Edmund Kennedy National Park Queensland | |
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Nearest town or city | Tully |
Coordinates | 18°02′41″S146°01′41″E / 18.04472°S 146.02806°E Coordinates: 18°02′41″S146°01′41″E / 18.04472°S 146.02806°E |
Established | 1977 |
Area | 69.5 km2 (26.8 sq mi) |
Managing authorities | Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service |
Website | Edmund Kennedy National Park |
See also | Protected areas of Queensland |
Edmund Kennedy is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 1269 km northwest of Brisbane. The national park is part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. It was named after Edmund Kennedy, a mid-nineteenth century explorer.
The park protects part of the coastline between the mouths of the Tully River and Meunga Creek at Rockingham Bay. [1] Waters adjacent to the park belong to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
The coastal plain contains mangrove and freshwater swamps associated with the waterways of Murray River, Dallachy Creek and Wreck Creek. [1] Other vegetation types include low coastal rainforest, eucalyptus forest, melaleuca woodland and sedge swamp. [2] The Arenga palm grows here, one of only a few Australian mainland locations where this occurs. [1] The Red Beech, pandanus and melaleucas are typically found in the park. [3] [4] [5]
The endangered southern cassowary and mahogany glider are found in the park. [2] Saltwater crocodiles are found in the creeks. [1] The park is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for the conservation of lowland tropical rainforest birds. [6] Common birds include the black butcherbird and various honeyeaters. The orange-footed scrubfowl nests in the park. Their mounds, which can be up to three m high, are the largest of all mound-building birds in Australia. [1] Lace monitor lizards can also be seen in Edmund Kennedy National Park. [2]
Feral pigs and cattle have to be culled from the area.
The land was once home to the Girramay people. [3] In 1848, explorer Edmund Kennedy and his party landed 35 km north of the park. He travelled south through the area now known as Edmund Kennedy National Park in a failed attempt to find passage over the ranges behind the coast. [3]
It was expanded in 1980 by land donated by conservation activists Margaret and Arthur Thorsborne. In 2011, Cyclone Yasi caused significant damage to the area.
Camping is not permitted in the park. [1] Picnic facilities including tables and toilets are available. A boardwalk through mangroves and another along Wreck Creek are graded as easy. [7]
The park can be reached by an entrance road four km north of Cardwell on the Bruce Highway. [1]
Clump Mountain is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 1287 km northwest of Brisbane. It is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for the conservation of lowland tropical rainforest birds. Here is an important habitat of the endangered southern cassowary, a large flightless bird, which has been recorded only in the tropical rainforests of Queensland and New Guinea.
The Daintree rainforest is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia, 1,757 km (1,092 mi) northwest of Brisbane and 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Cairns. It was founded in 1981 and is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland. In 1988 it became a World Heritage Site. The park consists of two sections, with a settled agricultural area between them which includes the towns of Mossman and Daintree Village.
Eubenangee Swamp is a national park in Eubenangee in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, 1332 km northwest of Brisbane. It is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for the conservation of lowland tropical rainforest birds. It plays home to over 190 species of birds.
Grey Peaks is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia, 1,374 km northwest of Brisbane. It is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for the conservation of lowland tropical rainforest birds.
Hull River is a national park in Queensland (Australia), 1275 km northwest of Brisbane. GIS mapping data from Queensland Department of Natural Resources (2002) showed an area of 3,240 hectares, of which about 2,100 hectares are estuarine mangroves, with the remainder being swamp forests dominated by Melaleuca and specialist Eucalypt species. Rainfall averages 3,600 mm per year. The park is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for the conservation of lowland tropical rainforest birds.
Girringun National Park is a national park in Queensland, Australia, approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) southwest of Ingham, 110 kilometres (68 mi) north of Townsville and 1,290 kilometres (800 mi) northwest of Brisbane. The park is one of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area series of national parks, and is a gazetted World Heritage Site.
Maria Creek is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia, 1292 km northwest of Brisbane. It is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for the conservation of lowland tropical rainforest birds.
Russell River is a national park in North Queensland, Australia, 1352 km northwest of Brisbane. The park protects a coastal strip between the sea and the Russell River. It is part of the Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for the conservation of lowland tropical rainforest birds.
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a tropical and subtropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Mount Bartle Frere is the highest mountain in Queensland at an elevation of 1,611 metres (5,285 ft). The mountain was named after Sir Henry Bartle Frere, a British colonial administrator and then president of the Royal Geographical Society by George Elphinstone Dalrymple in 1873. Bartle Frere was British Governor of Cape Colony at the outset of the Anglo-Zulu War.
The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km2 of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Wet Tropics of Queensland meets all four of the criteria for natural heritage for selection as a World Heritage Site. World Heritage status was declared in 1988, and on 21 May 2007 the Wet Tropics were added to the Australian National Heritage List.
Hinchinbrook Island is an island in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies east of Cardwell and north of Lucinda, separated from the north-eastern coast of Queensland by the narrow Hinchinbrook Channel. Hinchinbrook Island is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and wholly protected within the Hinchinbrook Island National Park, except for a small and abandoned resort. It is the largest island on the Great Barrier Reef. It is also the largest island national park in Australia.
The Daintree Rainforest is a region on the northeast coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Mossman and Cairns. At around 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi), the Daintree is a part of the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest on the Australian continent. The Daintree Rainforest is a part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland Rainforest, that spans across the Cairns Region. The Wet Tropics Rainforest is the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest in the world. Along the coastline north of the Daintree River, tropical forest grows right down to the edge of the sea.
The Murray Falls, a cascade waterfall on the Murray River, is located in the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Wet Tropics in Murray Upper, Cassowary Coast Region in the Far North region of Queensland, Australia.
Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area is a heritage-listed military installation at Byfield Road, Byfield, Shire of Livingstone, Queensland, Australia. It is a large, relatively undisturbed and intact natural system with a wide variety of coastal landforms and a high level of biodiversity. It contains a diverse range of marine and coastal wetland landscapes, vegetation types and ecosystems. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.
The Arnhem Land tropical savanna is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion in Australia's Northern Territory.
The Coastal Wet Tropics Important Bird Area comprises a disjunct 521 km2 stretch of coastal and subcoastal land in tropical Far North Queensland, Australia. It extends from just south of Cairns in the north for about 150 km to Cardwell in the south. It is important for the conservation of lowland rainforest birds, especially southern cassowaries.
Kuranda National Park is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia. Like many national parks in the area it belongs to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The park protects an important wildlife corridor in which rainforest and open eucalypt forest predominate. Walking, mountain biking and four-wheel driving are popular recreational activities.
James Peter Stanton is an Australian landscape ecologist, fire ecologist, botanist and biogeographer who individually conducted systematic environmental resource surveys throughout Queensland whilst working for the National Parks department of Forestry (Qld.) from 1967–1974. He carried out his assessments in a range of dissimilar landscapes leading to the identification and protection of many critically threatened ecosystems across the state during a period of rapid and widespread land development under the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government. For this work he became the first Australian to receive the IUCN Fred M. Packard Award in 1982.
Tully Training Area is a heritage-listed rainforest in a military training area at Tully-Cardstone Road, Tully, Queensland, Australia. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.