Mount Frankland National Park is a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

in the South West 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 ...

, south of

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

. The park is part of the larger

Walpole Wilderness Area The Walpole Wilderness Area is a group of conservation reserves on the south coast of Western Australia. The area includes vast tracts of jarrah, red tingle and karri forests surrounding granite peaks, rivers, heathlands, and wetlands. Coast ...

that was established in 2004, an international biodiversity hotspot.

Geography

It covers an area of 371.22 square kilometres in the low

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

hills to the north of the town of Walpole. Mount Frankland (411 metres), known as Caldyanup to the aboriginal inhabitants, is a granite peak which offers panoramic views across the landscape. There is a fire lookout atop the mountain. The mountain was named in 1829 by Thomas Braidwood Wilson after

George Frankland George Frankland (1800 – 30 December 1838) was an English surveyor and Surveyor-General of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). In 1823, Frankland was appointed surveyor-general at Poona, India, where he became acquainted with Edward Du ...

, who was then Surveyor General of Tasmania.Mount Frankland National Park
Parks and Wildife Service, Government of Western Australia. Accessed 2 May 2022. The park extends from northwest to southeast. It is bounded on the north by

Mount Frankland North National Park Mount Frankland North National Park is a national park in the South West Region of Western Australia. It was designated in 2004, and covers an area of 220.69 km2. It is part of the larger Walpole Wilderness Area The Walpole Wilderness Area is ...

, on the east by Mount Roe National Park, on the south by Mount Frankland South National Park, and on the west by

Shannon National Park Shannon National Park is a national park on the south coast of Western Australia, south of Perth and southeast of Manjimup. It was declared a national park in 1988. The park covers the entire Shannon River basin. It is part of the larger Walp ...

.UNEP-WCMC (2022). Protected Area Profile for Mount Frankland from the World Database of Protected Areas. Accessed 2 May 2022

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Climate

Annual rainfall at Walpole is around . On the 422-metre high peak of Mount Frankland, though no rain gauge has ever been installed, annual rainfall is probably around . Most rain falls between May and August, but unlike drier parts of Southwest Australia, southwestern Australia, showers are not infrequent even during the summer.

Flora and fauna

The park is covered largely by forests of

karri ''Eucalyptus diversicolor'', commonly known as karri, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tall tree with smooth light grey to cream-coloured, often mottled bar ...

(''Eucalyptus diversicolor'') and red tingle (''Eucalyptus jacksonii''), two of the world's largest trees. The three tingle species are unique to the area between the park and the coast and the only eucalypts to be buttressed, a feature which reflects the moist conditions prevailing within the park. Low heathland is the dominant vegetation on the thin soil over the park's many granite outcrops.

Recreation

There are several walking trails in the park, ranging from wheelchair-accessible to difficult. An unsealed road, usable by conventional vehicles, provides auto access to a car park within the park. There are picnic areas with gas barbecues and toilets 100 metres from the car park, and a treetop-level wilderness lookout further on.

References

External links