Barrington-Tops-Nationalpark
The Barrington Tops National Park is a 745 km ² national park in the Australian state of New South Wales, about 270 km north of Sydney.
Barrington Tops is a plateau which extends between two peaks of the Mount Royal Ranges, part of the Great Dividing Range. It also forms the watershed between the Hunter and the Manning River. Barrington Tops is situated on a volcano; It reaches a height of 1586 m.
On 3 December 1969, the region between Mount Barrington, Mount Royal and the Gloucester Tops was declared a National Park. Since 1982 the park is listed as part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia as a UNESCO World Heritage Site; as such, is the most southerly of affiliated national parks.
History
The area of the Barrington Tops was home to several tribes of Aborigines, namely the Worimi and Biripi the east and the Wonnarua in the West.
From about 1820 European settlers in the region began to settle and took advantage of the areas to chop wood and grazing land for cattle. It was also here looking for gold.
In the early 20th century tourist use by horseback riding, hunting and fishing became popular. Founded in 1948 The Barrington Club campaigned for nature conservation. In 1959, the first areas were placed under protection.
Ecosystems
The park includes ecosystems of tropical rainforest in the sheltered valleys and gorges at altitudes between 400 and 600 m. Located at altitudes 700-1400 m, cool temperate rainforest, where the Nothofagus moorei prevails. This is followed by an alpine zones with alpine woodland and subalpine peat bogs in the peak regions.
About all heights across prevail eucalyptus forests with different types before: In the valleys and on the slopes dominate Sydney and Messmate Eucalyptus, in the higher ranges, the southern beech. On the plateau, however, the cold resistant snow gums prevail.
Thanks to the secluded and inaccessible location of the park, a variety of wildlife including some has already received eradicated gegoltener species. A butterfly, three spider species, three worm species and crustacean Crenoicus harrisoni are endemic in the park.
In addition, Eastern Grey kangaroos, Rotnackenwallabys, Rotnackenfilander and Nacktnasenwombats occur. Nocturnal mammals are, inter alia, Sleep Beutler, bandicoots and Riesengleitbeutler. Also echidna and platypus find their habitat. Hard to observe the koala, a very endangered species is Pseudomys oralis and the Australian wide-tooth rat comes only a few places in Australia.
The bird lyrebird, cockatoos, flat tail parakeets, kookaburras, crows shrikes and bush chickens occur. Rarely the Yellow -tailed Black Cockatoo is observed. Reptiles are among others represented by the species Black Otter, Tiger Otter, copper head snake and brown snake.