Sundown-Nationalpark

The Sundown National Park (English: Sundown National Park is a national park in the southeast of the Australian state of Queensland It lies 198 km south-west of Brisbane and 45 kilometers south west of Stanthorpe, directly on the border with New South Wales..

Provincial nature

The park has many canyons and several mountain peaks over 1,000 meters. There arises the Severn River, which is considered as the source of the Darling River, and thus the longest river system in Australia. The river has dug a 10 km long canyon in the hard igneous rock. Some tributaries of the Severn River have also dug into the rock canyons and have waterfalls.

In the area there are a number of minerals. Prior to the designation of the national park was dug here by molybdenite, arsenic, tungsten, copper and tin. The abandoned mines are considered to be contaminated. There is a recovery plan and access to these places is limited. On the 1,038 meter summit of Mount Donaldson you can find fossils of shellfish. The magma rock that forms the basis for most of the park area is traversed by granite veins, leading to fault lines in the rock.

Flora and Fauna

Mainly there are sparse forest in Sundown National Park. In the north of Stringybark (Eucalyptus tenella ), the Yellow Box (Eucalyptus Melliodora ), the Brown Box and the Tenterfield Woolybutt (Eucalyptus banksii ) are particularly common. Along the rivers, the Red River Gum (Eucalyptus cladocalyx ), the River Oak, the tea tree and the Bottlebrush find. Some parts of the park were cut down to make grazing land for sheep.

At least 150 bird species have been recorded in the park.

Facilities and access

At Broadwater in the southeast of the park, there is a campground. In addition, the wild camping is allowed in this national park. There are also a number of trails of varying length.

The Sundown National Park is on the Bruxner Highway (exit Mingoola ) reachable.