Mount Remarkable National Park
- Introduction
- Fact file
- A look at the past
- Aboriginal culture
- Natural features
- Native plants
- Wildlife
- DEH (08) 8204 1910
- MRNP (08) 8634 7068
- TAKE in the view over the park’s rugged hills from one of the lookouts near Mambray Creek
- WATCH out for some of the beautiful native orchids
- LISTEN to brown and streambank froglets at Mambray Creek
- EXPLORE the wonders of Alligator and Hidden gorges
Introduction
Mount Remarkable National Park, in the southern reaches of the Flinders Ranges, is a beautiful bushland park with pretty creeks, steep wooded valleys and rugged, red quartzite gorges. The park conserves part of an important biological region of high diversity, where arid zone and temperate species overlap.
Fact file
Access
From Adelaide via Princes Hwy through Port Wakefi eld to Mambray Creek; or via Clare then B82 to Melrose
Best Season
Autumn to spring
Location
250 km north of Adelaide; 50 km south-east of Port Augusta
Park Information
Permits
Camping permit required
Size
18 000 ha
Where to Stay
Melrose (08) 8666 2060
www.mountremarkable.com.au
Wilmington (08) 8667 5155
A look at the past
Mount Remarkable was named by intrepid explorer Edward Eyre in 1840. By the late 1880s the Mount Remarkable and Alligator Gorge areas were used for sheep grazing, and ruins and relics of pastoral homesteads, huts, fence lines and dams lie abandoned in the landscape. Trees were felled: blue gum and red gum for railway sleepers, and cypress pine for building the early pug and pine shepherd’s huts. Copper mining ventures were established, most notably at Melrose and Spring Hill, and the Napperby Block supplied stone for many of Port Pirie’s buildings.
Aboriginal culture
The Nukunu people have traditional ties with this region and sites in the park reveal their use of chert (very hard sedimentary rock used to make spearheads) and quartzite. The Nukunu now live in several centres around Mount Remarkable and retain strong links to their country.
Natural features
The north–south Mount Remarkable Range, including its 960-metre namesake, in the east and Alligator Syncline to the west are formed of ancient quartzite, folded into mountain slopes and peaks. At the centre of the park are the rugged catchments of the Mambray and Alligator creeks, while to the west a lowland plain sweeps down towards Spencer Gulf. The western half of the park is dominated in the north by the Alligator Syncline pound with The Battery forming its western rim, and the Black Range peaks of The Pinnacle (726 metres) and Mount Cavern (770 metres) in the south.
Native plants
South Australian blue gum, and sugar gum, endemic to the state, cover most of the park, with river red gums along the creeklines, glades of cypress pines in the Mambray Creek valleys and a stand of rare white box. Wildfl owers are prolific, with 490 plants recorded here, including several species of threatened orchids and the largest known population of bayonet spider orchids. Along the western flanks of the ranges emubush grows among the rocks, native hibiscus adorns sheltered spots in the gorges and downy mint bush blooms in the rocky gullies. Wattles, some endemic to the area, provide magnificent displays of gold, with species such as golden wattle, dog wattle, graceful wattle and Flinders Range wattle.
Wildlife
This park straddles two biological regions, thereby providing a refuge for more species than areas to the north or south. Mambray Creek has South Australia’s only endemic frog, the streambank froglet (see page 146), as well as its widespread southern cousin, the brown froglet. Euros and western grey kangaroos are very common, with the bigger red kangaroos on the western plains, and yellow-footed rock-wallabies in the gorges. Ringtail and brushtail possums, and pygmy-possums, make their home in the river red gums. The 117 bird species include the painted button-quail and the diamond fi retail. The rare Krefft’s tiger snake, Flinders Ranges worm-lizard, and striking lace monitor are among the national park’s 52 reptile species.
Featured Activities in the National Park
Introduction
This park provides opportunities for bushwalking (100 kilometres of walking trails), picnicking (shady day-visitor areas with excellent facilities are provided alongside the creek at Mambray and at Blue Gum Flat in Alligator Gorge), camping and nature study. History buffs can also explore the park’s European pastoral and mining heritage sites.
Bushwalking
A short trail leads through the narrow Alligator Gorge (2-km loop), while the longer Ring Route (9 km) heads upstream past the Terraces. Mambray Creek to Alligator Gorge trail (14 km one way, 5½ hours) is easy to follow, with the chance of seeing colourful grevillea, bottlebrush and fringe-myrtle. Hidden Gorge and The Battery loop walk (18 km, 7½ hours) leads through shrublands to the spectacular red quartzite cliffs of Hidden Gorge, and includes a 350-metre climb to The Battery lookout for scenic views. For the energetic there is Mount Cavern walk (11-km loop, 7½ hours, difficult), with a 620-metre climb to the summit to views over the Spencer Gulf, or the steep and stony trek to the top of the 963-metre Mount Remarkable (8-km loop, 7 hours, 600-metre climb) from Melrose. The Heysen Trail passes through the east of the park from Stony Creek in the north to the Napperby Block in the south.
Campsites
Eaglehawk Dam camping area (bush camping)
Fricks Dam camping area (bush camping)
Goat Rock camping area (bush camping)
Kingfisher Flat camping area (bush camping)
The Racecourse camping area (bush camping)
Stony Creek Camp (bush camping)
Stringers camping area (bush camping)
Sugar Gum Dam camping area (bush camping)
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