![Cleland-conservation-park](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Cleland-conservation-park.svg)
Cleland National Park, formerly Cleland Conservation Park, is a
protected area located in the
Adelaide Hills,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
about south-east of the
Adelaide city centre
Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ad ...
. It conserves a significant area of natural bushland on the
Adelaide Hills face, including
Mount Lofty Summit and
Waterfall Gully.
Formerly a
conservation park, Cleland was combined with the bordering
Eurilla Conservation Park in November 2021 when it was upgraded to the status of
national park. The area includes Cleland Wildlife Park, a major tourist attraction, with the draft plan suggesting that the Wildlife Park will be a part of the new Cleland National Park, but this is open to public consultation until late January 2022.
The park is classified as an
IUCN Category II protected area.
History
Cleland Conservation Park was established on 1 January 1945
and classified as Category II
protected area in IUCN protected area management categories.
The primary objective for Category II is "to protect natural biodiversity along with its underlying ecological structure and supporting environmental processes, and to promote education and recreation".
The conservation park was named for Sir
John Burton Cleland
Sir John Burton Cleland CBE (22 June 1878 – 11 August 1971) was a renowned Australian naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist and ornithologist. He was Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide and was consulted on high-level p ...
(1878-1971), a renowned naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist and ornithologist, and member of the
Royal Society of South Australia
The Royal Society of South Australia (RSSA) is a learned society whose interest is in science, particularly, but not only, of South Australia. The major aim of the society is the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, particularly in rel ...
. After a career in medicine and pathology, Cleland became keenly interested in wildlife conservation.
In November 2017 a concept plan was announced by the
Weatherill government Weatherall or Weatherill is a surname, and may refer to:
Weatherall
* Andrew Weatherall (1963–2020), English musician, DJ, songwriter, producer and remixer
* Ann Weatherall (born 1964), New Zealand psychologist
* David Weatherall (1933–2018), B ...
to revamp the park, including a hotel and a cable car connection, but the plan was described by critics as "pre-election glitter". The Weatherill government was not returned at the subsequent
election in March 2018.
On 26 November 2021 Cleland Conservation Park was combined with
Eurilla Conservation Park, which was adjacent to it, and proclaimed a
national park.
[ ]
Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU)
licence. The area includes the Cleland Wildlife Park precinct, with the draft plan suggesting that the Wildlife Park will be a part of the new Cleland National Park. The executive director of the
National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia
The National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia (NPWSSA), formerly a government agency known as National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and later a service under variously named government departments and branded National Parks and W ...
said that the decision was made of the collective conservation significance of both of the former conservation parks, with their ecologically significant flora and fauna. The draft management plan was developed in collaboration with technical specialists, Aboriginal representatives, park managers and other stakeholders, and is open to the public consultation for three months (25 October 2021 – 25 January 2022). The Wildlife Park requires different management from the rest of the park due to the number of visitors, needing to be managed as a commercial zone. The draft plan also includes possible tourist accommodation areas, on land currently within the Wildlife Park, but away from the animal enclosures.
Location and description
The park is located in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia about south-east of the Adelaide city centre.
The conservation park occupies land in the gazetted suburbs of
Cleland Cleland may refer to:
Places
* Cleland, South Australia, a suburb
** Cleland National Park, a protected area in South Australia
***Cleland Wildlife Park, a zoo within the area of Cleland National Park
* Cleland, North Lanarkshire, a small village ...
,
Crafers
The town of Crafers is in the Adelaide Hills to the south-east of Adelaide, South Australia, considered to be an outer suburb of Adelaide.
History
Crafers was named after David Crafer, who arrived in Adelaide in 1838 and moved to the area. ...
and
Waterfall Gully.
By far the largest part of the park consists of bushland, mostly woodland with some open spaces where clearing has taken place.
There are a number of
walking trail
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. T ...
s, including the Waterfall Gully – Mount Lofty summit trail, a popular and fairly challenging ascent of the west side of Mount Lofty,
and parts of the long distance
Heysen and
Yurrebilla Trails, which run north–south along the higher ground in the east of the park.
From December 2012, many trails in the park became shared-use, allowing mountain bikers to also make use of the trails.
Legislation and management
All the reserves and parks in South Australia are proclaimed under the ''
National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972
Protected areas of South Australia consists of protected areas located within South Australia and its immediate onshore waters and which are managed by South Australian Government agencies. As of March 2018, South Australia contains 359 sepa ...
'' (NPW Act) and the ''Wilderness Protection Act 1992'' (the WP Act). Conservation of reserves are committed to the Minister under the ''Crown Land Management Act 2009''. The NPW Act provides for the establishment and administration of reserves for conservation of wildlife in a natural environment, public benefit and pleasure and for other purposes.
The Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board, which replaced the Natural Resources Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges (AMLR) in November 2020, is responsible for managing the natural assets of
Adelaide Hills and
Fleurieu Peninsula
The Fleurieu Peninsula () is a peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia located south of the state capital of Adelaide.
History
Before British colonisation of South Australia, the western side of the peninsula was occupied by the ...
regions.
Cleland was formerly maintained by the South Australian
Department for Environment & Water, and before that its predecessor, the Department for Water & Natural Resources.
[ This url now redicts to the National Parks web page for the new national park.]
Cleland Wildlife Park
Cleland Wildlife Park is managed separately from the national park,
[ as a major tourist destination since 1967] and attracting around 100,000 tourists every year.[ It is a member of the South Australian Tourism Hall of Fame, having won the "Significant Tourism Attraction" category in 2007, 2008 and 2009 at the South Australian Tourism Awards,][ and in 2021 won the Silver Award for South Australia's best tourist attraction.]
The park allows visitors to get close to the native animals in their natural environment,[ and offers a number of experiences such as being photographed while holding a ]koala
The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the w ...
, interacting with reptiles every day of the week, observing and listening to the keepers at feeding times, meeting an short-beaked echidna
The short-beaked echidna (''Tachyglossus aculeatus''), also called the short-nosed echidna, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus ''Tachyglossus''. It is covered in fur and spines and has a distinctive snout ...
, various guided day and night walks and children's experiences. Wandering around the enclosures, some of the animals are able to be patted, such as the kangaroo
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...
s (red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
and western grey) and swamp wallabies
The swamp wallaby (''Wallabia bicolor'') is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. This wallaby is also commonly known as the black wallaby, with other names including black-tailed wallaby, fern wallaby, black pademelon, stinker (in Q ...
. Other animals at the park include Tasmanian devils, southern hairy-nosed wombats, western pygmy possum
The western pygmy possum (''Cercartetus concinnus''), also known as the southwestern pygmy possum or the ''mundarda'', is a small marsupial found in Australia. Genetic studies indicate its closest relative is probably the eastern pygmy possum, f ...
s, bilbies, yellow-footed rock wallabies, dingoes and many native birds, and reptiles including snakes and goannas.
It is accessible by sealed road from both the South Eastern Freeway
South Eastern Freeway is a freeway in South Australia (SA). It is a part of the National Highway network linking the state capital cities of Adelaide, SA, and Melbourne, Victoria, and signed as National Highway M1. It carries traffic over t ...
and Greenhill Road
Greenhill Road is a major road in Adelaide, South Australia, that provides a connection to the eastern and hills suburbs. Its western section, running along the south side of Adelaide Parklands, forms part of Adelaide's City Ring Route.
Route
...
, and on foot on a formed but steep track from Waterfall Gully or Mount Lofty
Mount Lofty (, elevation AHD) is the highest point in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges. It is located about east of the Adelaide city centre, within the Cleland National Park in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia.
The mountain's s ...
. A limited public bus service operates.
Other locations
Mount Lofty summit
Mount Lofty
Mount Lofty (, elevation AHD) is the highest point in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges. It is located about east of the Adelaide city centre, within the Cleland National Park in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia.
The mountain's s ...
summit is above sea level. It provides sweeping vistas across the Adelaide Plains and Gulf St Vincent
Gulf St Vincent, sometimes referred to as St Vincent Gulf, St Vincent's Gulf or Gulf of St Vincent, is the eastern of two large inlets of water on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, the other being the larger S ...
. Flinders Column, a white painted obelisk
An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...
shaped like a lighthouse, is a landmark which can be seen from far away on a clear day. Car parking facilities are provided: charges are payable. Public bus route 823 serves the summit with three journeys a day (including weekends and most holidays). Other facilities include an information centre/ souvenir shop, a cafe/restaurant (closed Mondays) and public toilets.
Waterfall Gully
Waterfall Gully, another popular part of the park, is located on its western edge. It can be accessed via the sealed Waterfall Gully Road. The main attraction is a waterfall, the largest of several in the park. The base is a short walk from the car park and the top can be reached by a formed but steep footpath, which continues to Cleland Wildlife Park and Mount Lofty summit.
See also
*List of protected areas in Adelaide
List of protected areas in Adelaide refers to protected areas proclaimed by South Australian government which are located within the Adelaide metropolitan area.
Northern Adelaide
The following protected areas are located within the South ...
* Cleland (disambiguation)
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
Protected Planet
{{Zoos of South Australia
Protected areas in Adelaide
Wildlife sanctuaries of Australia
1945 establishments in Australia
Protected areas established in 1945
Wildlife parks in Australia
2021 establishments in Australia
Protected areas established in 2021
National parks of South Australia