Your guide to the new national park coming to the Fleurieu Peninsula

Exciting things have been happening in South Australia’s national parks lately – think the creation of Adelaide’s newest national park, Glenthorne National Park—Ityamaiitpinna Yarta, a new multi-day walking experience on the Fleurieu Peninsula, and a host of other exciting improvements to parks across the state.

Plus there’s the opening of reservoirs for recreational use, which gives visitors even more options for spending time in nature.

But that’s not where it ends. A 423-hectare parcel of land in Hindmarsh Valley on the Fleurieu Peninsula is set to be proclaimed as a national park and opened to the public.

Here’s what’s in store:

A conservation haven

A large portion of the land in the proposed national park will provide more habitat for some of the species affected by the 2019–20 bushfires on Kangaroo Island and in Cudlee Creek.

This includes species like the nationally endangered southern brown bandicoot, chestnut-rumped heath-wren and southern emu-wren, the nationally vulnerable bassian thrush and the critically endangered western pygmy possum.

And not only that, the land is also the location of the nationally critically endangered Fleurieu Peninsula Swamps, and three species of endangered plants only found in the Hindmarsh Valley area – the Hindmarsh Valley greenhood (Pterostylis bryophila), Mount Compass oak-bush (Allocasuarina robusta) and Hindmarsh Valley correa (Correa calycina var. calycina).

Proclaiming the area as a park under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 means these areas and flora and fauna species can be protected and conserved.

New nature-based experiences

As well as the conservation value, having a new national park in the area means unlocking the space for visitors to access and enjoy.

It’s still early days, but plans are underway to investigate what facilities should be included at the park, so that visitors can enjoy this uniquely beautiful area of the Fleurieu Peninsula at its best.

This might include a lookout and mountain biking and walking trails, with options available for people with accessibility requirements.

Stay tuned for more about what’s in store for this special part of SA – but all going well, it could be ready for visitors by the end of this year.

To learn more about the new national park, and to subscribe to updates,visit the Hindmarsh Valley page on the National Parks and Wildlife Service’s website.