National Parks

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National parks are areas of land set aside for their predominantly unspoiled natural landscapes and their flora and fauna. As public or Crown land, they are protected and permanently preserved. The prime functions of national parks are the preservation of the natural environment and the conservation of biodiversity, but they are also important recreation areas, providing opportunities to explore and enjoy the natural environment and experience a variety of other activities, depending on the particular park. The parks also serve important scientific and education functions. In spite of the fact they are termed 'national parks', they come under the jurisdiction of the state and territory governments.

In addition to the national parks, there are many other kinds of reserves, including nature reserves, state recreation areas, flora reserves, State forests and forest parks in New South Wales; State parks, wildlife reserves, wilderness areas, and forest parks in Victoria; nature and other reserves in the ACT; resource reserves, nature refuges, conservation parks, wilderness areas, and others in Queensland; and conservation parks, game reserves and nature reserves in South Australia.

Many of Australia's most significant natural heritage features are preserved in national parks in and on the borders of the Murray-Darling Basin (Figure 1). They encompass a great diversity of environments and many species of flora and fauna, some unique to locations within the Basin, ranging from areas of rainforest in the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, to the high alpine areas of the Snowy Mountains, to the arid areas of the far west. In total, the national parks and other reserves cover some 7 million hectares, close to 7% of the Basin's total area, with National Parks alone totalling approximately 4.5 million hectares (Table 1).

Some of the parks contain areas of international significance. The Willandra Lakes National Park in western New South Wales is included on the World Heritage Convention list; Kosciuszko and Hattah-Kulkyne national parks (as well as the large Dangalli Conservation Reserve) are Biosphere Reserves; and the Coorong National Park (as well as other locations in the Basin) is listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

Figure 1: Location of National Parks within the Murray Darling Basin

Table 1: National Parks and their areas (in hectares) within the Murray Darling Basin

Source: Information provided by publications of the various state and territory parks authorities.