STIRLING RANGES NATIONAL PARK

Stirling Ranges National Park

As a country, Australia is blessed with an abundance of flora and fauna, physical features, and other attractions that keep millions of tourists coming to the country every year (Mende & Newsome, 2006). However, keeping these ecosystems intact amid diversification of economic activities that has seen increased mining incursions into fragile ecosystem is a constant struggle. Over the years, the country has established conservation areas aimed at protecting her diverse and unique ecosystem, establishing national parks like Stirling Rangers National Park (Gaynor, 2017). Stirling Rangers National Park was formed to protect the Stirling Ranger and has become a conservation center and major tourist attraction.

Stirling Ranges Nation Park is located in the Great Southern, Western Australia, about 337 km south-east Perth.  It sits on a land that was previously inhabited by Mineng and Koreng group from Noongar tribe (Australian Government). The tribe has lived in the mountain rangers of centuries practicing hunting and gathering. While exploring the southern coast, Mathew Flinders set sign on the rangers and called them Mount Rugged. However, it was surveyor John Septimus Roe who named it as Stirling Ranger in 1835 (Moon & Moon, 2000). It was a major playground for sandalwood harvesters who opened it up for further exploration (Mende & Newsome, 2006). The boundaries for the part were surveyed in 1908 and the National Park was eventually gazette in 1913 with the first ranger assuming work in 1964 (CALM, 1999). In 2006, it was listed as a National Heritage Place.