Stirling Range National Park

Stirling Range National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately 337 kilometres (209 mi) south-east of Perth.

Stirling Range National Parkis a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately 337 kilometres (209 mi) south-east of Perth.

The traditional owners are the Mineng and Koreng groups of the Noongar peoples who have inhabited the region for tens of thousands of years. The Noongar know the range as Koi Kyenunu-ruff which means mist moving around the mountains. The area was important to Indigenous Australians with the surrounding lowlands providing many sources of food. The women gathered seeds, roots and fruit while men hunted kangaroos and other animals.The first European to sight the range was Matthew Flinders in January 1802 while he was exploring the southern coast of Australia. He named the range Mount Rugged.Ensign Dale explored the area in 1832 and climbed Toolbrunup.Stirling Range was named by the surveyor John Septimus Roe in 1835 after the Governor of the Swan River Colony, James Stirling, even though Stirling never actually visited the area.Sandalwood cutters established a track through the park in about 1848. European settlers arrived in the late 1800s initially around Amelup and farmed much of the surrounding areas. John Forrest climbed Toolbrunup in 1881 with Henry Samuel Ranford and made a cairn at the summit.The boundaries of the park were first suggested by Jas Hope, the Chief Draftsperson of the Lands and Survey Department, in 1908 and approved by N.?J. Moore who was the Minister of Lands at the time.The National Park was gazetted in 1913 and the first park ranger was appointed in 1964.The park was listed as a National Heritage place in 2006.In 2020, a bushfire caused by lightning devastated 40,000 hectares of park land.