Warrumbungle National Park is a heritage listed

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

located in the Orana region of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. The national park is located approximately northwest of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

and contained within . The park attracts approximately visitors per annum. The national park is based on the geographical Warrumbungle Mountain Range, sometimes shortened to the Warrumbungles, and thus the park name is often heard in the plural. The park lies within the

Pilliga Pilliga is a village 105 km west of Narrabri in the North West Plains section of the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. The village is within Narrabri Shire local government area. It is located near the Pilliga Forest, w ...

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 Inte ...

, so identified 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 its importance for a range of woodland bird species, many of which are threatened. Warrumbungle National Park was added to the

Australian National Heritage List The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...

in December 2006. On 4 July 2016, the park was the first within Australia to be certified as a Dark Sky Park by the International Dark Sky Association.

Access

The nearest towns to the park are

Baradine Baradine is a small town in north western New South Wales, Australia. At the , Baradine had a population of 593. Baradine is located on the Coonabarabran-Pilliga road, about midway between Coonabarabran and Pilliga. It is adjacent to Bar ...

Coonabarabran Coonabarabran is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 2,537, Material was copied from this ...

Coonamble Coonamble is a town on the central-western plains of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the Castlereagh Highway north-west of Gilgandra. At the 2016 census, Coonamble had a population of 2,750. It is the regional hub for wheat growing and ...

, Gilgandra, Gulargambone, and Tooraweenah. Access via Coonabarabran to the east is by of sealed road called the John Renshaw Parkway, built in 1966. Via Coonamble to the west, access is by a long road with some gravel. The park is contained within three

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phra ...

Warrumbungle Shire The Warrumbungle Shire is a local government area in the central western region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is traversed by the Newell Highway. The Warrumbungle mountain range and Warrumbungles National Park are major tourist attra ...

to the east,

Gilgandra Shire Gilgandra Shire is a local government area in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the junction of the Newell, Oxley and Castlereagh highways and can be reached in about six hours by car from Sy ...

to the south and

Coonamble Shire Coonamble Shire is a local government area in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Castlereagh Highway and the Castlereagh River. Coonamble Shire includes the towns of Coonamble, Gulargambone and ...

to the west.

Features

Located within the large area of temperate savanna grasslands the park incorporates the most spectacular part of the Warrumbungle mountains, a region of past

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...

activity with unusual

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or ...

formations. Some of the most well-known rock formations include Belougery Spire, Bluff Mountain, Mount Exmouth (tallest mountain in the park),

The Breadknife The Breadknife is a volcanic dyke in New South Wales, Australia. It is nearly 90 metres high, but often is only 4 m wide, which is particularly rare. The Breadknife was part of a large shield volcano, that first erupted about 17 ...

, Split Rock, Fans Horizon and Crater Bluff. There are many scenic bushwalks and both rock climbing and abseiling are popular. Though the park preserved habitat for

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the ...

s in the past, a massive 2013 fire decimated the koala population; none are thought to have survived. Located immediately adjacent to the national park is the

Siding Spring Observatory Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a col ...

. The observatory, officially opened in 1965, was constructed on the boundary of the park partly because the park provided a light-free environment. This scientific facility consists of several internationally important telescopes and has considerable socio-economic importance to the local Coonabarabran community.

Facilities

There are four main

campsite A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using te ...

s. All camping in the park is only permitted after obtaining a permit. There is a visitors centre for bookings and keys to a number of huts. The park also caters for large

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes co ...

groups. There are free electric barbecues available however

firewood Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not highly processed and is in some sort of recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellets or chips. Firewood ca ...

is not supplied or to be collected within park grounds.

History

A proposal to reserve the more scenic parts of the Warrumbungle Range as the ''Warrumbungle National Monument'' was first initiated by the National Parks and Primitive Areas Council in 1936. The area was first proclaimed as a reserve in 1953. In 1967 management of the park was signed over to the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The construction of a network of walking tracks done by hand was headed by the parks first ranger, Carl Dow. The park was added to the list of the National Heritage in December 2006, in recognition of the park's importance as an extensive and spectacular geomorphological site with bold volcanic landforms that are unrivalled anywhere else in Australia; for its unique values as a transition zone between the arid western and wetter coastal zones; and its significance as an important refugium in inland south-east Australia.

2013 bushfire

In January 2013 about 80% of the national park was destroyed in a conflagration (thought to have been started by lightning) that burned much of the area surrounding the park as well as destroying dozens of homes. The visitor centre and museum were wiped out, as well as railings and viewing platforms throughout the park. The park was closed after the fire, but has since reopened, although some parts remain closed.

In popular culture

The national park was used as a filming location for the video for singer

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's 1983 single " Let's Dance", centering on

. The Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

Adventures of the Little Koala ''Adventures of the Little Koala'' (known in Japan as ) is an anime television series produced by Tohokushinsha Film Corporation. It aired originally in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 4, 1984, through March 28, 1985, and then aired in the Unite ...

" takes place within the shadow of The Breadknife.

References

External links

Warrumbungle National Park: Park management
at the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
NSW Parks and Wildlife Service
Closure notice {{Authority control National parks of New South Wales Protected areas established in 1953 Australian National Heritage List 1953 establishments in Australia Important Bird Areas of New South Wales