| FITZGERALD RIVER NATIONAL PARK | Gondwana Link Home |
"The Fitzgerald River National Park is without doubt the most important mediterranean ecosystem reserve in the world. It stands out for its scientific, conservation and educational values in the same way that the Galapagos Islands do."
Dr. Bernd von Droste
Previously Director of the Division of Ecological Sciences UNESCO
now head of World Heritage Bureau, UNESCO
Previously Director of the Division of Ecological Sciences UNESCO
now head of World Heritage Bureau, UNESCO
It’s both subtle and bizarre. Drive quickly from the Stirlings to the Fitzgerald and the blur of mallee and heath outside the car window looks pretty similar. Then stop and look closely, for the two parks have less than 40% of their plants in common. There is an enormous ecological turnover as you cross this mega diverse landscape. In many areas you can actually see species change into other species. Travel east across the Fitzgerald and Grevillea tripartita slowly becomes Grevillea macrostylis, with the plants in the middle defying the classification techniques of plant taxonomists. Stop above the small gorges in the north of the park and try and decipher what Eucalypts lemannii and macrandra form when they grow together. Even a short walk in the central ranges produces Grevillea aff nudiflora intergrading, over just a few kilometers, into funnel leaved Grevillea infundibularis.
That’s why it has been compared to a giant Galapagos Islands, but all jumbled up, with the evolutionary sequences and relationships still a mystery. Simple patterns, like Charles Darwin identified for the different finch species of the Galapagos, have not been identified here. Even relatively common species are still being scientifically discovered, with the list of plants known from the Park more than trebling in the last 25 years. Currently sitting at a total just under 2000, the park holds more species of plants than all of Australia’s rainforests combined, with 75 of these plants endemic to the park itself. It also holds the most complete mammal fauna in south-western Australia, including species such as the Dibbler and Shortridges Native Mouse, which were once feared extinct in WA until re-discovered in the 1980s. The park is also the stronghold of Australia’s second rarest parrot, the western ground parrot, with less than 200 individuals left.
The first large wilderness area zoned in Western Australia was declared across the central section of the park in 1992. This was partly to protect the grandeur of the spongolite gorges, quartzite peaks and rugged coastline. An additional major concern supporting the wilderness zoning is the need to protect the park from dieback fungus by restricting vehicle access. By the early 1980s the coastal sections of the park had become a maze of fishing tracks, bashed through the bush by reckless adventurers. These are now closed over much of the park.
The wilderness core, vital for the ecological well being of this superb natural area, remains under attack by local government, tourist developers and other interests, who continually float proposals for road networks across the park. The other main threat, as in the Stirlings, is poor fire management. Often the two threats are combined, with a road network being maintained across the wilderness to provide ‘fire access’.
The Friends of the Fitzgerald River National Park was formed in 1980s. As well as promoting appreciation and enjoyment of the area this group supports and promotes ecological studies in the Park, the establishment of other reserves contributing to its value and liaison with the Park's management bodies.
