#ourwapark of the week: D’Entrecasteaux National Park

Photo: Rainbow Coast

D’Entrecasteaux National Park is a narrow strip of land 5 to 20 km wide which stretches along the south coast for more than 130 kilometres between Augusta and Walpole.

The 118,779-hectare park has long, white beaches and rugged limestone cliffs backed by extensive coastal wetlands and islands of karri forest and granite. Its diversity and size make it one of the most remote and pristine natural areas of the region.

The park has many unique and distinctive natural features two of which are:

• Black Point: hexagonal-shaped basalt columns formed 135 million years ago by volcanic lava.
• Yeagarup Dunes: the largest land-locked mobile dune system in the southern hemisphere.

A wide range of recreational opportunities that can be enjoyed include fishing, surfing, diving, whale watching, four-wheel driving, camping, bush walking and canoeing.

It is a great place for group camping and popular for four wheel driving.

How to get there:

• D’Entrecasteaux National Park is approximately 20 minutes from Pemberton, or approximately 4.5 hours from Perth. A few sites in the park are accessible by all vehicles, but most require a 4WD.
• Travelling within the park will also take some time, as tracks are sand and cannot be taken at speed.

What you may not know about the park

• An important conservation area of wild, pristine beauty; blessed with white beaches, rugged coastal cliffs and towering karri forests.
• Site is an important place for the traditional owners of the park – the Murram group: Erosion of sand dunes within the park has revealed numerous stone artefacts, two fish traps, two quarry sites, one mythological site and one burial site.
• A series of lakes and swamps, including Lake Yeagarup and Lake Jasper, which is the largest freshwater lake in the southern half of the state.
• Mount Chudalup, a large granite outcrop in the park, boasts a unique ecosystem with 42 species of moss, 28 species of lichen and 6 species of liverwort, some of which are found nowhere else.
• Houses a number of threatened species, including the woylie and the chudditch. It is also home to a population of mainland quokkas.