Serpentine-Nationalpark
The Serpentine National Park (English: Serpentine National Park ) is a 44 km ² national park located in southwestern Western Australia, Australia. The Serpentine Falls as the main attraction is a popular destination for over 100 years. The main attraction of the park is the Serpentine Falls.
Location
The park is located about 49 km south-west from the city center of Perth and 30 km inland from Rockingham on the South Western Highway. He is named as the Serpentine River to the meandering river (English serpentine).
Geology
The Serpentine National Park is located in the Darling Scarp, a geological escarpment. This edge is located on the western edge of a vast, geologically up to 2.5 Mrd.Jahre old plateau. The plateau of granite and dolerite something, gneiss and quartzite represents the geological substructure for a large part of south-western Australia dar. About 10 million years ago formed on this layer by weathering and leaching of minerals, a cover of hard and insoluble laterite, which today in many parts of the park comes to light.
History
Long before the first European settlers arrived in the area, the area of the park of the aboriginal tribes Whadjuk and possibly the Bindjareb was settled. With the establishment of the Swan River Colony in July 1829 then the first Europeans came along the Serpentine River in this area in search of land, timber and minerals. We recognized early on that by deforestation and agricultural use disappeared, much of the native plants and animals. Therefore, in 1894, was the first Western Australian reserve - 160,000 ha between Pinjarra, North Dandalup and North Bannister - furnished. Due to the high demand for wood protection, however, was increasingly softened and completely lifted in 1911. Only with the beginning of tourism it has been recognized by that this area requires a special status. In 1957, the incurred up to that small plots were combined for today's National Park.
It is not known who named the Serpentine River. He was inspected by Captain Mark Currie in 1892, but the name already appears on a map of the Royal Geographical Society from 1832.
Flora and Fauna
One can observe a variety of animal and plant species. Typical of the area are of marri, jarrah and wandoo forests. It is found along the escarpment also endemic species such as the Darling Range Ghost Gum (Eucalyptus laeliae ) or the Salmon White Gum (Eucalyptus lane - poolei ).
The varied vegetation provides a habitat for many animal species. To live 100 species of birds along the Darling Scarp, including the cap and Stanley Parakeet, the long-billed white ear and Banks - tailed Black Cockatoo, the Goldbauchschnäpper. There are in the park 23 mammal species, 41 reptile and 10 frog species native.