Nambung National Park is a national park in the Wheatbelt 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 ...

, 200 km northwest 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 ...

, Australia and 17 km south of the small coastal town of

Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...

.DPaW - Nambung map
/ref> The park contains the Pinnacles Desert which is an area with thousands of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

formations called ''

pinnacles A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was main ...

''.DPaW - Pinnacles Desert page
/ref> The park derives its name from an

indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

word possibly meaning crooked or winding. The word was used in 1938 when naming the Nambung River which flows into the park and disappears into a cave system within the limestone. The Yued people are the acknowledged traditional custodians of the land since before the arrival of Europeans.DPaW - Nambung homepage
/ref> Nambung National Park also contains beaches at Kangaroo Point and Hangover Bay, as well as coastal dunes and flowering plants in low heathland areas. A boardwalk in the northern area of the park at Lake Thetis allows visitors to view

thrombolite Thrombolites (from Ancient Greek θρόμβος ''thrómbos'' meaning " clot" and λῐ́θος ''líthos'' meaning "stone") are clotted accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding, and cementation of sedimentary g ...

s which, like

stromatolite Stromatolites () or stromatoliths () are layered sedimentary formations (microbialite) that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria). The ...

s, are structures built by micro-organisms, especially

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...

. Some of the fossilized thrombolites have been dated to 3.6 billion years old.DPaW - Cervantes & Jurien Bay
/ref> The Pinnacles Desert Discovery Centre features exhibits about the geology of the pinnacles formations and the cultural and natural heritage values of the area.DPaW - Desert Discovery Centre page
/ref>

History

Europeans first visited the area in 1658 when Dutch maps recorded North and South Hummocks on their maps.

Phillip Parker King Rear Admiral Phillip Parker King, FRS, RN (13 December 1791 – 26 February 1856) was an early explorer of the Australian and Patagonian coasts. Early life and education King was born on Norfolk Island, to Philip Gidley King and Anna Jo ...

also mentioned the Hummocks in his journals in 1820. The Pinnacles Desert area remained relatively unknown until surveyed in 1934. The national park was created in July 1994 by combining three separate reserve areas gazetted in 1956, 1967 (the Pinnacles) and 1968.

Geography

The park is bordered to the north by the Southern Beekeeper's Nature Reserve and to the south by Wanagarren Nature Reserve. A large area of vacant

Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

is found along much of the eastern boundary while the Indian Ocean defines the park's western boundary. Visitors can access the Pinnacles Desert from points north or south of Cervantes via the

Indian Ocean Drive Indian Ocean Drive is a coastal highway in the Australian state of Western Australia which services the coastal communities along the Indian Ocean immediately north of the state capital Perth, linking the northern suburb of Yanchep with the Br ...

or via Cervantes Road from the east. The park is located 17 km south of Cervantes.

Geology

A200, Nambung National Park, Western Australia, pinnacles and the Indian Ocean, 2007

The Pinnacles Desert contains thousands of limestone pillars. The pillars are the weathered and eroded fragments of limestone beds composed of deposited marine organisms such as

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

and

molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil sp ...

. Some of the tallest pinnacles reach heights of up to 3.5m above the yellow sand base. The different types of formations include ones which are much taller than they are wide and resemble columnssuggesting the name of Pinnacleswhile others are only a meter or so in height and width resembling short tombstones. A cross-bedding structure can be observed in many pinnacles where the angle of deposited sand changed suddenly due to changes in prevailing winds during formation of the limestone beds. Pinnacles with tops similar to mushrooms are created when the

calcrete Caliche () is a sedimentary rock, a hardened natural cement of calcium carbonate that binds other materials—such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt. It occurs worldwide, in aridisol and mollisol soil orders—generally in arid or semiarid regions, ...

capping is harder than the limestone layer below it. The relatively softer lower layers weather and erode at a faster rate than the top layer leaving behind more material at the top of the pinnacle.

Fauna and flora

Nambung National Park is home to a variety of wildlife with 176 observed animal species, including 128 birds, 8 mammals, 15 reptiles, several fish and arthropods and one amphibian. Among the mammal species are the

western grey kangaroo The western grey kangaroo (''Macropus fuliginosus''), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, sooty kangaroo and (when referring to the Kangaroo Island subspecies) Kangaroo Island grey kangaroo, is ...

red kangaroo The red kangaroo (''Osphranter rufus'') is the largest of all kangaroos, the largest terrestrial mammal native to Australia, and the largest extant marsupial. It is found across mainland Australia, except for the more fertile areas, such as sou ...

dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...

honey possum The honey possum or noolbenger (''Tarsipes rostratus''), is a tiny species of marsupial that feeds on the nectar and pollen of a diverse range of flowering plants. Found in southwest Australia, it is an important pollinator for such plants as '' ...

and

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

. Some common bird species include

silver gull The silver gull (''Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae'') is the most common gull of Australia. It has been found throughout the continent, but particularly at or near coastal areas. It is smaller than the Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus''), which ...

black-faced woodswallow The black-faced woodswallow (''Artamus cinereus'') is a woodswallow of the genus Artamus native to Australia, New Guinea and the Sunda Islands, including Timor. It is long and is the most widespread species in the family Artamidae. Woodswallows ...

, white-backed swallow,

red-capped plover The red-capped plover (''Charadrius ruficapillus''), also known as the red-capped dotterel, is a small species of plover. It breeds in Australia. This species is closely related to (and sometimes considered conspecific with) the Kentish plover, ...

and

raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

. Reptile species include Buchanan's snake-eyed skink, yellow-faced whip snake, bobtail (a species of

blue-tongued skink Blue-tongued skinks comprise the Australasian genus ''Tiliqua'', which contains some of the largest members of the skink family (Scincidae). They are commonly called blue-tongued lizards or simply blue-tongues or blueys in Australia. As suggeste ...

) and

sand goanna The sand goanna (''Varanus gouldii'') is a species of large Australian monitor lizard, also known as Gould's monitor, sand monitor, or racehorse goanna. Taxonomy John Edward Gray described the species in 1838 as ''Hydrosaurus gouldii'', noting ...

. The only observed amphibian species is the sign-bearing froglet.Atlas of Living Australia - Nambung area
/ref>

Humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

s visit the Indian Ocean waters adjacent to the park during their northern and southern migration seasons, while sea lions and dolphins are year-round inhabitants. The park's flora includes more than 170 angiosperms with a few examples being

coastal wattle Coastal wattle is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Acacia cyclops'', native to Australia *''Acacia sophorae ''Acacia sophorae'', commonly known as coastal wattle or coast wattle, is a wattle found in coastal and subcoastal ...

, sea nymph, acorn banksia, cowslip orchid, ringed wallaby grass and coast hop-bush. The only recorded gymnosperm is the

swamp cypress Swamp cypress is a common name for more than one species of plants in the family Cupressaceae (cypresses): * Species of the genus '' Taxodium'' ** ''Taxodium distichum'', native to the Southeastern and Gulf Coastal Plains of the United States * '' G ...

Panorama

References

External links

EveryTrail travel site's guide for Nambung
*

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

cover featurin
the park
{{Authority control National parks of Western Australia Protected areas established in 1969 Wheatbelt (Western Australia)