Boorabbin National Park is a national park in Western Australia, between Coolgardie and

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...

. It is located along the

Great Eastern Highway Great Eastern Highway is a road that links the Western Australian capital of Perth with the city of Kalgoorlie. A key route for road vehicles accessing the eastern Wheatbelt and the Goldfields, it is the western portion of the main road link ...

for a distance of approximately 25 km with a width of 5 km on each side in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

's eastern goldfields. The park gets its name from the Aboriginal named rock on the edge of the park and also the Boorabbin settlement, established in 1898. The Boorabbin National Park is situated on top of 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 ...

. The landscape is primarily sand and the vegetation there is quite distinctive growing in deep sands deposited over 50 million years ago. Today the erosion of this significant landscape is lessening, but as a result of past degradation, the sands are left very weathered, leached and lacking in nutrients. Despite this, the vegetation is diverse with countless species thriving in this environment. Vegetation ranges from the rich kwongan heaths, woodlands and mallee shrublands. The area is recognised for its unique variety of vegetation, with its own designated plateau vegetation system. Other attributes that the park is known for are the wildflowers,

samphire Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies. *Rock samphire, ''Crithmum maritimum'' is a coastal species with white flowers that grows in Ireland, the Unit ...

and salt lakes. Other vegetation that can be found include species of

banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range i ...

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

hakea ''Hakea'' ( ) is a genus of about 150 species of plants in the Family ''Proteaceae'', endemic to Australia. They are shrubs or small trees with leaves that are sometimes flat, otherwise circular in cross section in which case they are sometimes d ...

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They range in size ...

and grasstree. Two restricted species found in the heathland are '' Philotheca pachyphylla'' and ''

Philotheca coccinea ''Philotheca coccinea'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a shrub with club-shaped leaves that are warty on the lower surface, and red to pink flowers arranged singly in leaf axi ...

''. Fauna surveys in the park indicate that 17 native mammal species, including the wongai ningaui,

dunnart Dunnart is a common name for species of the genus ''Sminthopsis'', narrow-footed marsupials the size of a European mouse. They have a largely insectivorous diet. Taxonomy The genus name ''Sminthopsis'' was published by Oldfield Thomas in 18 ...

s and

bush rat The bush rat or Australian bush rat (''Rattus fuscipes'') is a small Australian Nocturnality, nocturnal animal. It is an omnivore and one of the most common indigenous species of rat on the continent, found in many heathland areas of Victoria ...

s, are found within the park boundaries. Other animals including 4 frog species, 52 species of reptile and 51 bird species are also resident in the park. The park is also home to a rich array of dragon lizards. A

bushfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

in the park killed three men after a roadblock was lifted on

in Coolgardie in December 2007 after a long queue of vehicles were waiting for the highway to open after being closed for most of the day. The three truck drivers tried to turn around and flee the fire but could not escape and died from smoke burns. The bushfire continued to burn for two weeks before being extinguished by fire fighters, and authorities then had the highway reopened. An inquiry into the fire was commenced in 2008; the

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

found that extreme incompetence by the Department of Environment and Conservation had contributed toward the deaths. The fire burnt out an area of more than of the National Park and unallocated

crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

. The fire jumped containment lines onto the southern side of Great Eastern Highway. A memorial garden and shelter was opened near the old town site in 2010 for those who died in the 2007 bushfire.

References

{{authority control National parks of Western Australia Protected areas established in 1977 Goldfields-Esperance Great Western Woodlands

See also

References