Fitzgerald River National Park, Nature reserve in Western Australia, Australia
Fitzgerald River National Park covers 329,882 hectares in the Shires of Ravensthorpe and Jerramungup, 419 km southeast of Perth. It takes in the Barren Range (East, Middle and West Mount Barren), the Eyre Range, Culham Inlet, the Fitzgerald and Hamersley rivers and Hamersley Inlet, and forms the core of the Fitzgerald Biosphere. The central area is reached only by four-wheel drive or on foot.
The park is named after Governor James Fitzgerald. Quaalup Homestead was built in 1858 by the Wellstead family, and the Hassell family took over the pastoral lease in 1890. In 2023 a Coulson Aviation Boeing 737-300 crashed in the park while fighting fires; both pilots survived.
The park lies in the traditional country of the Goreng, Mineng and Wudjari (Noongar) people. The northwest precinct is called Twertup, a name used for Twertup Creek, a road and several plants, including the Twertup mallee (Eucalyptus arborella) and Twertup feather-flower (Verticordia crebra). The 19th-century author Ethel Hassell, who lived at Jerramungup station, titled a chapter Twertup, and her Nyungar friend Gimbuck explained the area's reputation for dingoes and the ancestral story of their abundance.
The park can be reached through two main access points: from Bremer Bay in the west and from Hopetoun in the east, both via sealed roads. It is wise to check conditions before visiting, as the area is remote and facilities may be limited.
The area is home to around 1,600 plant species, with 75 of them found nowhere else on Earth. This concentration of plants that exist nowhere else makes it a globally important location for botany and conservation.
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