eucalyptus and also evergreen plants such as Grevillea grow .

Aboriginal

In the park lives Aboriginal tribe of Waanyi , since about 17,000 years ago and name the place after Boodjamulla, as the country's Rainbow Serpent . Lawn Hill George evangelized the Waanyi tribe. Rock art paintings and other works of art bear witness to the culture of the Waanyi, who now live and work as park employees.

Web links

• Official website of the national park
• Video of the park
• Fossil finds in Riversleigh

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Australian Government - CAPAD 2010 ( MS Excel ; 170 kB), DSEWPaC , accessed on January 7, 2013 (English)
2. ↑ Australian Government - CAPAD 1997 ( MS Excel ; 93 kB), DSEWPaC , accessed on January 7, 2013 (English)