Mummel Gulf is a national park located in

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, Australia, approximately by road north of Sydney. It is situated approximately southeast of Walcha on the unsealed Enfield Forest Road and south of the

Oxley Highway Oxley Highway is a rural highway in New South Wales, Australia, linking Nevertire, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran, Tamworth, and Walcha to Port Macquarie, on the coast of the Tasman Sea. It was named to commemorate John Oxley, the first European t ...

. The Mummel River has formed the deep 'V' shaped gorge of the Mummel Gulf, which exceeds in the head of this gorge.

Flora and fauna

The Mummel Gulf National Park protects tall, open eucalypt forest on the south-eastern escarpment of the New England region. The park communities also include wet

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

forest and snow gum (''

Eucalyptus pauciflora ''Eucalyptus pauciflora'', commonly known as snow gum, cabbage gum or white sally, is a species of tree or mallee that is native to eastern Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to elliptical leaves, flower buds in clusters of between sev ...

'') forest in the higher parts of the park, around Porters Camp. Messmate (''

Eucalyptus obliqua ''Eucalyptus obliqua'', commonly known as messmate stringybark or messmate, but also known as brown top, brown top stringbark, stringybark or Tasmanian oak, is a species of tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has rough, stringy or ...

'') and less commonly Mountain Ribbon Gum (''Eucalyptus nobilis'') dominate old-growth forests in this area which drops from 1,450 metres down to 470 m. Other trees in the region include silvertop stringybark (''Eucalyptus laevopinea''), blue gum (''

Eucalyptus saligna ''Eucalyptus saligna'', commonly known as the Sydney blue gum or blue gum, is a species of medium-sized to tall tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, flaky bark near the base of the trunk, smooth bark above, lance-shaped to c ...

''), diehard stringybark (''Eucalyptus cameronii'') and New England blackbutt (''Eucalyptus andrewsii''). Broad-leaved pepperbush ('' Tasmannia purpurascens'') is at its northern limit in the area. Many species of shrubs flower here during spring and summer. Bushwalkers accessing the remote central and southern sections of the park's moist subtropical rainforest will find a mix of corkwood, sassafras (''

Doryphora sassafras ''Doryphora sassafras'', commonly known as sassafras, yellow-, canary- or golden sassafras, or golden deal, is a species of evergreen tree of the family Atherospermataceae native to the subtropical and temperate rainforests of eastern New South ...

''), large tree ferns (''Dicksonia'') and silver sycamore (''Cryptocarya glaucescens''). The park also protects threatened species such as the

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the w ...

, tiger

quoll Quolls (; genus ''Dasyurus'') are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea. They are primarily nocturnal and spend most of the day in a den. Of the six species of quoll, four are found in Australia and two in New Guinea. Anoth ...

, sugar glider, yellow-bellied glider, superb lyrebird, boobook owl, sooty owl, powerful owl, tawny frogmouth and parma wallaby.

History

This region and its escarpment served as the boundary between the Nganyaywana people of the

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

and the Danggati who had the hinterland valleys leading up to the tableland. The explorer John Oxley passed by the

Apsley Falls The Apsley Falls are two waterfalls on the Apsley River in the Northern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The falls are located about east of Walcha, and 1 kilometre off the Oxley Highway in a deep gorge, that is part of the ...

in September 1818 and travelled eastwards through this area en route to Port Macquarie. Timber-getters and illegal settlers soon followed. The Wool Road (now the Oxley Highway), was built through here in 1842 with convict labour to link the wool-growing settlement of Walcha with Port Macquarie. Some of the park has been logged, although only small sections of the park have been cleared. Some areas have also been used for cattle grazing and for small-scale

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

mining. In the 1970s Enfield and Riamukka State Forests were expanded over former Crown lands to include the steep areas of the Mummel River catchment. The

Bicentennial National Trail The Bicentennial National Trail (BNT), originally known as the National Horse Trail, is one of the longest multi-use, non-motorised, self-reliant trails in the world, stretching 5,330 kilometres from Cooktown, Queensland, through New South Wa ...

which was first used in the 1970s follows the Mummel Forest Road to the east of the park. Porters (Camp) air navigation facility and Country Energy towers are situated at in the northern portion of the park. In 1992 North-East Forest Alliance Forest (NEFA) protesters set up a camp in what is now Mummel Gulf National Park. NEFA protested against logging here and won an agreement to delay logging to allow a joint study by NEFA and the state Forestry Commission. Mummel Gulf National Park was created in 1999, as part of the national regional forest agreement process.

Pest animals and weeds

Some wild pigs and wild dogs live in the park. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) staff conduct pig trapping and shooting programs. A ground-baiting program is run in conjunction with Forests NSW and private landholders to help control wild dogs. Crofton weed (''

Ageratina adenophora ''Ageratina adenophora'' (synonym ''Eupatorium adenophorum''), commonly known as Crofton weed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Mexico and Central America. Originally grown as an ornamental plant, it has become ...

'') and

blackberry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy ...

(''Rubus fruticosus'') are the main weeds of concern in the park.

Access and facilities

The gravel road is accessible by all vehicles but it would be advisable to have a

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer cas ...

(4WD) in wet conditions. The Panhandle Fire Trail is a 9.5 km four-wheel drive trail located within the park.4x4 Earth Australia
/ref> New Country Swamp has a basic camping area with toilets, picnic tables and barbecues situated 13 km from the highway and inside the National Park. Campsites are suitable for camper trailers or camping beside ones vehicle. Not suitable for caravans.

References

{{authority control National parks of New South Wales Northern Tablelands Protected areas established in 1999 1999 establishments in Australia

Flora and fauna

History

Pest animals and weeds

Access and facilities

See also

References