Goulburn River National Park
Goulburn River National Park | ||
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Goulburn River in the national park of the same name | ||
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Location: | New South Wales , Australia | |
Specialty: | River valley, rock art | |
Next city: | Merriwa | |
Surface: | 72.296 km² | |
Founding: | February 11, 1983 |
The Goulburn River National Park is a national park in the center of the Australian state of New South Wales , 280 kilometers northwest of Sydney and 20 kilometers southwest of Merriwa. The national park belongs to the Hunter River region and covers about 90 km² on its tributary Goulburn River on the northeast slopes of the Great Dividing Range . The Wollemi National Park extends southeast of the Goulburn River National Park . Nearby are the towns of Sandy Hollow , Denman , Merriwa and Mudgee .
fauna
The park is home to kangaroos , wombats , emus , platypus and a large number of bird species.
history
The land of today's park was formerly inhabited by the Aboriginal tribes of the Wiradjuri , the Kamilaroi and the Wonnarua . The valley of the Goulburn River served the natives as a link between the coast and the plains in what is now New South Wales. Even today you can find many places of earlier work of the Aborigines in the park, mainly sandstone shelters on the river, which were decorated with drawings. The animals and plants living there played an essential role in this.
In the 1830s, white settlers set up small sheep stations and a small amount of forest was cut and dug for natural resources. Due to the low population density, however, the interventions in nature were limited.
In the early 1980s, the proposal came up to damm the Goulburn River with the Kerrabee dam to supply the Hunter region with water. Almost the entire area of today's park would have disappeared in a reservoir. In 1983, however, it was recognized that the area was far too valuable as a natural and cultural space, and the national park was established.