Brindabella National Park is the most northerly park along the Australian Alps, sitting northwest of the NSW-ACT border approximately 30kms west of
Canberra. The park covers an area of 18,454 hectares (184.54 square kms) and offers a great system of 4WD
trails and fire
trails with some climbing up to provide fantastic
views.
Most of Brindabella lies on volcanic rocks 400 million years old, with a majority of these belonging to a group known as the Mountain Creek Volcanics. From
the summit of
Mount Coree, which dominates the park, has steep slopes on all approaches and cliffs on the northwest face. Here you'll see excellent
views of the surrounding area and the Bag Range Hut
lookout, which is an interesting historical landmark.
There are plenty of things to do in the Brindabella National Park such as: bushwalking, mountain biking, orienteering, bird and nature watching, and not to forget - exploring the excellent system of 4WD
trails. There are
bush camping available - most with no facilities such as the camping areas at
Blue Range Hut and
Flea Creek, although the
camp area at Cotter Reserve has
toilets, picnic tables and fireplaces.
How to Use this Trek Note
- To download this information and the route file for offline use on a phone, tablet, headunit or laptop, go to the app store and purchase ExplorOz Traveller. This app enables offline navigation and mapping and will show where you are as you travel along the route. For more info see the ExplorOz Traveller webpage and the EOTopo webpage.
Environment
Brindabella National Park provides extensive water catchments to the Murrumbidgee and Goodradigbee rivers in NSW and the Cotter River in the ACT. Brindabella’s proximity to the Cotter Catchment and Kosciusko National Park makes the park a valuable corridor for native animals moving between these two areas. Much of Brindabella National Park is covered by forests of red stringybark, scribbly gum, box and peppermint, while more sheltered slopes have forests of brown barrel with ribbon gum. Subalpine snow gum and mountain gum forests are found at higher altitudes.
Brindabella supports a diverse range of native animals, birds and reptiles (as
well as threatened ones such as the powerful owl and corroboree frog). Among the large mammals you may stumble upon include: eastern
grey kangaroos, red-necked wallabies, wombats, wallaroos or
swamp wallabies. Ring-tail and brush-tail possums, greater gliders and sugar gliders live in the trees. Some of the smaller mammals include: echidnas, antechinus, southern bush rats and water rats. There are also reptiles such as the blotched blue tongue lizards and copperhead snakes.
About 80 species of birds have been seen in the park, including the yellow-tailed black cockatoo and peregrine falcon. Of particular interest to birdwatchers are the powerful owl, pink robin and olive whistler, all of which are threatened. The park is also
home to a number of other threatened species including the corroboree frog, common bent-wing bat, yellow-bellied glider and tiger quoll.
History
The few indigenous occupation sites that have been recorded within the Brindabella area have been dated to approximately 5000 years before
European settlement. This area was traditionally occupied by the Walgalu Aboriginal people who reputedly named the valley "Brindabella", which is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'two kangaroo rats".
Walgalu people exploited
Bogong moths on the Brindabella Range, and during the summer months, also participated with the neighbouring Ngarigo and Ngunawal tribes for the
Bogong moth feasts. Some of these communal feasts occurred on the
Bogong Range and
Snowy Mountains, with
Mount Coree showing signs of frequent Aboriginal visitation for
Bogong moth collection. Unfortunately there has not been a real systematic archaeological survey in the Brindabella National Park, and those sites that have been recorded are generally small scattered
campsite artefacts associated with summit
Bogong Moth access routes and waterways.
In the 1850's, gold prospecting was tried throughout the range, but was not a major success. 13 years later, in 1864, the
Franklin family took up the valley for grazing. In World War II, the area around
Blue Range Hut was used as an intern
camp for Italian Nationals. Evidence of the
camp still remains today, including the equipment store, the creek diversion channel and swimming
pool. The Galley of the
camp is what is now called
Blue Range Hut.
TrekID: 119