Narawntapu National Park (formerly known as Asbestos Range National Park) is a national park in the Australian state of Tasmania. It lies on Tasmania's north coast, adjoining

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

, between

Port Sorell Port Sorell is a town on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is on the waterway of the same name, just off Bass Strait, 20 km east of Devonport and close to Shearwater and Hawley Beach. It borders the Rubicon Estuary, whi ...

in the west and the mouth of the Tamar River in the east. It lies about 20 km east of Devonport, 60 km north-west of Launceston and 250 km north of

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

. Narawntapu encompasses islands in the Port Sorell estuary and the Carbuncle, as well as land extending to low water mark, including intertidal

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

s. The highest point of the park is 392 m

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

. It is listed on Australia's

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

.Anon. (2000). ''Narawntapu National Park, Hawley Nature Reserve - Management Plan 2000''. Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania. PDF download Narawntapu is popular with visitors, with many coming from the tourist centres of Devonport and

. The visitor centre is located in an area known as Springlawn, where visitors can see Forester kangaroos, Bennett's wallabies, Tasmanian pademelons grazing in the open plain.

History

The park was originally reserved, as the Asbestos Range National Park, on 29 June 1976. The name was changed to Narawntapu in 2000 because of concerns that the word '

Asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

' was deterring potential visitors. 'Narawntapu' is of Tasmanian Aboriginal origin, referring to the coastal promontories West Head and Badger Head within the park.

Climate

Narawntapu has a temperate maritime climate with an annual, mainly winter, rainfall of 750 mm. The prevailing winds are from the north-east and north-west. Mean temperatures are 17° C in January and 9° C in July.

Flora and fauna

Vegetation communities represented in the park include coastal heathland, dry sclerophyll woodland, herbland, grassland and salt marsh. The rare Pygmy Clubmoss has been recorded from the park. A feature of the park is the high density of marsupials present. In addition to kangaroos, wallabies and pademelons, one can find also

common wombat The common wombat (''Vombatus ursinus''), also known as the coarse-haired wombat or bare-nosed wombat, is a marsupial, one of three extant species of wombats and the only one in the genus ''Vombatus''. The common wombat grows to an average of lo ...

s and

Tasmanian devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii'') (palawa kani: purinina) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. Until recently, it was only found on the island state of Tasmania, but it has been reintroduced to New South Wales in ...

s. Eastern and

spotted-tail quoll The tiger quoll (''Dasyurus maculatus''), also known as the spotted-tail quoll, the spotted quoll, the spotted-tail dasyure, native cat or the tiger cat, is a carnivorous marsupial of the quoll genus ''Dasyurus'' native to Australia. With male ...

s live in the area, as well as platypuses and echidnas. The birdlife is rich and includes threatened species such as the hooded plover,

Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle The Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle (''Aquila audax fleayi'') is an endangered bird of Tasmania. It is a subspecies of the more common wedge-tailed eagle. Description ''Aquila'' is a genus of large eagles that have long, rounded wings with de ...

and swift parrot. The intertidal

s in the North East Arm area of the park are an important foraging area for migratory waders, and form part of the

Rubicon Estuary The Rubicon Estuary is an estuary on the central coast of northern Tasmania, south-eastern Australia, lying next to the town of Port Sorell. Description The estuary has a shallow muddy substrate and is fed by several streams, including the Fra ...

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of their importance for pied oystercatchers. There is also a rich diversity of birdlife in the land surrounding the wetlands. At certain times of the year, several species of ducks, as well as herons, swans, cormorants, coots,

bitterns Bitterns are birds belonging to the subfamily Botaurinae of the heron family Ardeidae. Bitterns tend to be shorter-necked and more secretive than other members of the family. They were called ''hæferblæte'' in Old English; the word "bittern" ...

and

grebes Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order (biology), order Podicipediformes . Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in sea, marine habitats during Bird migration, migration and winter. Some flightless ...

call the lagoon home. In 2019, the population of wombats was reduced to as low as three due to the mange disease, which led to the death of several wombats. The disease started spreading in 2010 and made the scientists at the park use a drench technique at burrow entrances to treat the animals. However, it contained the disease for a short while and ultimately resulted in the deaths of most of the wombats.

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control National parks of Tasmania Protected areas established in 1976 1976 establishments in Australia Northern Tasmania

History

Climate

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links