Willandra National Park

Located in the Far West region of New South Wales, the Willandra National Park is a massive conservation area covering 19,386 hectares.

It is situated approximately 580 kilometres west of Sydney and features a flat grassy plain extending to the north by the Willandra Creek. The surrounding district is primarily used for extensive grazing of sheep and cattle, and the climate is semi-arid.

Willandra National Park is home to a diverse range of wildlife, including emus, threatened Plains-wanderers, kangaroos, echidnas, and various reptiles. The park is mostly flat grassland, with trees only along watercourses and around dry lakes and depressions. The plant and animal communities have been modified by over a century of grazing and pasture improvement.

Aboriginal occupation of the area dates back at least 15,000 years, with the Willandra Creek forming a boundary between the Wiradjuri people to the south and the Wongaibon people to the north. Europeans settled the area in the 1830s, initially allowing Aboriginal people to continue their traditional way of living. Willandra became a renowned sheep property under the management of Arthur and Frank Laird, but it began to decline after the Second World War.

In 1972, the NSW Government resumed the Crown Land grants and established Willandra National Park. The park is managed by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and includes the heritage-listed Willandra Homestead. Although most roads in the area are unsealed and become unusable after rainfall, the Willandra Homestead's buildings were restored in the