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Sturt National Park

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Overview

Sturt National Park is a national park in the Far West region of Outback New South Wales, bordering both the states of Queensland and South Australia, and is home to the northwestern most point of the state.

Wikivoyage guide · 18 sections

▸Introduction207 chars

▸History338 chars

The park was founded in 1972 and was named after Charles Sturt, who was a colonial British explorer who led numerous expeditions in inland Australia. The park was also featured in a British documentary "Planet Earth" and is home to parts of the Dingo Fence – a fence put up to prevent dingoes coming to the fertile parts of the southeast.

▸Landscape249 chars

The park is large, covering more than 340,000 hectares (840,000 acres) of arid area. The east sides of the park has flood plains, some trees and small rocky gorges and creek beds, meanwhile, Lake Pinnaroo, near Fort Grey, is a Ramsar listed wetland.

▸Flora and fauna255 chars

Facts

Rank

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Coordinates

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Source

WBP almanac

External sources

Wikivoyage

Media

From Wikipedia1,032 words

Introduction

Australian national park Sturt National ParkIUCN category II (national park)The Dingo Fence in Cameron Corner, located on the northern boundary of the national parkSturt National ParkLocationNew South WalesNearest cityTibooburraCoordinates29°05′37″S 141°30′31″E / 29.09361°S 141.50861°E / -29.09361; 141.50861Area3,253.29 km2 (1,256.10 sq mi)Established25 February 1972 (1972-02-25)Governing bodyNSW National Parks & Wildlife ServiceWebsiteOfficial website The Sturt National Park is a protected national park that is located in the arid far north-western corner of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 325,329-hectare (803,910-acre) national park is situated approximately 1,060 kilometres (660 mi) northwest of Sydney and the nearest town is Tibooburra, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) away. Established in 1972, the park is named in honour of Charles Sturt, a colonial explorer. The park features typical outback scenery of flat, reddish-brown landscapes. It was resumed from five pastoral properties. The Sturt National Park was featured in British documentary called Planet Earth. The Dingo Fence was built along the national park's northern boundary.

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▸Get in837 chars

Sturt National Park can be accessed via either car or via plane, although the latter is not a stable mode of transport. While there are airstrips in both Tibooburra and Cameron Corner, both of those places don't receive scheduled flights leaving car to be the only option. From car, the only way that most travellers usually come and visit this park is via a 4 hour drive north of Broken Hill via the Silver City Highway (B79), which, as of 2020, is paved up to Tibooburra before it becomes unpaved.

Driving here at night is extremely dangerous and should be avoided. If you do ever have to come here at night, go no further than Tibooburra. Camp there, and then wait till the next sunrise before continuing. The dangers of driving at night here is much more greater than other places in the Outback such as Uluru or the Flinders Ranges.

▸See763 chars

Much of what's to see in Sturt National Park relates to how life was living here in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

1 Outdoor Pastoral Museum, Pastoral Heritage Rd, Tibooburra. Learn about what life was like working as a European settler in the NSW Outback, and how typical farms looked. (updated Oct 2021)

2 Courthouse Museum, 51 Briscoe St, Tibooburra (next to Sturt Visitor Centre), ☏ +61 8 8091 3308. M-F 8:30AM-4:30PM. Contains artifacts of early settlers working at sheep stations in the Outback, as well as some old equipment used by the RFDS and just old photographs. Free. (updated Oct 2021)

3 Cameron Corner Survey Marker — Queensland Heritage Register - 1st official survey of the border between Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia

▸Gorge Loop Road842 chars

The Gorge Loop Road is a 104 km (65 mi) route (round trip) and takes about 2 to 3 hours to do, although the route can take a lot longer when taking breaks and when going bushwalking along the way. Starting at Tibooburra Road in the south, the first thing you'll pass is the Outdoor Pastoral Museum on a diversion to Pastoral Heritage Road. After that, before not too long, you'll pass Mount Wood in just a couple of minutes, which was once a sheep station, although in the 21st century, it's now a place to rest your head on.

After that, the road does get a bit desolate for some time, although it's very likely you'll be seeing both of Australia's national animals; the kangaroo and the emu. They may not be easy to spot, but if you look around properly, it's not hard to find them. After that, you'll end up back on the Silver City Highway.

▸Buy, eat and drink508 chars

There are no cafes, restaurants or any place to eat in Sturt National Park, but there is a place 1 km (0.62 mi) across the border in Queensland.

1 Cameron Corner Store, Camerons Corner Rd, Cameron Corner QLD, ☏ +61 8 8091 3872, cameroncorner2880@gmail.com. This is the only place anywhere in Australia to have a Qld postcode, an NSW postal address, and a South Australian phone number and one of only two places where three states meet. Provides meals, camping services, and fuel as well. (updated Oct 2021)

▸Lodging993 chars

Note that both of these places to lodge are closed during the summer months (December 1 to February 28). If you're travelling to Sturt National Park in summer, and don't want to camp, then there are places to rest your head in Tibooburra.

1 Mount Wood Homestead, 173 Gorge Loop Rd, Tibooburra. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 10AM. Built in the late 19th century, this is likely one of the closest places available to what life was like for European settlers in the Outback. It's also not too far away from the nearby Pastoral Museum. (updated Oct 2021)

2 Mount Wood Shearers Quarters, 164 Gorge Loop Road, Tibooburra. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 10AM. For those who'd like to have a real feel of how the outback was like for European settlers in the 19th and 20th century, Mount Wood Shearers Quarters is nothing short of that. The building was once a pastoral property; in the 21st century, it's now a unique historic accommodation. Has eight rooms, and can facilitate 32 guests. (updated Oct 2021)

▸Camping938 chars

3 Dead Horse Gully campground, Dead Horse Campground Trail, Tibooburra. Perched between the boulders made of granite looking like giant marbles which have been here for thousands of years, this place can be arguably considered a "see it to believe it" places, although that highly varies on opinion. Do note though, while there's water available in this area, it'll need to be treated before drinking and there are also no marked sites. (updated Oct 2021)

4 Mount Wood campground, Mt Wood Camping Area Trail, Tibooburra. This entire area is enough to tell you how it was like as a farmer in the 19th and 20th century. (updated Oct 2021)

5 Olive Downs campground, Olive Grove Walking Loop, Tibooburra. Typical outback camping. For those who are more interested in the wildlife aspects of this park rather than the historic aspects of this park Olive Downs campground is well known for the roos that frequently come here. (updated Oct 2021)

▸Stay safe787 chars

As this park is in the Outback, take the usual precautions, and although this can never be stressed enough, bring at least five bottles with you and an esky if you're going in summer and camping out. At other times of the year, still bring an esky (except in winter), and at least three bottles of water if you're camping.

While it's easy to think that there's snakes, spiders and all these venomous creatures, the chance of you getting attacked by them is very little. They'll only do that if you do the same. On the other hand, if you do get bitten by a snake or spider, put an icepack (if you brought an esky, take some ice from there), and an RFDS plane should come after you give a ring.

There is no mobile coverage anywhere in the park, and Telstra only has coverage in Tibooburra.

▸Go next463 chars

Your only choices are to either head south to Tibooburra and down to the rest of Outback New South Wales, head west to Outback South Australia to towns like Innamincka or north to Outback Queensland to towns like Longreach.

The newly-opened Narriearra Caryapundy Swamp National Park is also nearby (in Outback terms), but there are few facilities and requires you to go on poorly maintained dirt roads and realistically, as of 2022, is not really a viable option.

Fauna

[edit] Mammals[edit] At least 31 species of mammal have been recorded in the park. The most obvious to visitors include the red kangaroo, western grey kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo and Euro. Other terrestrial mammals found at Sturt NP also include the dingo, stripe-faced dunnart, paucident planigale, narrow-nosed planigale, dusky hopping mouse and desert mouse. Nine species of bat have also been recorded in the park, including the eastern long-eared bat, little broad-nosed bat, yellow-bellied sheath-tailed bat, inland forest bat and little pied bat. Several introduced pest species occur, including the European fox, European rabbit, feral cat, feral goat and feral pig. Several mammal species that previously occurred prior to the arrival of Europeans are also being reintroduced into the park. These include the Crest-tailed Mulgara, Greater Bilby, Western barred bandicoot, Burrowing bettong, Greater stick-nest rat, Golden bandicoot and Western quoll. Reptiles and amphibians[edit] At least 67 species of reptile have been recorded in the park. Commonly found species include the central bearded dragon, shingleback, tree dtella and Bynoe's gecko. The Gould's goanna, ringed brown snake, whip snake and mulga snake are also common, but less likely to be seen. Several cryptic species also inhabit the park, such as the Interior blind snake and woma python. Several frog species can also be found in the park, including the desert tree frog, common around the residential and accommodation areas, the burrowing frog and the water-holding frog. Birds[edit] At least 197 bird species have been recorded in the park, with the most obvious to visitors being the emu. Significant ground-nesting birds include the inland dotterel, stubble quail, Australian pratincole and spotted nightjar. 13 species of parrot, which rely on tree hollows for nesting, have also been recorded in the park. These include flocks of cockatiels, galahs, corellas and less frequently budgerigars that appear after rain events. A wide variety of birds of prey are also present in the park, including the wedge-tailed eagle, black-breasted buzzard, grey falcon, Australian hobby and nankeen kestrel. The Ramsar-listed Lake Pinaroo, present within the park, also acts as an important stopover and drought refuge for at least 40 species of waterbird, including several threatened species, such as the Australian painted-snipe. Other waterbird species also include the freckled duck, blue-billed duck and Caspian tern. Invertebrates[edit] Ants, termites, native bees and spiders are all common within the park, however existing knowledge of species and interactions are poor. The aquatic invertebrates found in the park include the common yabby and freshwater crab, while populations of shield shrimp can commonly be found in temporary water pools after rain events.

Attractions

[edit] The park contains aboriginal middens and stone relics. There are many walking trails and an extensive network of roads. Most roads in the park are gravel with some sandy stretches and can be driven on with a conventional vehicle. A 4WD vehicle is needed after heavy rains. In the east of the park are flood plains, dotted with occasional trees which then give way to small rocky gorges and creek beds. Located here is Mount Wood, Gorge Lookout and the Mount Wood camping ground. The Mt. Wood shearers quarters after 10mm of rain Towards the middle of the park, The Olive Downs, or "Jump Up" country has flat topped mesas rising up to 150 metres (490 ft) above the surrounding plains, granite outcrops and flat valleys. The Jump Ups are the remains of an ancient mountain range. The park's second camping site called Dead Horse Gully camping ground is located here. Amongst the boulders north of Tibooburra is another camping ground. All camp grounds have toilets, gas barbecues and water provided. In the far west of the national park, the gibber plains are replaced by sandhills of the Strzelecki Desert. Cameron Corner is a remote but popular tourist destination where the states of New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland meet. Also in this part of the park is Fort Grey—the fourth camp ground and a heritage site. The holding yards visible here and a remnant from the explorer Charles Sturt. The fort is a stockade that was built to protect Sturt's supplies and prevent the exploration party's sheep from wandering away. While searching for a fabled inland sea, Captain Charles Sturt, after whom the park is named, spent a year in the area. Fort Grey is sited on the edge of the ephemeral, and Ramsar-listed, Lake Pinaroo - an important breeding and drought refuge for waterbirds when it contains water.

Conservation projects

[edit] Wild Deserts program[edit] A Crest-tailed Mulgara, re-discovered in Sturt NP in 2017 during wildlife surveys undertaken as part of the Wild Deserts program The Wild Deserts program is an ongoing program aiming to reintroduce 7 locally extinct mammals back into Sturt National Park. A partnership between the University of New South Wales and Ecological Horizons, in collaboration with the Office of Environment and Heritage and Taronga Conservation Society, the project is using large fenced exclosures to assist with the reintroduction. The species being reintroduced include the crest-tailed mulgara, greater bilby, western barred bandicoot, burrowing bettong, greater stick-nest rat, golden bandicoot and western quoll.