The Thirlmere Lakes National Park is a

protected Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

national park that is located in the Macarthur region of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, in eastern Australia. The national park is situated approximately

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

of the Sydney central business district, and just to the west of . It was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

in 1972 as Thirlmere Lakes State Park, before being subsequently reclassified as a national park.

History

The national park is one of the eight protected areas that, in 2000, was inscribed to form part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

listed

Greater Blue Mountains Area The Greater Blue Mountains Area is a World Heritage Site located in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The area was placed on the World Heritage List at the 24th Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Cairns in 2000. ...

. The Thirlmere Lakes National Park is the most southeasterly and the smallest of the eight protected areas within the World Heritage Site.

Crisis

Two of the lakes have dried out since the mid 1980s due to removal of groundwater in the region secondary to coal mining at the

Tahmoor Colliery Tahmoor Colliery is an underground coal mine at Tahmoor in the Southern Highlands region of New South Wales, Australia. It operates in the Bulli coal seam. Most of the mine product is hard coking coal used for steel making. A small quantity o ...

. The local community is investigating plans to revive the lakes, which might take decades otherwise.

Features

The main feature of the park are the lakes, thought to have formed around 15 million years ago by geological activity, the land lifting and largely cutting them off from the local river system. Their outflow is reduced to the small Blue Gum Creek, which flows west into the Little River in the adjacent

Nattai National Park The Nattai National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Macarthur and Southern Highlands regions of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. It is situated approximately southwest of the Sydney central business distri ...

to the west. The lakes and their environs contain an unusual and diverse array of flora and fauna. It contains the rare freshwater sponge '' Radiospongilla sceptroides'', and is notable for an absence of freshwater snails. The lakes contain the rare watershield ('' Brasenia schreberi'') and are lined with rare species such as the grey sedge ('' Lepironia articulata'') and the wooly frogsmouth lily ('' Philydrum lanuginosum''). The habitat provides a home for the otherwise scarce

Australasian bittern The Australasian bittern (''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "bunyip bird", is a large bird in the heron family Ardeidae. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is ...

(''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), and migratory

Latham's snipe Latham's snipe (''Gallinago hardwickii''), also known as the Japanese snipe, is a medium-sized, long-billed, migratory snipe of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. Description The snipe is 29–33 cm long, with a wingspan of 50–54 ...

''Gallinago hardwickii''. The habitat around the lakes is open

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, the dominant trees being rough-barked apple (''

Angophora floribunda ''Angophora floribunda'', commonly known as the rough-barked apple, is a common woodland and forest tree of the family Myrtaceae native to Eastern Australia. Reaching 30 m (100 ft) high, it is a large tree with fibrous bark and cream-wh ...

'') nearby and sydney peppermint ('' Eucalyptus piperita'') and red bloodwood (''

Corymbia gummifera ''Corymbia gummifera'', commonly known as red bloodwood, is a species of tree, rarely a mallee, that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups o ...

'') on elevated areas. The

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abo ...

species include many familiar sydney sandstone flora such as members of the genera ''

Banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range ...

'', '' Acacia'', pea flowers, and the New South Wales waratah (''

Telopea speciosissima ''Telopea speciosissima'', commonly known as the New South Wales waratah or simply waratah, is a large shrub in the plant family Proteaceae. It is endemic to New South Wales in Australia and is the floral emblem of that state. No subspecies a ...

'')

Climate

Gallery

References

External links

* * {{authority control National parks of New South Wales Protected areas established in 1972 1972 establishments in Australia Blue Mountains (New South Wales) Macarthur (New South Wales)