The Garigal National Park is a protected

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

that is located within the

North Shore North Shore or Northshore may refer to: Geographic features Australia *North Shore (Sydney), a suburban region of Sydney **Electoral district of North Shore **North Shore railway line, Sydney *Noosa North Shore, Queensland * North Shore, New So ...

and Forest District regions of Sydney,

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 ...

, in eastern Australia. The national park is situated approximately north of the Sydney central business district. Split into three distinct sections, divided by natural geography, urban development and road infrastructure, the park comprises the valley of Middle Harbour Creek and its tributaries, the slopes along the northern side of Middle Harbour as far as and part of the catchment of

Narrabeen Lakes Narrabeen is a beachside suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Narrabeen is 23 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council and i ...

. The park

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. ...

s are popular with bushwalkers and mountain bike riders, particularly between and in an area known as Cascades after the Cascades Track that runs through the area. There are over 35 trails in the park covering 120km, including both authorised bushwalking and mountain-biking trails, and unofficial or unsanctioned tracks.

Etymology and indigenous heritage

The word ''Garigal'' is a derivation of the word ''Carigal'' or ''Caregal'' used to describe the indigenous people who lived in Guringai country, translated in modern English as Ku-ring-gai. The Guringai people are the traditional custodians of the land now reserved as the Garigal National Park and there is considerable evidence of past Aboriginal activity in the area, with over 100 Aboriginal sites recorded to date, including shelters, cave art, rock engravings, middens, grinding grooves and a possible stone arrangement.

Location

Much of the park is bounded by residential development along the ridge tops and it is easily accessible at numerous points by road and water. Several other conservation reserves and areas of bushland are adjacent or close by the Garigal National Park, including the

Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a national park on the northern side of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The park is north of the Sydney central business district and generally comprises the land east of the M1 Pacific Motorway, s ...

, the

Sydney Harbour National Park The Sydney Harbour National Park is an Australian national park comprising parts of Port Jackson, Sydney and its foreshores and various islands. The national park lies in New South Wales and was created progressively, from 1975. The national ...

, the Manly Warringah War Memorial Park (commonly known as the Manly Dam Reserve) and a number of areas of Crown land and other reserves in

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the en ...

, Ku-ring-gai and Willoughby local government areas. The national park is defined by the following boundaries * In the northeastern sectorTo the south of both the

Mona Vale Road The A3 is a major metropolitan arterial route in Sydney, formerly designated Metroad 3. The A3 runs from its intersection with the A8 at Mona Vale at the north end, to the southerly of its two intersections with the A1, Princes Highway, at ...

and the Waste Management Centre; as far east as , and the Narrabeen Lakes. * In the southwestern sectorAlong Middle Harbour and Middle Harbour Creek and bounded to the west by , , , , Belrose; bounded to the east by , , ; as far north as Mona Vale Road where it abuts the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. * In the southeastern sectorSurrounding Bantry Bay between Killarney Heights and Forestville to the west; and Wakehurst Parkway and the Manly Dam Reserve to the east.

Features

Fauna

A ''Dry

Sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

Forest'', Garigal National Park is home to a wide range of fauna, including birds, snakes and a wide range of native mammals (such as

bandicoot Bandicoots are a group of more than 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial, largely nocturnal marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia. They are endemic to the Australia–New Guinea region, including the Bismarck Archipelag ...

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 ...

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 ...

). There is also a number of introduced pests, including rabbits and foxes.

Gallery

Blandfordia grandiflora Garigal11426428975 e73f7b0aa9 o.jpg, ''

Blandfordia grandiflora ''Blandfordia grandiflora'', commonly known as Christmas bells, is a flowering plant endemic to eastern Australia. It is a tufted perennial herb with narrow, channelled, linear leaves and between two and twenty large, drooping, bell-shaped fl ...

'' Ceratopetalum gummiferum Garigal.jpg, ''

Ceratopetalum gummiferum ''Ceratopetalum gummiferum'', the New South Wales Christmas bush, is a tall shrub or small tree popular in cultivation due to its sepals that turn bright red-pink at around Christmas time. The petals are actually small and white - it is the sep ...

'' Garigal Petrophile pulchella26183362174 3bd44f4f12 o.jpg, '' Petrophile pulchella'' AT DSC 2504 (16931962708).jpg, '' Acacia terminalis'' Gleichenia dicarpa Garigal 6516385400 6707dda935 o.jpg, '' Gleichenia dicarpa'' Lomatia myricoides IMG 5949.JPG (12148109653).jpg, ''

Lomatia myricoides ''Lomatia myricoides'' , commonly known as the river lomatia, is a shrub native to New South Wales and Victoria in southeastern Australia. Description ''Lomatia myricoides'' grows as a woody shrub or small tree, reaching high, or rarely up to ...

References

External links

* * * * * * Walking tracks, MTB trails and swimming holes in Garigal National Park * * {{authority control National parks of New South Wales Protected areas established in 1991 1991 establishments in Australia Urban forests Parks in Sydney St Ives, New South Wales