The Barrington Tops National Park is a

protected Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

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 ...

located in the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

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.

Gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

in 1969, the park is situated between

Scone A scone is a baked good, usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component ...

Singleton Singleton may refer to: Sciences, technology Mathematics * Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element * Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing * Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...

Dungog Dungog is a country town on the Williams River in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. Located in the middle of dairy and timber country, it is the centre of the Dungog Shire local government area and at the 2016 census it had a po ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

and East Gresford. The park is part of the Barrington Tops group

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Gondwana Rainforests of Australia The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, formerly known as the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, are the most extensive area of subtropical rainforest in the world. Collectively, the rainforests are a World Heritage Site with fifty separate res ...

inscribed in 1986 and added to the

Australian National Heritage List The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...

in 2007. It is also part of the

Barrington Tops Barrington Tops is part of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales, Australia, between Gloucester and Scone. In 1934, the area was difficult to access and was described as being "not traceable to any man-made feature". Part of the area has ...

and Gloucester Tops

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

Environment

Geology

is part of the

Mount Royal Range The Mount Royal Range is a mountain range in the Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Location and features The Mount Royal Range is a spur on the eastern side of the Great Dividing Range. It diverges from the Liverpool Range at a po ...

, a spur of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

. Barrington Tops is a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

between two of the large peaks in the range. The park is believed to be an extinct volcano and the mountain ranges are made up of a mixture of sedimentary rocks with a granite top. Erosion has weathered the granite and rounded granite boulders can be seen in some areas of the park. Estimates put the age of the rock at 300 to 400 million years, well before Australia separated from

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

Climate

The climate varies from temperate on the lower altitudes to subalpine at highest elevations. A record low of has been registered at

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. Rainfalls fluctuate between in the northwest to more than in the southeast.

Flora

The ecology of the national park varies from

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s in the gullies to

subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

and

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

regions on the mountain peaks. Snow usually falls on the mountain peaks every year and occasionally snows enough to close roads. Rainfall can exceed per annum. A large variety of plants and animals reside in the park and the steepness of the terrain ensures that they are not disturbed by humans. Plant life includes a large variety of

eucalypt Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia: ''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

trees including Snow Gums, subtropical and

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

trees like Antarctic beech,

tree ferns The tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tre ...

, a large variety of

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

es and

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except t ...

s and a wide range of edible plants such as the native raspberry, the native cherry and the lilli pilli.

Fauna

The remoteness and inaccessibility of a large part of the park has allowed some of the more sensitive animals to remain largely undisturbed. A large number of fauna have been catalogued in the park. Some of the more common animals include:

barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

and sooty owls, eastern grey kangaroos,

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

pademelon Pademelons are small, furry, hopping mammals in the genus ''Thylogale'', found in Australia and New Guinea. They are some of the smallest members of the macropod family (Macropodidae), which includes the similar-looking but larger kangaroos an ...

cockatoo A cockatoo is any of the 21 parrot species belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea (true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up the ord ...

rosella Rosellas are in a genus that consists of six species and nineteen subspecies. These colourful parrots from Australia are in the genus ''Platycercus''. ''Platycercus'' means "broad-tailed" or "flat-tailed", reflecting a feature common to the ...

kookaburra Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri ''guuguubarra'', onomatopoeic of its call. The ...

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

s and

echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae . The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the ...

s. It supports a globally important population of rufous scrub-birds, as well as

flame robin The flame robin (''Petroica phoenicea'') is a small passerine bird native to Australia. It is a moderately common resident of the coolest parts of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Like the other two red-breasted ''Petroica'' robins&m ...

pale-yellow robin The pale-yellow robin (''Tregellasia capito'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Petroicidae. It is endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is a nondescript bird with grey ...

paradise riflebird The paradise riflebird (''Ptiloris paradisea'') is a passerine bird of the family Paradisaeidae. It is one of four riflebird species in the genus ''Ptiloris''. It is found in subtropical, temperate rainforests in eastern Australia. The species is ...

green catbird The green catbird (''Ailuroedus crassirostris'') is a species of bowerbird found in subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. It is named after its distinctive call which soun ...

regent bowerbird The regent bowerbird (''Sericulus chrysocephalus'') is a medium-sized, up to 25 cm long, sexually dimorphic bowerbird. The male bird is black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. It has yellow Beak, bill, ...

s and

Australian logrunner The Australian logrunner (''Orthonyx temminckii'') is a species of bird that is endemic to eastern Australia where it uses unique foraging techniques and adaptations to search for its food on the floors of temperate, subtropical, or tropical moi ...

s. Animals such as

quoll Quolls (; genus ''Dasyurus'') are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They are primarily nocturnal and spend most of the day in a den. Of the six species of quoll, four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea. Anoth ...

s, native rodents and

platypus The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal Endemic (ecology), endemic to Eastern states of Australia, eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypu ...

are reclusive, but may be seen. Not all of the animals in the park are desirable; introduced species such as

feral horses A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated stock. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these ...

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

, feral dogs

feral pigs The feral pig is a domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorback and wild hog are Americanisms applied to feral pigs or boar-pig hybrids. Definition A feral p ...

feral goats The feral goat is the domestic goat (''Capra aegagrus hircus'') when it has become established in the wild. Feral goats occur in many parts of the world. Species Feral goats consist of many breeds of goats, all of which stem from the wild goat ...

foxes Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

, and feral cats are planned to be removed.

History

The traditional owners of the area are Aboriginal Australian peoples, including the

Gringai Gringai otherwise known as ''Guringay'', is the name for one of the Australian Aboriginal people who were recorded as inhabiting an area of the Hunter Valley in eastern New South Wales, north of Sydney. They were united by a common language, stron ...

people (southern valleys), the Wonnarua people (western country), and the

Worimi The Worimi (also spelt Warrimay) people are Aboriginal Australians from the eastern Port Stephens and Great Lakes regions of coastal New South Wales, Australia. Before contact with settlers, their people extended from Port Stephens in the sout ...

and

Birpai people The Birrbay people, also spelt Birpai, Biripi, Birippi and variant spellings, are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. They and share a dialect continuum with the Worimi people. Language The Gathang language (aka Gadjang or Wor ...

(the eastern side).

National Park and World Heritage Area

In 1969 the area between Mount Barrington,

Mount Royal Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the ...

and the

Gloucester Tops The Barrington Tops National Park is a state park, protected national park located in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. Government gazette, Gazetted in 1969, the park is situated between Scone, New South Wales, Scone, Singleton, N ...

was declared the Barrington Tops National Park. In 1986 it was listed as a

World Heritage Area A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

and subsequently a

Wilderness Area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

. Some of the rivers flowing through the Barrington range have been classed as

wild river A wild river (United States, Australia, & New Zealand) or heritage river (Canada) is a :river or a river system designated by a government to be protected and kept "relatively untouched by development and are therefore in near natural conditio ...

s meaning they are exceptionally pure and unpolluted. The highest peak is Brumlow Top which rises to a height of .

Aircraft crashes

A number of aircraft have crashed in and around the Barrington Tops, Aeroplane Hill being named after one of the crashes. The altitude, frequent fog & cloud, storms and cold weather (causing icing) make this area potentially hazardous to aircraft. One article refers to the "Devil's Triangle". *16 April 1945 –

De Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...

A52-70. Wreckage found January 1946 in the national park. **The propeller, ailerons and machine gun were on display at the Barrington Tops Guest House. *2 September 1948 – Australian National Airlines

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

VH-ANK. 13 killed. *25 September 1967 –

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Mirage III-O A3-52. Pilot ejected safely. The ejection seat was later recovered and is on display at

Fighter World Fighter World is an Australian not-for-profit aviation heritage centre at RAAF Base Williamtown, north of Newcastle, New South Wales. It is part of RAAF Aviation and Heritage and is operated with the purpose of preserving the history of fighter ...

aviation heritage centre. *14 September 1969 –

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...

VH-SML crashed in the foothills. 3 killed. *9 August 1981 –

Cessna 210 The Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engined, high-wing general aviation, general-aviation aircraft. First flown in January 1957, it was produced by Cessna until 1986. Design and development ...

VH-MDX. 5 killed, multiple searches have not found wreckage or bodies. *3 August 1987 –

Aermacchi MB-326 The Aermacchi or Macchi MB-326 is a light military jet trainer designed in Italy. Originally conceived as a two-seat trainer, there have also been single and two-seat light attack versions produced. It is one of the most commercially successf ...

H A7-079 (built as CA30-79). Crew ejected. Wreckage located by bushwalkers 28 April 1995. **Photo of crew being rescued from a tree.

Barrington Guest House

The Barrington Guest House was built from 1925 on the upper Williams River near Barrington Tops by Norman T. McLeod, licensee of the Royal Hotel in Dungog, using timber cut and milled from the property. It stood on land consisting of of forest surrounded by National and State Parks and was officially opened in 1930 by Leader of the Country Party

Earle Page Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page (8 August 188020 December 1961) was an Australian surgeon and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, holding office for 19 days after the death of Joseph Lyons in 1939. He was the leade ...

. During the opening there was some 200 guests that attended. The guest house was a popular venue for people to stay in the park, until it burned down in a fire at 11pm on 24 September 2006 due to an electrical fault. The fire was not regarded as suspicious. It was undergoing modernisation under new ownership at the time of the fire. There are plans to rebuild, but no significant process has been made, and only part of the old chimney remains on the site. The guest house has undergone many different owners in its history; Mattara Investments that traded as Barrington Guest House and bought the premises in 1976. Due to business troubles however, it was then placed into voluntary administration in 2000, after which the business was than taken over by David and Susan Eissa in February 2002. Only one more owner has been known since (according to the now defunct website); Purchased in January 2004 by Natalie Day and Tony Horley.

Access

Barrington Tops is a popular weekend destination from Sydney and Newcastle. Numerous walking trails and camping grounds are scattered throughout the park. The park also contains well marked and well-maintained gravel roads as well as specific 4WD tracks into less travelled areas. General sightseeing can be accomplished in a non-offroad vehicle. As well as camping facilities, the nearby towns of

and

have many places to stay. The park is maintained by the

NSW National Parks & 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 ...

and rangers patrol the park daily.

References

External links

*
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service

Barrington Tops Tourism Website

Barrington Guest House
{{Authority control National parks of the Hunter Region Volcanoes of New South Wales Dungog Shire Protected areas established in 1969 Gondwana Rainforests of Australia Forests of New South Wales 1969 establishments in Australia Important Bird Areas of New South Wales Plateaus of Australia

Hunter River (New South Wales) Sclerophyll forests