Kennedy Range National Park

Mundatharrda is the name for the Kennedy Range in the local Inggarda language. This is an extremely important spiritual place for the traditional owners of the area and to those of the wider Gascoyne region. The whole range is sacred and within the range there are many important archaeological and ethnographic cultural sites.

The landscape is dominated by a vast sandstone plateau which towers 80m above the surrounding red earth plain. On top of the range there are red sand dunes covered by mixed shrubland and spinifex grassland. It’s hard to imagine that these dunes formed 20,000 years ago.  

Where is it located:

233km inland from Carnarvon

Learn more about the park: https://exploreparks.dbca.wa.gov.au/park/kennedy-range-national-park

https://exploreparks.dbca.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-10/kennedy-range-national-park-mundatharrda-visitor-guide.pdf

Admittedly it is hard to drag yourself away from Western Australia's beautiful coastline, but this trip inland was in my opinion well worth it.

I was there in August and the weather was stable and there were a few flies still around, but not unbearably so.

The wealth of colours as the sun rises in this red country is quite something.

.....enough chatter, here are some images from my experience in the park and I highly recommend visiting the park.

Temple Gorge Camping ground is well laid out with level parking areas, picnic tables, composting toilet and a communal firepit which was very popular the nights I stayed. Hi to all the lovely fellow campers I met while there!

On my way back to the coast I stayed a couple of nights at a free camping spot at Ballinyoo Bridge on the Murchison River and loved it so much I stayed two nights. For those who love historical interest tid-bits the bridge built was in 1930's was the 2nd concrete bridge ever built in Western Australia.

I wanted to share some of the video imagery I captured in the park and at the Murchison River so here it is.