Karijini National Park is an Australian national park centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Capricorn, from the state's capital city, Perth. Formerly known as Hamersley Range National Park, the park was officially renamed in 1991. At , Karijini is the second largest national park in Western Australia (behind

Karlamilyi National Park Karlamilyi National Park lies in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, northeast of Newman and north-northeast of Perth. Proclaimed an A Class Reserve on 13 April 1977, it is the largest national park in Western Australia. The park was in ...

). The park is physically split into a northern and a southern half by a corridor containing the Hamersley & Robe River railway and the Marandoo iron ore mine. The park is served by the Solomon Airport, located to the west.

History

The park is the traditional home of the Banyjima,

Kurrama The Kurrama people, also known as the Puutu Kunti Kurrama people, are an Aboriginal Australian people from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples, although of different language groups, are represe ...

and Innawonga Aboriginal people. The Banyjima name for the Hamersley Range is Karijini ("Hilly Place" in English). Evidence of their early occupation dates back more than 20,000 years. During that period, Aboriginal land management practices, such as "

fire-stick farming Fire-stick farming, also known as cultural burning and cool burning, is the practice of Aboriginal Australians regularly using fire to burn vegetation, which has been practised for thousands of years. There are a number of purposes for doing this ...

", resulted in a diversity of vegetation types and stages of succession that helped determine the nature of the plants and animals found in the park today. A party led by explorer F.T. Gregory explored the area in 1861. He named the Hamersley Range, on which the park is centred, after his friend Edward Hamersley.

Climate

The park is located in the Pilbara region, and is mostly tropical semi-arid climate. In summer, thunderstorms and cyclones are common, bringing 250–350 mm of rain annually. Temperatures on summer days frequently exceed 40 degrees Celsius, while winter nights can bring frost.

Geology

Several gorges that flow north out of the parkincluding Dales, Kalamina, Wittenoom and Yampire Gorgesprovide notable displays of the rock layers: * Banded iron formation – Brockman iron formation * Dolomite – Wittenoom dolomite *

Shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

– Mount McRae Shale

Fauna

The park's wildlife includes red kangaroos,

euros The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...

, rock-wallabies, echidnas,

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

s, goannas, bats, legless lizards and a large variety of birds and snakes, including pythons.

Features

The park is most notable for its many gorges containing slot canyons, waterfalls and water holes with visitors sometimes swimming in the cold pools of water. Hamersley Gorge is located in the northwestern region of the park, while Range Gorge is in the north, Munjina Gorge is in the east, and Hancock, Joffre, Knox, Red and Weano Gorges converge in the park's center. While the park is fully open to the public, visitors are warned to exercise due caution when walking in and around the vicinity of Yampire and Wittenoom Gorges near the northern boundary of the park due to the presence of

blue asbestos Riebeckite is a sodium-rich member of the amphibole group of silicate minerals, chemical formula Na2(Fe2+3Fe3+2)Si8O22(OH)2. It forms a solid solution series with magnesioriebeckite. It crystallizes in the monoclinic system, usually as long prism ...

a known cancer-causing agent when inhaledwhich occurs in a number of the rock formations.

References

External links

Archived PDF park guide

{{Authority control National parks of Western Australia Protected areas established in 1969 Hamersley Range