Kennedy Range National Park is a national park in Gascoyne 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 ...

, approximately north 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 ...

and about east of Carnarvon. Kennedy Range is found on the edge of the

Gascoyne River The Gascoyne River is a river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. At , it is the longest river in Western Australia. Description The Gascoyne River comprises three branches in its upper reaches. Draining the Collier Range, the river ...

catchment area and is a weathered plateau that extends for a distance of , essentially forming a huge

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by ...

. Spectacular

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

cliffs can be found on the southern and eastern sides of the range, which are dissected by steep canyons which have an elevation of up to . The Range formed a natural border for two Aboriginal peoples, the

Maia Maia (; Ancient Greek: Μαῖα; also spelled Maie, ; la, Maia), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes, one of the major Greek gods, by Zeus, the king of Olympus. Family Maia is the daugh ...

and the Malgaru. Natural springs located on the edge of the ranges would have provided game to hunt and outcrops of

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...

would have provided stone for tools. Over 100 sites provide evidence that the Indigenous Australians inhabited the area for over 20,000 years prior to European settlement. The first European to explore the area was

Francis Thomas Gregory Francis Thomas "Frank" Gregory (19 October 1821 – 23 October 1888) was an Australian explorer and politician. Born in England, he emigrated with his family to Australia as a boy. He was the younger brother of the explorer and politician Augu ...

, whose expedition reached the range in 1858. Gregory named the range after the

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutional ...

at the time,

Arthur Edward Kennedy Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy (; 5 April 1809 – 3 June 1883) was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of a number of British colonies, namely Sierra Leone, Western Australia, Vancouver Island, Hong Kong and Queensland. Early l ...

. He also named the nearby

Lyons River The Lyons River is a river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The headwaters of the Lyons rise just west of the Teano Range and the river flows generally south-west, joined by 36 tributaries including the Edmund River, Frederick Rive ...

in the same expedition before continuing to Mount Augustus. Pastoralists arrived in the area shortly afterwards with Charles Brockman setting up

Boolathana Station Boolathana Station is a pastoral lease currently operating as a cattle station that once operated as a sheep station in Western Australia. Description The property is situated approximately north of Carnarvon and south of Coral Bay in the ...

in 1877, and the region experienced success in wool production until the 1930s when the

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

and the

great depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

caused most businesses to fail. The valleys and plains of the range had been severely degraded but the range top was only slightly damaged as a result of pastoral activity. The area has been explored for

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

s but has not been mined. The park was officially gazetted in 1993 and contains some facilities for visitors. A bush toilet and camp-sites are located at Temple Gorge, but it is planned to relocate this camp ground. There are a number of walk trails within the park but no

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

is available. Entry to the park is free but camp-site fees apply. A popular time to visit the park is following heavy rains when

wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the w ...

s emerge. Over 80 species of wildflower are known to inhabit the park, including

mulla mulla ''Ptilotus'' R.Br. is a genus of approximately 120 species of annual and perennial herbs and shrubs in the family Amaranthaceae. All species are native to mainland Australia, although one species, '' Ptilotus spathulatus'' (R.Br.) Poir., also oc ...

hakea ''Hakea'' ( ) is a genus of about 150 species of plants in the Family ''Proteaceae'', endemic to Australia. They are shrubs or small trees with leaves that are sometimes flat, otherwise circular in cross section in which case they are sometimes d ...

s, Eremophilas,

Calytrix ''Calytrix'' is a genus of shrubs in the family Myrtaceae described as a genus in 1806. They are commonly known as starflowers. ''Calytrix'' are endemic to Australia, occurring in the (Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, and We ...

Verticordia :For the clam genus, see ''Verticordia'' (bivalve). ''Verticordia'' is a genus of more than 100 species of plants commonly known as featherflowers, in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. They range in form from very small shrubs such as '' V. vertico ...

and various everlasting daisies. A species of lizard '' Lerista kennedyensis'', commonly called the "Kennedy Range broad-blazed slider", is named after the Kennedy Range.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Kennedy", p. 139).

References

{{authority control National parks of Western Australia Protected areas established in 1993 Shire of Upper Gascoyne Shire of Carnarvon

See also

References