Drysdale River National Park is a national park in the Kimberley region of

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 ...

, northeast of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. The park lies about south of Kalumburu and west of Wyndham. The park is the largest and least accessible in the Kimberley, with no public road leading to it and no

airstrip An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

within its boundaries. Access to the park is gained via the track from Carson River Station from the Kalumburu Road. Permission must be obtained from the Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation prior to entering the park. There are no visitor facilities or marked walk trails in the park. Rangers do not patrol the park and no food, fuel or mechanical services exist within the park or at Carson River Station. The park is a good example of untouched Kimberley, wilderness featuring open woodland, gorges, cliffs, and the pools,

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s and creeks of the

Drysdale River Drysdale River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river rises in the Caroline Ranges, flows in a northerly direction and discharges into Napier Broome Bay near Kalumburu. The river contains several permanent pools, ...

. The park is home to two large waterfalls, Morgan Falls and Solea Falls, with numerous smaller falls along the course of the river. The area provides habitat for many rare plants and animals. Almost 600 species of plants are known to exist within the park. About 30 of these plants are aquatic and swamp varieties that inhabit the permanent pools found along the Drysdale and

Carson Carson may refer to: People *Carson (surname), people with the surname *Carson (given name), people with the given name Places ;In the United States * Carson, California, a city * Carson Township, Fayette County, Illinois *Carson, Iowa, a city * ...

Rivers. About 25 species of

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 ...

also inhabit the area, two of which are not found elsewhere. Species such as fan palms, kalumbaru gums and paperbarks are also found along the watercourses. A variety of fauna also exist within the park, including over 100 species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

sugar glider The sugar glider (''Petaurus breviceps'') is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability ...

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 bi ...

wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

, and

salt water crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been listed ...

s. The

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the area that the river flows through are the

Ngarinjin The Ngarinyin or Ngarinjin are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Their language, Ngarinyin, is also known as Ungarinyin. When referring to their traditional lands, they refer to themselves as Wilinggin ...

, Miwa and

Wilawila The Wilawila are an indigenous Australian tribe of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Name Norman Tindale gave "wilawila" as the proper tribal ethnonym, but noted that, according to reports by the missionary Theodore Hernández, the sa ...

peoples. The first European to visit the area was a surveyor with a squatting company, CA Burrowes, who did so in 1886. Both Brockman and Crossland visited the area in separate expeditions in 1901. The first vehicular track was constructed through the region during an expedition and survey in 1954; it ran from Gibb River Station to Kalumburu. The park was gazetted in September 1974, using the boundaries recommended by the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

committee on National Parks in 1955.

References

{{authority control National parks of Western Australia Kimberley (Western Australia) Protected areas established in 1974 1974 establishments in Australia Kimberley tropical savanna

See also

References