Stirling Range National Park is a national park in the Great Southern 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 south-east 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 ...

Description

It protects the

Stirling Ranges The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...

, or Koikyennuruff, a range of mountains and hills over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranbrook eastward past Gnowangerup. Notable features include

Toolbrunup Toolbrunup is among the highest peaks in the Stirling Ranges of Australia. Toolbrunup is made from sediments deposited during the Ediacaran Period and later metamorphosed to quartzites and shales. These formation rocks were later folded during b ...

Bluff Knoll Bluff Knoll is the highest peak of the Stirling Range in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region of Western Australia (WA). It is above sea level, with a prominence of 650 m (2,130 ft). The local Aboriginal peop ...

– the tallest peak in the southwestern region – and a silhouette called The Sleeping Princess which is visible from the Porongurup Range. Popular recreational activities in the park include bushwalking,

abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to Bela ...

and

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...

Camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more nat ...

is permitted only in Moingup campsite within the park boundaries (fee applies). Other peaks which have tracks include Mt Trio, Talyuberlup Peak and Mt Magog. A premier walk known as The Stirling Ridge Walk is usually done over two days and includes Ellen Peak (the most easterly peak) and Bluff Knoll.

History

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 ...

are the

Mineng Mineng, also spelled Minang or Menang or Mirnong, are an indigenous Noongar people of southern Western Australia. Name The ethnonym ''Minang'' is etymologized to the word for south, ''minaq,'' which means that the tribe were defined as "sout ...

and

Koreng The Koreng, also spelled Goreng, are an indigenous Noongar people of south-west of Western Australia. Language ''Koreng'' belonged to the Nyungic language family, and, specifically, the Koreng appear to have spoken the Wilmun dialect of Nyung ...

groups of the

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

peoples who have inhabited the region for tens of thousands of years. The Noongar know the range as ''Koi Kyenunu-ruff'' which means ''mist moving around the mountains''. The area was important to Indigenous Australians with the surrounding lowlands providing many sources of food. The women gathered seeds, roots and fruit while men hunted kangaroos and other animals. The first European to sight the range was

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...

in January 1802 while he was exploring the southern coast of Australia. He named the range Mount Rugged. Ensign Dale explored the area in 1832 and climbed

. Stirling Range was named by the surveyor

John Septimus Roe John Septimus Roe (8 May 1797 – 28 May 1878) was the first Surveyor-General of Western Australia. He was a renowned explorer, a member of Western Australia's legislative and executive councils for nearly 40 years, but also a participant in t ...

in 1835 after the Governor of the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

, James Stirling (Royal Navy officer), James Stirling, even though Stirling never actually visited the area. Sandalwood cutters established a track through the park in about 1848. European settlers arrived in the late 1800s initially around Amelup, Western Australia, Amelup and farmed much of the surrounding areas. John Forrest climbed Toolbrunup in 1881 with Henry Samuel Ranford and made a cairn at the summit. The boundaries of the park were first suggested by Jas Hope, the Chief Draftsperson of the Lands and Survey Department, in 1908 and approved by Moore who was the Minister of Lands at the time. The National Park was gazetted in 1913 and the first park ranger was appointed in 1964. The park was listed as a Australian National Heritage List, National Heritage place in 2006. In 2020, a bushfire caused by lightning devastated 40,000 hectares of park land. In August 2022, there was a lot of snow in the park.

Environment

The area is of great biogeographic and evolutionary interest and displays one of the richest floras in the world. The park provides an important refuge for a large diversity of Australia's native plants and animals.

Flora

Despite the low soils fertility the area supports over 1,500 different flowering plant species with over 87 of the species found only in the area of the park. The park is particularly rich in banksias, eucalypts, orchids and verticordias. Ten species of mountain bells (''Darwinia (plant), Darwinia'' spp.) have been identified in the park and only one of these is found outside Stirling Range. Five major vegetation communities are known in the park with thicket and mallee-heath at higher elevations and woodlands, wetlands and salt lake communities on the lower slopes and plains.

Fauna

The park has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports populations of endangered short-billed black cockatoos and western whipbirds, and is visited by endangered long-billed black-cockatoos. Many native mammals are found in the park including the western pygmy possum and the western grey kangaroo. Deeper shaded gullies support a range ancient species including land snails, trapdoor spiders and giant earthworms that date back over millions of years.

References