Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a national park on the northern side of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The park is north of the Sydney central business district and generally comprises the land east of the M1 Pacific Motorway, south of the Hawkesbury River, west of Pittwater and north of Mona Vale Road. It includes Barrenjoey Headland on the eastern side of Pittwater. Ku-ring-gai Chase is a popular tourist destination, known for its scenic setting on the Hawkesbury River and Pittwater, significant plant and animal communities, Aboriginal sites and  European historic places. Picnic, boating, and fishing facilities can be found throughout the park. There are many walking tracks in Ku-ring-gai Chase. The villages of Cottage Point, Appletree Bay, Elvina Bay, Lovett Bay, Coasters Retreat, Great Mackerel Beach and Bobbin Head are located within the park boundaries. The park was declared in 1894, and is the third oldest national park in Australia. The park is managed by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and was added to the Australian National Heritage List in December 2006. The park gets its name from the Guringai Aboriginal people who were long  thought to be the traditional owners of the area. However, more contemporary research suggests that this was not the case. Geology. Ku-ring-gai Chase is part of the Hornsby Plateau, a massive block of sandstone tilting upwards to the north. The park comprises a plateau with an elevation of generally 150–200 m above sea level. The plateau is divided into separate sections by the steep valleys of Cowan Creek, Coal and Candle Creek, and Smiths Creek. These "flooded" or "drowned" valleys, knowns as rias, were eroded into the sandstone much deeper than the current sea level during the glacial  phases of the Pleistocene ice age. When the ice caps melted about 10,000 years ago, the sea levels rose and flooded the valleys of the park. The dominant rock type is Hawkesbury Sandstone which determines the topography and the vegetation in the sandy soils. Sandstone cliffs, rocky and outcrops, and worn caves are common throughout the park. Indigenous people engraved the flat sandstone outcrops. Tessellated pavements are found in the park whereby regular chequered patterns in the stone form along fault lines and lines of weakness. Other rock types in the park are less common. Soils derived from the Narrabeen  group of shales are around the eastern shore of the Lambert Peninsula, particularly around Elvina Bay and Lovett Bay. These richer soils provide for a vegetation type different from that of the sandy ridge top soils, providing for forests of spotted gums (Corymbia maculata) with forest oaks as a secondary layer. Eroded remnants of volcanic dykes occur including at Resolution Picnic Area at West Head and Campbells Crater near Cowan, which provide for forests of Sydney blue gum (Eucalyptus saligna). The park's highest point is 246 m at Willunga Trig near West Head Road which runs along the ridge  of the Lambert Peninsula. History. Pre-European history. The name Ku-ring-gai (also spelled Kuringgai, Kuring-gai, Guringai, Kuriggai) () is an ethnonym referring to (a) an hypothesis regarding an aggregation of Indigenous Australian peoples occupying the territory between the southern borders of the Gamilaraay and the area around Sydney (b) perhaps an historical people with its own distinctive language, located in part of that territory, or (c) people of Aboriginal origin who identify themselves as descending from the original peoples denoted by (a) or (b) and who call themselves Guringai. Little about the original inhabitants was recorded by Europeans  at contact and their communities were soon destroyed through disease and conflict with European settlers. The national park contains extensive evidence of Aboriginal occupation of the area prior to European contact, across more than 800 sites in the park. These include rock engravings, cave drawings, occupation sites, paintings and stencils, axe grinding grooves and middens providing significant evidence of the way of life of the Guringai people. Park history. It was previously underdeveloped by early settlers due to poor accessibility and low soil fertility, except for some of the more fertile ridgetops. Sawmills were established in the 1830s, including at  the upper reaches of Cowan Creek where Duffy's Wharf was built to transport logs. The Pacific Highway and Main Northern railway line built along the ridgetop forming the park's current western border provided access to Cowan Creek along which pioneers settled. 40 hectares at Gerard Point, now Church Point, were granted to James Terry of Gordon. Following pressure from a local citizen, Eccleston Du Faur, to establish a "National Park for North Sydney", approximately 13,500 hectares, including not only land areas but also most of Cowan Water, was set aside in 1894 as Ku-ring-gai Chase as  a conservation area, and placed under the care, control and management of trustees. Ku-ring-gai Chase became a national park with the proclamation of the National Parks and Wildlife Act in 1967. It is the third oldest national park in Australia, with the Royal National Park being the oldest. Additions to the park have made it 14,882 hectares in size. The park is managed by the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and was added to the Australian National Heritage List in December 2006. The term "chase" indicates it was an area of natural bush not enclosed by fences. Ku -ring-gai Chase is also officially classed as a suburb by the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. The television series, "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" was shot in northern Sydney at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and the adjacent Waratah Park. Bushfires ravaged the park in January 1994. A seaplane on its way to Sydney Harbour crashed into Jerusalem Bay shortly after takeoff from on 31 December 2017, killing the pilot and five passengers. Locations, access and facilities. Many of the park's attractions are accessible only by walking track. Many kilometres of the park front the shores  of Broken Bay, Pittwater and Cowan Creek, making it a good place to explore by boat. Railway stations are at Mount Colah, Mount Kuring-gai, Berowra and Cowan. All roads in the area are sealed and all have collection gates where a daily fee is payable.