Welford is a national park in

Central West Queensland Central West Queensland is a remote region in the Australian state of Queensland which covers 396,650.2 km2. The region lies to the north of South West Queensland and south of the Gulf Country. It has a population of approximately 12,387 peo ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 991 km west of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. It is located 30km to the South-east of

Jundah Jundah is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Barcoo, Queensland, Australia. Jundah is the administrative centre of the Barcoo Shire local government area. In the , the locality of Jundah had a population of 106 people. Geography The t ...

. The park was established in 1994 to protect the biodiversity of the

Mulga Lands The Mulga Lands are an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion of eastern Australia consisting of dry sandy plains with low mulga (habitat), mulga woodlands and shrublands that are dominated by ''Acacia ...

Mitchell Grass Downs The Mitchell Grass Downs is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in northeastern Australia. It is a mostly treeless grassland, characterised by Mitchell grasses (''Astrebla'' spp.). Location and descrip ...

and

Channel Country The Channel Country is a region of outback Australia mostly in the state of Queensland but also in parts of South Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales. The name comes from the numerous intertwined rivulets that cross the region ...

bioregions. The southern border is marked by the

Barcoo River The Barcoo River in western Queensland, Australia rises on the northern slopes of the Warrego Range, flows in a south-westerly direction and unites with the Thomson River to form Cooper Creek. The first European to see the river was Thomas ...

The name of the park comes from the original owner of the grazing station, Richard Welford, which was eventually called Welford Downs after his death. Welford himself had named the station Walton. The rare

yellow-footed rock-wallaby The yellow-footed rock-wallaby (''Petrogale xanthopus''), formerly known as the ring-tailed rock-wallaby, is a member of the macropod family (the marsupial family that includes the kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, and wallaroos). Descripti ...

is found in the park as are aboriginal

stone arrangements __NOTOC__ Aboriginal stone arrangements are a form of rock art constructed by Aboriginal Australians. Typically, they consist of stones, each of which may be about in size, laid out in a pattern extending over several metres or tens of metres. ...

and water wells. Welford Homestead is heritage-listed homestead built in the early 1880s. Camping with a permit is allowed at one site along the Barcoo River. Recreational activities are centered on the permanent waterholes along the Barcoo where visitors can enjoy fishing, canoeing and kayaking. There are also three tourist drives that cover the river, sand dune and mulga escarpment ecosystems found in the park and totalling more than 100 kilometres.

References

National parks of Queensland Protected areas established in 1992 Central West Queensland 1992 establishments in Australia {{Queensland-national-park-stub

See also

References