Sydney Harbour A spellbinding taste of Australia’s natural wonder and heritage

Surrounding Australia’s stunning gateway city, Sydney Harbour National Landscape unfolds from spectacular waterways at every turn. Iconic native wildlife, ancient bushland, rich marine life and intriguing heritage lie just minutes from a vibrant modern city. This bewitching natural environment stretches along the New South Wales coast from Barrenjoey Headland in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, through Sydney Harbour National Park, west to Parramatta Park and south to Royal National Park. It takes in Port Jackson, Botany Bay, Port Hacking and the rivers and inlets of the Parramatta, Lane Cove, Hawkesbury and Georges Rivers. Nature trails, picnic areas and superb swimming spots are enhanced by ancient Aboriginal sites, stories of the Dreamtime and convict sites that provide a glimpse into the life of early European settlers. Immerse yourself in the spellbinding landscape of Sydney Harbour for your first sense of the unforgettable experiences of Australia’s National Landscapes.

AN EXTRAORDINARY LIVING HARBOUR THE LONG-NOSED BANDICOOT Port Jackson, the natural harbour of Sydney and Australia’s most iconic estuarine system, was formed by the flooding of an ancient The long-nosed bandicoot is a small grey-brown nocturnal river valley. Beneath the bustling water traffic lives an incredible marsupial that forages at night and sleeps by day in nests wealth of marine life - including more than 580 fish species, made from plant materials. Its very long nose has adapted migrating whales, dolphins and kelp forests with seahorses and for digging insects and small invertebrate prey, leaving small sea dragons. snout shaped holes behind. Young are born after a pregnancy of about 12 days, one of the shortest known of any mammal. Discover Sydney’s very own population of little penguins. You may be lucky to catch a glimpse of the world’s smallest penguins near This small creature was once abundant around Sydney, but their nesting grounds, but the best place is Penguin Cove at Manly rapid urban development has reduced the dense vegetation Sea Life Sanctuary. Go for a summer swim at Nielsen Park or Clifton available for shelter and introduced new threats to survival Gardens to spot a seahorse or two. Take a winter stroll along a such as cars, cats and dogs. headland nature trail for a chance to see humpback or southern The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and North Head right whales. Get up close to marine life on a snorkelling or diving landowners work closely together to secure the future of adventure at Clovelly or the water surrounding Bare Island – look North Head’s endangered population, which now stands at out for the blue groper! Kayaking is a great way to explore the around 110 individuals. landscape; head to the Ramsar-listed wetlands of Towra Point Aquatic Reserve in Botany Bay or try Pittwater, Lane Cove or Middle Harbour for secluded bays, beaches and rivers.

SIGHTS AND SMELLS OF THE BUSH Protecting more than 35,000 hectares of bushland, much of it national park, this landscape offers easy access to Australia’s unique plants and animals. Towering eucalypts with their distinctive Australian scent are everywhere. Flowering waratahs, banksias, bottlebrushes, grevilleas, wattles and tea trees are Long-nosed Bandicoot magnets to native birds, butterflies, possums and flying foxes. Coolangatta STURT e R Dumares NAT PK Tibooburra BR Barringun Boggabilla UX R Hebel Macintyr NE 254 R a 128 Mungindi 39 Brunswick Heads Culgoa 121 Cape Byron Y 44 HWY 190 Lismore Milparinka Lightning Ridge 126 R Wanaaring W Byron Bay Collarenebri H Casino 219 R Ballina 190 Moree Tenterfield ANGE 55 n 91 131 Evans Head R Brewarrina GWYDIR Warialda WASHPOOL BUNDJALUNG HWY 207 NAT PK Barwo 15 NAT PK 256 o Bourke Burren 159 1 337 99 ro MI GIBRALTAR Packsaddle Walgett Junction Inverell HWY YURAYGIR NAT PK Pa TC CA RANGE MT Glen TY H D Grafton R MOOTWINGEE R ST Copeton NAT PK CI Byrock ELL Wee KAPUTAR Innes NAT PK White 340 LER Waa NAT PK Dam GUY FAWKES

EA 83 RRIE Cliffs 201 Narrabri RIVER NAT PK ELL ENGLAN 186 GH Coffs Harbour Fowlers W Dorrigo BA Macquarie 117 Armidale Gap NE NEW VER DORRIGO NAT PK L Coonamble W ENG. SSI 39 Gunnedah 196 BA 71 NE MacleaNAT PK HWY RRIER WARRUMBUNGLE HWY 34 Nambucca Heads Broken Hill Wilcannia 32 Cobar y 256 HWY NAT PK 181 OXLE Walcha Macksville 128 HW Y R 173 Darling Coonabarabran Nyngan OXLE Y 164 Y 93 Werris Ck Tamworth NAT Gilgandra Quirindi 272 PK Kempsey HWY HWY Menindee More than 300 bird species including the lyrebird and yellow- A stone’s throw from the Harbour Bridge is the historic landmarkHW 34 Medindee CONEW SOUTH 156 Y 79 L. 186 tailed black cockatoo have been sighted in Royal National Park. of Fort Denison. Built in 1857 to protect Sydney from the threat BB 66 ANGE Wauchope Manly’s North Head conserves more than32 450 Rplant species of invasion, it’sMurrurundi the only Martello tower ever constructedR in Port Macquarie including rare and endangered communities such as the Australia and the last one built inBA theRRI BritishNG TOEmpire.N The one TY KINCHEGA Dubbo Camfields stringybark and eastern suburbs banksia scrub. Here, o’clock cannon still rings out15 across Sydney each day. CI NAT PK Gulgong TOPS NAT PK

you’ll see a wealth of seabirds including albatross, and it’s also an Taree WALES FIC 261 R important habitat for an endangered population of 20the5 long- PROTECTING AND PRESERVING Wallis L. Ivanhoe Wellington Muswellbrook CI nosed bandicoot. Peak Hill PA VER Wi Councils, catchment management authorities and community Forster L llandr 258 Mudgee 247 SI a At sunset, coastal tracks offer amazing seascape vistas and the groups work together to protect andSingleton enhance the landscape’s HWY WILLANDR A R Lak e water quality,WOLLEMI and as a result, the marine environment is R impressive sight of grey-headedPark flyinges foxes making their evening 124 1 MYALL LAKES NAT PK NAT PK migration across the city skyline. Burrendongbrimming NAwithT life.PK Local communities and businesses arePo alsort Stephens MUNGO 211 Condobolin Maitland NAT PK Hillston Molong pulling together to protect natural bushland throughRaymond volunteer T errace Darling LakeABORIGINAL HERITAGEForbes AND CONTEMPORARY CULTURE work and corporate volunteering programs. Cargelligo Orange Wentworth From ancient to contemporary,HWY Sydney Harbour encompasses 32 RN more than 20,000 years of Aboriginal cultural heritage. Despite WESTE 107 24 31 Mildura Marsden ST D colonisation24 and industrial developmentHWY over the past two Lachlan MI Rankins Ku-ring-gai UR MALLEE CLIFFS centuries, evidence of the original inhabitants’ long connection with 256 West 159 Cowra Chase NP Barrenjoey Headland T NAT PK Springsthe land is137 everywhere - in rock art and engravings in Ku-ring-gai Murrumbidgee Chase and Royal WyNationalalong Parks, in the shell middens,41 rock shelters Parramatta Port Jackson Robinvale Griffith Park Sydney Harbour NP Balranald and engravings at Balls Head andYoung in scarred trees in WyParramattaangala 20 Dam Hay LPark.eeton Many of the city’s major streets such as Oxford, King and Botany Bay 289 Booroorban 175 George Streets follow Aboriginal tracks, and the names of suburbs Royal NP Narrandera such as CCammeray,ootamundr Kurnell anda Parramatta213 are derived from words Otford Moulamein used by Sydney’s Aboriginal communities to identify tracts of land. 20 99 Junee Yass Goulburn 124 192 39 HWY ME Cruise Port Jackson with Tribal WarriorHU to1143 discover the stories of the Swan Hill 75 87 LockharCadigalt people, and visit CadiR Jam31 L. Ora Burrinjuck – First Encounters Garden94 Murr 57 – at the Royal Botanic Garden for an insight into local bush foods. SYDNEY Deniliquin HARBOUR ay WDELL Wagga Jerilderie Take a Discovery Tour with an AboriginalCANB guide inER Ku-ring-gaiRA Chase NE National WaPark orgg walka theT umuteasy Burrawang track in Kamay Botany Bay National Park. For a taste of contemporary Aboriginal culture, Tocumwal 129 242 R take in41 a BangarraHolbr Danceook Theatre performance.AC T Corowa NG HELP CONSERVE SYDNEY HARBOUR NATIONAL LANDSCAPE 147 KOSCIUSZKO 118 DI A WINDOWAlbur ON EUROPEANy NP HERITAGEKiandra >> Volunteer with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Stories of European settlement ring out from historic23 sites – choose from bush regeneration, biodiversity surveys, DIVI throughout the landscape. KamayKhanc Botanyoban Bay National Park whale watching and more. www.environment.nsw.gov.au/ Bredbo Moruyvolunteers/VolunteerNationalPark.htma is the place where explorer Captain Cook landed in 1770. The 151 Cooma >> Join the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney volunteers in guiding, harsh early days of the New SouthMt Wales. penal colony, where Narooma thousands of convicts were sent+ Ktoosciuszk relieve overcrowdedo EnglishWA DBILLIfaunaGA surveying and research projects. www.rbgsyd.nsw. prisons, come alive in the World Heritage-listed convict site NAT PKgov.au/support/volunteers of Cockatoo Island. On this innerThr harbouredbo island,11 the2 brooding18 Bega>> Sign up as a Taronga Zoo volunteer keeper or guest services sandstone convict gaol with its solitary prisonBombala cells, hand-carved Tathrvolunteer.a www.taronga.org.au/support-us/volunteer/ silos, guardhouse and convict workshops, stand in stark contrastS volunteer-programs

to World Heritage-listed Old Government House, sitting181 in 200CE Merimbula>> Get involved with Conservation Volunteers to help deliver acres of parkland overlooking historic Parramatta. Australia’sIN Eden conservation projects. www.conservationvolunteers.com.au oldest public building, this convict-built British Empire rural PR 171 >> Find out how you can connect with the local community by retreat allowed the colony’s first ten Governors to escape the BEN BO volunteeringYD NA T PK with Bushcare. www.bushcare.org.au unsanitary and crime-ridden streets of Sydney Town. Cape Howe

Tribal Warrior experience on Clark Island Volunteer Day

For more information on this Landscape or to learn about other naturally beautiful places which offer a different but uniquely Australian experience, visit www.australia.com/nl

The spellings used in this document have been taken from ‘Aboriginal Sydney: A guide to important places of the past and present’. Hinkson, M.(2010). Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.