The Benambra National Park is a protected

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 ...

that is located north-east of Albury, south-east of Culcairn, and south-west of Holbrook, New South Wales, in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. The park is almost entirely surrounded by private land, however access can be gained by contacting the National Parks & Wildlife Service.

History

Benambra National Park was initially declared a forest reserve in 1879, and in May 1918 it was reclassified as state forest. The national park was gazetted in 2001, to protect remnant areas of White Box and Red Box woodlands, which have been extensively cleared across New South Wales. The park has a history of use for grazing and small scale timber harvesting for firewood and fencing. In 1985 the entire park was burnt, after a lightning strike started a fire north-west of the reserve, which then burnt through park and stopped on a property adjacent to the eastern boundary of the park.

Features

Benambra National Park is situated at the northern end of the Great Yambla Range, a prominent long outcrop of cliff faces and flat-topped peaks, which forms part of the Lachlan Fold Belt. The park has an altitudinal range between and

above 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 ...

, covering steeply sloping hills, with only the north-eastern section of the national park being on relatively flat, low-lying country. A large cave known as 'Morgan's Cave' exists within the park, which was reputedly used in the 1860s as a refuge by the notorious

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 ...

Dan Morgan.

Access

The park is almost entirely surrounded by private land. There is no public vehicle access to the park, however access to the park for activities such as bushwalking and birdwatching, can be gained by contacting the National Parks & Wildlife Service office in Tumut. Flowering Senecio garlandii

Flora

The park comprises several vegetation communities. Red Box- White Box-Dry Shrub Open Forest makes up 69 percent of the park, Red Box- Long-leaved Box Grassy Forest makes up 8 percent, Red Box Swampy Flat Woodland makes up 7 percent, Dwyer's Red Gum-

Black Cypress Pine ''Callitris endlicheri'', commonly known as the black cypress pine, is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is found only in Australia, occurring in Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, and Victoria. ...

Grass Woodland makes up 5 percent, and 2 percent is Currawang Wattle- Drooping She-oak Shrubland. Woolly ragwort, listed as ''Vulnerable'' in NSW under the '' Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016'', occurs within Benambra National Park. Invasive plants found in the park include St. John's wort, Paterson's curse and Tree of Heaven.

Fauna

Threatened birds recorded in the park include

Black-chinned honeyeater The black-chinned honeyeater (''Melithreptus gularis'') is a species of passerine bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropi ...

, Regent honeyeater, Grey-crowned babbler, Hooded robin, Diamond firetail, Painted honeyeater, Swift parrot, Turquoise parrot, Brown treecreeper, and Speckled warbler. Threatened mammals recorded in the park include Southeastern long-eared bat, Squirrel glider, Eastern pygmy possum and Yellow-footed antechinus. Reptiles found in the park include the

Yellow-faced whipsnake The yellow-faced whip snake (''Demansia psammophis'') is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae, a family containing many dangerous snakes. ''D. psammophis'' is endemic to Australia, found throughout the continent in a variety of ...

. Several introduced pest species occur, including the

European fox European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...

, feral goat, feral cat and European rabbit.

References