The Kara Kara 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 ...

located in the

Wimmera The Wimmera is a region of the Australian state of Victoria. The district is located within parts of the Loddon Mallee and the Grampians regions; and covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Austral ...

Goldfields Goldfield or Goldfields may refer to: Places * Goldfield, Arizona, the former name of Youngberg, Arizona, a populated place in the United States * Goldfield, Colorado, a community in the United States * Goldfield, Iowa, a city in the United State ...

region 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 approximately north-west 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 ...

, west of the

Sunraysia Highway The Sunraysia Highway (route B220) is a arterial north-south route in western Victoria. The highway extends north a length of 331 km starting from the Western Freeway near Ballarat to the Calder Highway near Ouyen. It is the north-west ...

, and to the south of the town of St Arnaud.

Features

Kara Kara National Park
protects one of the most intact remnants of Victoria's box-ironbark forests. Parts of the national park are relatively unmodified in comparison to other areas of forest in the central goldfields and are a fine example of the type of vegetation that once covered almost 13% of Victoria. The national park is of importance to the

Dja Dja Wurrung Dja Dja Wurrung (Pronounced Ja-Ja-war-rung), also known as the Djaara or Jajowrong people and Loddon River tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people who are the Traditional owners of lands including the watersheds of the Loddon and Avoca rive ...

people. Most of the national park lies within the

Northern Grampians Shire The Shire of Northern Grampians is a local government area in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 11,431, having fallen from 12,087 in 200 ...

and the southern part of the national park is within the

Pyrenees Shire The Shire of Pyrenees is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 7,353. It includes the towns of Avoca, Beaufort, Lexton and ...

. The national park was proclaimed on as the St Arnaud Range National Park which included the former Kara Kara State Park and most of the St Arnaud Range State Forest. Following release of a draft park management plan in April 2009 and subsequent consultations in accordance with the and Guidelines for Geographic Names (2010), the national park was renamed as the Kara Kara National Park. The national park lies within the

St Arnaud Box-Ironbark Region The St Arnaud Box-Ironbark Region is a 481 km2 fragmented and irregularly shaped tract of land that encompasses all the box-ironbark forest and woodland remnants used as winter feeding habitat by swift parrots in the St Arnaud- Stawell re ...

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

, identified as such 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 of its importance for

swift parrot The swift parrot (''Lathamus discolor'') is a species of broad-tailed parrot, found only in southeastern Australia. The species breeds in Tasmania during the summer and migrates north to south eastern mainland Australia from Griffith-Warialda ...

s and other

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

birds. The national park has numerous tracks of varying grades and quality for mountain biking and hiking with easy access off Sunraysia Highway between

Redbank Redbank may refer to: Places ;In Australia *Redbank, Queensland, a suburb in Ipswich *Redbank, Victoria *Redbanks, South Australia ;In the United States *Redbank Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania *Redbank Township, Clarion County, Pennsylv ...

and St Arnaud.

References

Parks of Grampians (region) National parks of Victoria (state) Protected areas established in 2002 Wimmera 2002 establishments in Australia {{Australia-protected-area-stub

Features

See also

References