Karlamilyi National Park lies in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

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 Newman and north-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 ...

. Proclaimed an A Class Reserve on 13 April 1977, it is the largest

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 Western Australia. The park was initially listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

in 1978 as Rudall River National Park, and was noted as "significant for maintaining ongoing geomorphic and ecological processes within a tropical desert environment. It contains an entire landscape sequence which includes extensive dune fields, table lands, an entire river/creek system, alluvial formations, saline lakes and palaeodrainage lines". The name of the park was changed in 2008 to Karlamilyi National Park to acknowledge 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. The park's original name was derived from the

Rudall River The Rudall River ( Wanman: ''Karlamilyi'') is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The entire length of the river is located within the boundaries of the Karlamilyi National Park, which straddles the Little Sandy Des ...

, named by

Frank Hann Frank Hugh Hann (19 October 184521 August 1921) was an Australian pastoralist and explorer. Early life Hann was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Hann. Fellow explorer William Hann was his older brother. They were born in Wiltshire, England a ...

who was one of the first Europeans to explore the area. He named the river after another explorer and surveyor, William Frederick Rudall. The area is traditionally Martu country, called ''Karlamilyi''. There are two Aboriginal communities within the park:

Parnngurr Parnngurr is a medium-sized Aboriginal community, located 370 km from Newman in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, within the Shire of East Pilbara. Parnngurr was originally known as Cotton Creek, the name of the ephemeral creek th ...

(Cotton Creek) and

Punmu Punmu is an Aboriginal community, located 640 km south east of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, within the Shire of East Pilbara. The Martu language, Manyjiljarra (pronounced Mun-dul-jar-ah), is the first languag ...

(Lake Dora). The park is situated across the boundary between the

Little Sandy Desert The Little Sandy Desert (LSD) is a desert region in the state of Western Australia, lying to the east of the Pilbara and north of the Gascoyne regions. It is part of the Western Desert cultural region, and was declared an interim Australian ...

and the

Great Sandy Desert The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion,IBRA Version 6.1
data

and includes the catchment area of the Rudall River. It is best accessed from the Rudall River Road, which connects the

Talawana Track The Talawana Track is a remote unsealed track that runs between Windy Corner on the Gary Highway and the Marble Bar Road in Western Australia, a distance of 596 kilometres. The majority of it was built by Len Beadell and the Gunbarrel Road Co ...

in the south, and the Telfer Mine Road in the north. There are no ranger facilities within the park. Fuel, groceries, emergency medical facilities, camping gear, caravan parking and laundry are available at Parnngurr.

References

External links

Parnngurr Aboriginal Community
{{authority control National parks of Western Australia Protected areas established in 1977 Great Sandy Desert

See also

References

External links