The Seven Wonders of Wilpena

The Flinders Ranges are full of spectacular views and hidden treasures. We have compiled our top seven sights in the area so that you don’t miss a thing.

1.    Wangarra Lookout & Hills Homestead
Wangarra Lookout Walk -This popular 7.5km (return) bushwalk takes you along Wilpena Creek into the Pound, via Sliding Rock and Hills Homestead. The short walk up Wangarra Hill from Hills Homestead takes you to the lower (5 minutes) and upper (20 minutes) lookouts, offering panoramic views of Wilpena Pound. Allow approximately two hours return. To save your legs, you can take the shuttle bus (see Appendix 8 for timetable) part way into the Pound and be picked up two hours later.

Hills Homestead - Located just beyond the entrance to the Pound, on your way to Wangarra Lookout, is the Hills Homestead. Renovated from ruin in 1995 by local craftsman Heath Fels, the crumbling walls, rotting beams and collapsed verandah were restored, bringing the homestead back to its original glory. You will find interpretive signs on the history of the Hill family and the aboriginal dreamtime story nearby.

2.    Old Wilpena Station
Old Wilpena Station is one of the most scenically spectacular pastoral settlements in South Australia. A working station for 135 years, Old Wilpena Station slipped into retirement in 1985 and is now a tranquil archive of pastoral history.

The station is also an important Aboriginal heritage site and the setting of Ikara - The Meeting Place, an interpretive display giving fascinating insight into the Adnyamathanha way of life: past, present and future. Wilpena Pound and the Wilpena Station lands hold enduring cultural significance for the Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders Ranges.

The self guided walk “Living with the Land” interpretive trail explores the themes of self sufficiency, improvisation and survival on the remote and isolated pastoral settlements of the Flinders Ranges. Entry passes are available at the Visitor Centre. The entry fee includes the Old Wilpena Station Souvenir Guide and information on Ikara - The Meeting Place.

3.    Stokes Hill Lookout
Located approximately 20km north toward Blinman, on the Hawker-Blinman Road you will find Stokes Hill Lookout, offering spectacular panoramas of Wilpena Pound, Mt Patawarta, and the Druid, Chace, Elder, Heysen and Bunker Ranges. Interpretive signs at the site include a 3D model of Wilpena Pound and explanatory panels for Adnyamathanha dreamtime legends, traditional plant uses and pictorial symbols. This lookout is particularly scenic at sunset and the perfect place to enjoy a cheese platter and bottle of wine with your loved one.

4.    Brachina Gorge Geological Trail and Bunyeroo Valley
Brachina Gorge is one of the Park’s most popular and spectacular tourist attractions. The gorge is an important refuge for the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby as well as many species of birds and reptiles. The Brachina Gorge Geological Trail is a 20km self-guided trail that passes through 130 million years of earth history. Detailed interpretive signage is provided along the route providing an insight into past climates, the formation of the ranges and the evolution of early forms of life. The trail is best travelled east to west, commencing at the Brachina Gorge/Blinman Road intersection.


5.    Moralana Scenic Drive
This 28km drive passes between the Southern wall of the Pound and the magnificent Elder Range. Part of the Heysen trail, the route runs through Arkaba sheep station, linking main roads from Hawker to Blinman and Parachilna. Midway along the route, take the turnoff for Black Gap Lookout to enjoy magnificent views of the outer Pound wall.

6.    Sacred Canyon
Weathered aboriginal rock carvings can be seen on the walls of this small canyon, 19km north of Wilpena, off the Blinman Road. Find interpretive signs at the site, explaining the symbols you will find. Little is known about the people who made these carvings, which can be found in numerous places throughout the Flinders Ranges, as the memory of these people has long been lost to the local indigenous community. For more information on the indigenous history of the area see

7.    The Cazneaux Tree
This magnificent River Red Gum was first made famous by Harold Cazneaux, a photographer who won first prize at an International Photographic Exhibition in 1937 with his photograph of the tree, which he entitled “The Spirit of Endurance”.

Flinders Ranges National Park

PARK INFORMATION
Reserve Type: National Park (to protect values of national significance)
Area: 94,908 hectares
Acquired: Wilpena Pound as a Forest Reserve in 1921 and a later a National Pleasure Resort in 1945, Oraparinna Station in 1970 as Oraparinna National Park, then Wilpena Station in 1988 to form Flinders Ranges National Park.

PARK IN BRIEF
Aboriginal people have lived in the Flinders Ranges for tens of thousands of years. For many groups, most notably the Adnyamathanha, the Ranges are still of enormous significance today.

European occupation of the Flinders Ranges in the mid-nineteenth century brought widespread environmental modifications. Despite these changes, the Park supports examples of natural and semi-arid ecosystems, and includes many plants and animals of conservation significance. The most notable of these is probably the yellow-footed rock wallaby which occurs in rocky gorges within the Park.

The Flinders Ranges National Park encompasses some of the most spectacular scenery in South Australia, and has been made famous by the paintings of Sir Hans Heysen. The Park is world renowned for its geological history, including impressive fossil remains.

CONSERVATION PROGRAMS
Nothing stands alone in nature. Every plant, animal, insect and soil microbe, living or dead, interacts with the ecosystem in which it is a part. Natural events like drought, floods and wildfire test the resilience of species and ecosystems. Most are adapted to survive extreme conditions in the short term. Rare catastrophic events like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and comet impacts, or climate change over time, may alter conditions for life locally or globally. But change is usually slow, measured in units of geological time rather than human lifetimes. However, human-induced changes during the last 150 years have seriously impacted upon ecosystems of the Flinders Ranges. Some effects are irreversible, like species extinctions. The rabbit-eared Bandicoot, or Wara lives only in memory, as catalogued museum skin, or as a creation spirit of the Adnyamathanha Dreaming. But there is scope for some recovery.

BOUNCEBACK FLINDERS RANGES is an ambitious ecological recovery program that is restoring ecosystem health in the Flinders Ranges.

ECOLOGICAL HEALTH/BIOLOGICAL WEALTH
In nature, variety is all-important. Variety or biodiversity ensures strong healthy communities of living things. As natural areas shrink in the wake of development and exploitation, variety diminishes. Species are lost. Nature conservation has been driven by ‘rescue packages’ for threatened species like pandas, condors, and bilbies. Conservation has been largely species focused. Management for biodiversity shifts the spotlight from individual species to landscape-scale ecosystem health. The conservation of threatened species, or species rescue, becomes an integral part of management for biodiversity. BOUNCEBACK FLINDERS RANGES is a landscape-scale conservation management program which aims to restore healthy, resilient, and diverse natural eco-systems, and, in the process, rescue threatened species.

WHY ARE THE FLINDERS IMPORTANT?
The Flinders Ranges penetrate into the arid heart of Australia. Moist mountain habitats extend the range of some plants and animal species found in eastern and southern Australia. Temperate and arid species occur in close association. Relic, threatened and endemic species, those that are found only in the Flinders Ranges, are of particular interest to conservation managers. Many species of conservation significance are the invisible tenants of the Flinders Ranges and are unlikely to be seen by visitors.

• The Ranges are a stronghold of the nationally vulnerable Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby with about 70% of remaining wild populations within Australia found in the Olary and Flinders Ranges
• Five reptile species and thirty-four bird species have state conservation significance, whilst seventy bird species are regionally significant. Notable species include the red-barred dragon, short-tailed grass wren, and the blue-winged parrot.
• Ten of the twenty-four surviving native mammal species have special conservation status. On a recent biological survey several species previously unknown within the Flinders Ranges were recorded, including the Little Long-tailed Dunnart, Common Dunnart, Desert Mouse, and Little Forest Bat.
• Two hundred and twenty-one native plant species have some level of conservation significance at national, state or regional level.

The semi-arid environment of the Flinders Ranges is particularly fragile. Much of the region including the Flinders and Gammon Ranges National Parks, was taken up for pastoral production in the mid to late 1800’s. Stocking rates were among the highest recorded for Australia during the early pastoral years. Many small to medium sized mammals and some birds and reptiles had all but disappeared from the region by 1900. The extent of local extinctions was realized almost a century later. The persistence of European foxes, rabbits, feral cats, goats and donkeys has contributed to the further degradation of ecosystems.

THE IMPACT OF EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT ON BIODIVERSITY IN THE FLINDERS RANGES:

• Unsustainable grazing pressure led to the loss of some plant communities and dramatic shrinking of others Indigenous land use and associated economies based upon conservative harvest were destroyed during the first fifty years of settlement
• 66% of local mammals became extinct within fifty years of European settlement. The greatest impact was borne by small to medium sized mammals weighing between 50g to 5kg
• Feral animals were introduced in the nineteenth century but their greatest impacts have been felt during the last century. Rabbit plagues were first recorded in the 1890’s. Foxes had arrived by the early 1900’s. Feral cats probably preceded settlement. Goats accompanied exploration parties in the 1840’s and were probably held in check by Dingoes until the 1900’s.
• The dingo, the only high order predator, was poisoned, shot and ultimately excluded with the erection of the dog fence in 1912
• Loss of plant cover exposed fragile soils to the elements resulting in widespread soil erosion
• Some introduced plant species have out-competed natives and now dominate whole land systems
• Artificial watering points such as dams and stock troughs helped to sustain unnaturally high populations of large native animals such as kangaroos and euros
• Bushfire frequency has diminished, threatening the long term survival of fire-dependent species
• A substantial percentage of native plant and animal species have current conservation significance ratings which confirms that threatening processes continue
• Hunted for scalps and furs, the once abundant Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby was identified as needing protection in 1919

BOUNCEBACK FLINDERS RANGES ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION INTIATIVES:

• Removal of feral goats at a regional level in collaboration with other land owners
• Destruction of rabbit warren systems in the Flinders and Gammon Ranges National Parks
• Removal of foxes from the Flinders and Gammon Ranges National Parks and adjacent buffer
• zones
• Strategic control of feral cats
• Management of total grazing pressure including a sustainable kangaroo population
• Control of key pest plant species including bio-control trials for Horehound and Salvation Jane
• Establishment of seed production areas
• Revegetation of key plant species using a number of techniques including direct seeding into ripped warrens
• Trial re-introductions of locally extinct mammals
• Rigorous monitoring programs