The Hattah-Kulkyne National Park is a
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
in the
Mallee district of
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The national park is situated adjacent to the
Murray River
The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest r ...
, approximately northwest of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
with the nearest regional centre being
Mildura
Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area had ...
. The Hattah Lakes National Park was proclaimed on , later being greatly expanded in 1980 and becoming the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park.
[https://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/pubs/HLEWMPSL_FA_screen.pdf] It is a popular destination for bushwalkers and school camping trips.
History
In 1915, a sanctuary was formed to protect the beauty of the Hattah lakes. In 1949, ornithologist
Les Chandler and the Reverend Clarrie Lang formed the Sunraysia Field Naturalists' Club (later the Sunraysia Naturalists' Research Trust). Les Chandler was variously its president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and editor. They agitated to have the Hattah-Kulkyne area declared a national park, which was partially achieved in 1960, with the Hattah Lakes area becoming the Hattah Lakes National Park. The Kulkyne State Forest was added to the national park in 1980, resulting in the creation of the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park.
Description
The park is in the Mallee district, famous for its red dirt and
mallee eucalypt
Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia:
''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...
s. There are several lakes in the area, the largest of which is Lake Hattah. During the
dry season
The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...
most of the lakes and their streams dry out completely. Although there are limited road and tracks, there are several major high tension power and telegraph lines that run through or near the park, around which large areas are cleared. For management purposes, the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park is managed with the
Murray-Sunset National Park
The Murray-Sunset National Park is the second largest national park in Victoria, Australia, located in the Mallee district in the northwestern corner of the state, bordering South Australia. The national park is situated approximately north ...
,
Wyperfeld National Park
The Wyperfeld National Park is the third largest national park in Victoria, Australia, located in the Mallee district, approximately northwest of Melbourne, The national park was declared in 1921 and expanded significantly to protect of malle ...
,
Lake Albacutya Park and
Murray-Kulkyne Park as part of the Victorian Mallee Parks.
[
]
Important Bird Area
Over 200 bird species have been recorded in the park, which is overlapped by the Murray-Sunset, Hattah and Annuello Important Bird Area
The Murray-Sunset, Hattah and Annuello Important Bird Area comprises 7004 km2 of mallee habitat in the Mallee region of north-western Victoria, Australia.
Description
The IBA encompasses several protected areas with blocks of contiguous ...
(IBA), so identified by BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
because it contains mallee habitat supporting a suite of threatened
Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...
mallee bird, including the malleefowl
The malleefowl (''Leipoa ocellata'') is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken (to which it is distantly related). It is notable for the large nesting mounds constructed by the males and lack of parental ca ...
, black-eared miner
The black-eared miner (''Manorina melanotis'') is an endangered honeyeater endemic to mallee woodland in south-eastern Australia.
Taxonomy
''Manorina melanotis'' was identified by Francis Erasmus Wilson in 1911. It is closely related to the mu ...
and mallee emu-wren
The mallee emu-wren (''Stipiturus mallee'') is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia.
Its natural habitat is temperate grassland. It is threatened because of habitat loss.
Taxonomy and systema ...
.
See also
* Protected areas of Victoria
Victoria is the smallest mainland state in Australia. it contained separate protected areas with a total land area of (17.26% of the state's area). Of these, 45 were national parks, totalling (11.32% of the state's area).
The parks are man ...
*Hattah-Kulkyne and Murray-Kulkyne Biosphere Reserve
Hattah-Kulkyne and Murray-Kulkyne Biosphere Reserve is a biosphere reserve in the Australian state of Victoria located to the southern bank of the Murray River to the south-east of the city of Mildura on land occupied by the following protected a ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
National parks of Victoria (Australia)
Mallee (Victoria)
Protected areas established in 1960
Ramsar sites in Australia
1960 establishments in Australia
Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands
Murray-Darling basin