Willandra-Nationalpark

The Willandra National Park is a national park in the south west of the Australian state of New South Wales, 582 kilometers west of Sydney. It is located about 60 km west of Hillston and 170 km north- west of Griffith.

Country's nature and climate

The Willandra National Park was established in 1972 and covers an area of approximately 19,385 hectares. It consists of 13.85 km ² of flat grass land, bounded on the north by Willandra Creek, which connects the Lachlan River to the Darling River.

The land around the national park is mainly used as extensive grazing land for sheep and cattle. Most streets in this area are unpaved and become slippery or even impassable even for very weak rainfall. The climate is semi-arid with very hot summers and cold winters. The park lies on the northern edge of the Riverina level.

History

It is believed that the colonization of the country is back by Aborigines at least 15,000 years. The Willandra Creek was roughly the boundary between the settlement areas of the Wiradjuri in the south and in the north Wongaibon.

The first European settlers arrived in the 1830s. Initially, the white population was only sparsely by sheep farmers and allowed the Aborigines to continue their usual lifestyle. But in the 1870s and early 1880s began extensive Einzäunungs, construction and river regulation programs as the first phase of the permanent white settlement. 1894 Willandra passed into the possession of the London Bank of Melbourne, after the corporate empire of the Whittington Brothers, which the country had heard until then, collapsed during the economic crisis of the 1890s. Under the administration of Arthur and Frank Laird Willandra was in the following years, the famous sheep farming area and the owners have won many awards for its high quality merino flocks.

1912 Willandra was sold to the Partnership Vickery and reached its peak as a stock farm in the 1920s and 1930s. There were sheared at one time up to 90,000 sheep and the land area of operation reached 1760 km ². A new manor house ( which still stands today and as a guest house is available) was added in 1918. In the following years more buildings were added. The estate came up with a tennis court, a croquet and orchards and was - until today - a remarkable oasis in an otherwise dry and dusty landscape.

Despite high wool prices in the 1950s, the decline Will Andras began as a known Viehzuchtbetrib, which was exacerbated by a long drought after the Second World War. 1960 bought the New Zealand and Australian Land Company Willandra and the land area of the estate fell to 721 km ². For a time, but the success came back and the farm work for up to 22 employees.

1969 bought the Dalgety Plc. the estate, but failed to renew the leases for the country, as they expired in 1971. With the expiry of the leases, the government of New South Wales withdrew permission for the use of Crown land and made the area a national park in 1972. Then the sanctuary from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (now part of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water) managed. In a larger Renovierungsprogamm end of the 1990s have been restored the building to its former glory and are now partly used as guest houses.

Flora and Fauna

The park is very flat with only a few surveys. For the most part it is grassland with trees only along the watercourses and to normally barren lakes and valleys. The dominant plant communities are dry eucalypt forests and grassy, open woods. The clear forest is dominated by eucalyptus ( Black Box, Eucalyptus largiflorens ) and acacia ( River Cooba, Acacia stenophylla ). Naturally occurring tree and shrub species that dominate the area, include of Pittosporum ( Pittosporum phylliraeoides ), rosewood ( Heterodendrum oleifolium ), Hakea leucoptera and Senna eremophila.

Before the start of European settlement presumably Report, cotton bushes ( Maireana aphylla ) and native grasses were the most common coverage of the levels. Over 100 years Pasture and improvements for the sheep but this have changed and the plant and animal communities no longer show today the conditions as they were before European settlement. Nevertheless Willandra is an important habitat for many native species, such as the emu, endangered Plain hikers, red and gray kangaroos, the echidna, the platypus, nine bat species and 23 reptile species, such as the Gould 's Sand Goanna and the Mulga Brown Snake.