Australia shares a world first in establishing public areas of natural beauty and grandeur that are national parks. In fact many would claim that Australia was in fact the first in the world to establish a national park.
The Scottish-American naturalist John Muir continually highlighted the importance of wild places for the soul. While Americans were building national pride around the natural wonders of their country in an attempt to preserve these treasures that they believed rivalled the castles and cathedrals of Europe, NSW was also leading the way in the national parks movement in Australia.
For NSW the emphasis was on creating spaces where people could breathe fresh air. At the time there were public health concerns about the overcrowded and filthy cities. It was possibly also an attempt by the government to win over the prominent members of the Acclimatisation Society. These societies developed during European colonialism to ‘enrich’ the flora and fauna of new lands by introducing familiar European animals. Animals from these new lands were also sent to Europe as exotic exhibits.
The result was the proclamation of Australia’s first national park on 26 April 1879. It was the second such park to be declared in the world, Yellowstone in America being the first. NSW was the first to use the term ‘national park’ however. ‘The National Park’ in Audley, just south of Sydney, was established and in the process the existing mudflats and mangroves were eliminated and replaced with grass parkland and exotic trees. Deer, rabbits and foxes were also introduced.
Conservation of plants, animals and ecological processes as well as wilderness protection became increasingly important over time and are very much the focus of national parks today. The one thread that continues to weave its way through the history of national parks however is their value as places for recreation, rejuvenation, places to recharge our frazzled batteries from the stresses and strains of life.
Today Australia has over 500 national parks. Almost 4% of Australian land are is designated as national parkland and another 6% is protected as state forests, nature parks and conservation reserves.
Australia has 19 World Heritage areas, places that UNESCO has agreed are worthy of special protection because they represent the best examples of the world’s cultural and natural heritage. Nightcap National Park in very our own back yard shares this respected World Heritage listing with the likes of Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Parks in the Northern Territory. Nightcap’s outstanding geological features created by the Tweed shield volcanic crater as well as it’s high number of rare and threatened rainforest species are of international significance for science and conservation.
The health and wellbeing motivation that led to the creation of Australia’s first national park is as relevant now as it was then, if not more so.
“Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you.” John Muir
Cover photo credit: Photography Byron Bay – Sera J. Wright
