Bald Rock National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

in northern

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, just north of

Tenterfield Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia. At the , Tenterfield had a population of 4,066. Tenterfield's proximity to many regional centres and its position on the route between Sydney and Brisbane led to its development as a ...

on the

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

border. The border passes over the rock on the Western side. On the other side of the border national park continues as the

Girraween National Park Girraween National Park is an area of the Granite Belt in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia reserved as a national park. Girraween is known for its spectacular flowers, dramatic landscapes and unique wildlife. Bushwalking and rock ...

. The park is named after its most prominent feature, Bald Rock, which is a large

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

outcrop rising about 200 metres above the surrounding landscape. Measuring about 750 metres long and 500 metres wide this is the largest granite monolith in Australia.Reader's Digest Guide to Australian Places, Reader's Digest, Sydney Access to the rock is provided by a sealed road into the park and walking tracks to the summit. Two tracks are marked, a steep one up the exposed face, or an easier gradient through bushland around the back. The Bungoona Walking Track, built in 1980, goes more gently up the eastern side of Bald Rock and winds through forest. It passes through some granite boulder formations, including an arch, covered in mosses, ferns and orchids. The summit offers panoramic views of the surrounding bushland, but vegetation on top prevents a full 360° view. The views are so expansive, mountains as far north as the Queensland/New South Wales border can be seen, such as

Mount Barney Mount Barney is a mountain within the Scenic Rim Region in south-east Queensland, Australia. It lies approximately south-west of Brisbane, not far from the Queensland - New South Wales border, and forms part of the McPherson Range. It is a p ...

, Mount Lindesay and Flinders Peak, and as far south as Mount MacKenzie, south of

. The park is in the New England granite belt, where about 220 million years ago an episode of granite

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...

tism resulted in the intrusion of the Stanthorpe Adamellite into the surrounding

metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...

and

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

. Subsequent uplift and erosion of the New England

Fold Belt Fold, folding or foldable may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Fold'' (album), the debut release by Australian rock band Epicure *Fold (poker), in the game of poker, to discard one's hand and forfeit interest in the current pot *Above ...

has seen the majority of the surrounding sediments and metamorphic rocks eroded away, with the Stanthorpe Adamellite remaining due to its resistance to weathering. This

regolith Regolith () is a blanket of unconsolidated, loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock. It includes dust, broken rocks, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestria ...

has created a landscape with many exposed

inselberg An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...

s of granite rocks, some balancing on top of each other, or forming natural arches. Just off the main road from Tenterfield to the park is Thunderbolt's Hideout, a set of caves and overhanging granite rocks. It was thought to have been used by

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

Captain Thunderbolt Frederick Wordsworth Ward (1835 – 25 May 1870), better known by the self-styled pseudonym of Captain Thunderbolt, was an Australian bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island, and also for his reputation as the "gentleman bushra ...

. A little further along the same road are some historic World War II tank traps.

References

Bald Rock National Park
at the

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) is a directorate of the New South Wales Department of Planning and Environment responsible for managing most of the protected areas in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Despite its name the ...

Captain Thunderbolts Hideout
at NSW Schools Country Area Program {{authority control National parks of New South Wales Protected areas established in 1971 1971 establishments in Australia

See also

References