Gawler Ranges park on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula noted for big ancient rock forms and its tiny precious birds

The big and small of Gawler Ranges National Park's natural importance: spectacular rock forms including the organ pipes and the endangered tiny short-tailed grass wren, on South Australia's northwestern Eyre Peninsula.
Images (wren) by James Dorey, courtesy Nature Foundation; and Wikipedia.

Gawler Ranges National Park, a 1,633 square kilometres protected area 350 kilometres northwest of Adelaide in the northern Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, is known for huge ancient rock forms and important tiny birds.

Among the spectacular rock forms are the organ pipes, one of the world’s largest exposures of rhyoliteÂ, from the area’s volcanic history going back 1500 million years ago.

At the other end of the size scale, 140 species of birds have been recorded in Gawler Ranges national park, identified by BirdLife International as an important area for birds. They include the vulnerable mallee fowl, the Gawler Ranges subspecies of the short-tailed grass wren, rufous treecreeper, blue-breasted fairy wren, purple-gaped honeyeater and western yellow robin.

Twenty-one rare and endangered animal and plant species, including the yellow-footed rock wallaby, were found in the national park, along with the southern hairy-nosed wombat.

Gawler Ranges National Park originated as the 1,200 sqaure kilometres Paney Station pastoral lease, bought in 2000 by the South Australian government with help from the Australian government. In 2001, 420 square kilomtres of the adjacent Scrubby Peak station was bought and added to the national park.

Adjoining the Gawler Ranges National Park, managed by the South Australian government department for environment and water, was the Hiltaba Nature Reserve, taken over in 2020 by the Nature Foundation. Yellabinna Regional Reserve was close its western border.

Historic sites in the national park included the Old Paney Homestead, the Policeman's Point precinct, Stone Dam, and Pondanna outstation, where agriculture was attempted in the early 20th Century. Notable landmarks were Paney Bluff, Mount Allalone, Mount Sturt, Conical Hill and Scrubby Peak. Other scenic sites are Kolay Mirica Falls and Yandinga Gorge.

The national park was 40 kilomtres north of Wudinna, 40 kilometres northeast of Minnipa and accessible using high ground clearance two-wheel drive vehicles via the gravel roads from Kimba, Wudinna or Minnipa. Camping was permitted and encouraged at several campgrounds.