Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

Ku-ring-gai Chase, declared in 1894 and among the oldest national parks in the world, covers the sandstone country between the Hawkesbury River and Pittwater, where drowned valleys form long arms of water below wooded ridges. The park holds one of the densest concentrations of Aboriginal rock engravings near any Australian city, made by the Guringai people on flat sandstone platforms and showing figures, fish, whales and ancestral beings; the Basin Track and Red Hands Cave are among the accessible sites. West Head lookout gives a wide view over Pittwater and Broken Bay. Spring brings heavy wildflower flowering on the heath, and walking tracks range from short loops to full-day routes.

History

More than 800 Aboriginal sites in the park, engravings, cave drawings, stencils, axe-grinding grooves and middens, record the life of the Guringai people, whose communities were soon wrecked by disease and conflict after Europeans came. Governor Arthur Phillip explored Broken Bay and the Hawkesbury in 1788 but found the steep, stony land of little use for farming, and sawmills from the 1830s took red cedar above all; after almost 40 years of lobbying by the surveyor Eccleston Du Faur, about 13,500 hectares including most of Cowan Water were set aside in 1894 as Ku-ring-gai Chase (Wikipedia, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park).

What you'll find

• The rock engravings - Guringai carvings on sandstone platforms along marked tracks.
• West Head lookout - the view over Pittwater, Barrenjoey and Broken Bay.
• The drowned valleys - waterways reaching deep into the bush at Bobbin Head.
• The spring wildflowers - heath flowering from August into October.

When to go

April to November for comfortable walking; summer is hot, humid and brings a higher snake and tick presence. Wildflowers peak in late winter and spring. Total fire ban days close tracks, and the park sometimes closes entirely in extreme fire weather.

What to expect

There is a vehicle entry fee at each gate. Tracks are rocky and often steeper than the short distances suggest. Ticks are a genuine nuisance in the bush here. Engraving sites are fragile and walking on them is prohibited.

Nearby

Palm Beach lies across Pittwater; the Hawkesbury River towns are north.

Key facts