Nambung National Park

Nambung National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Map of Australia
Nearest town/city	Cervantes
Coordinates	30°34′34″S 115°10′12″E / 30.57611°S 115.17°E / -30.57611; 115.17Coordinates: 30°34′34″S 115°10′12″E / 30.57611°S 115.17°E / -30.57611; 115.17
Area	19,268 ha (47,612 acres)[1]
Established	1968
Managing authorities	Department of Environment and Conservation
Official site	NatureBase - Nambung National Park

Nambung National Park is a national park in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia (Australia), 162 km northwest of Perth. It contains the Pinnacles Desert.

Nambung is an Indigenous Australian word meaning crooked or winding referring to the Nambung River that drains into the area.

The park is bordered to the north by Southern Beekeepers Nature Reserve and to the south by Wanagarren Nature Reserve. A large area of vacant Crown Land is found along much of the eastern edge.^[2]

Europeans first visited the area in 1658 when Dutch maps recorded North and South Hummocks on their maps. Philip Parker King also mentioned the Hummocks in his journals in 1820. The Pinnacles Desert area remained relatively unknown until surveyed in the late 1960s after the area had been added to an existing national park that was formed in 1956.

Visitors can access the "Pinnacles" from Cervantes, 17 km north of the park, via Cervantes Road and Indian Ocean Drive. With the opening of the final (south) section of Indian Ocean Drive from Lancelin to Cervantes on 19 September 2010, visitors travelling from Perth can now access the "Pinnacles" Nambung National Park directly via Indian Ocean Drive.

Natural limestone formations commonly known as the Pinnacles

See also

• Protected areas of Western Australia
• The Pinnacles Desert

References

1. ^ Department of Environment and Conservation 2009–2010 Annual Report. Department of Environment and Conservation. 2010. pp. 48. ISSN 1835-114X. http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/content/view/6139/2345/. 
2. ^ "Nambung National Park Management Plan 1998-2008". 1998. http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/pdf/nature/management/nambung.pdf. Retrieved 2010-10-23.