 Surrounding the inlets of the Gairdner, Fitzgerald and Hamersley Rivers, between Bremer Bay and Hopetoun on the south coast of Western Australia, lies one of the most diverse botanical regions in the world.
More than 1800 beautiful and bizarre species of flowering plant, as well as myriad lichens, mosses and fungi, have been recorded in Fitzgerald River National Park. This represents nearly 20 per cent of the total number of plant species in Western Australia, in an area that covers only a tiny fraction of the state.
In all, 62 plant species are found only in Fitzgerald River National Park, with a further 48 species are found almost nowhere else.
The sheer diversity of plants is made all the more striking by the array of impressive flowers, unusual forms and bizarre leaf shapes. Among them woolly banksias, which have football-sized flowers, and feather flowers, which provide brilliant splashes of white, pink, yellow and mauve.
While the peak flowering time is August to November, a minor peak occurs again in autumn, and intermittent flowers throughout the year provide a constant floral display and a food supply for feathered honeyeaters, as well as possums.
The tremendous variety of vegetation provides a haven for native animals and birds. It is home to at least 19 mammals, including the dibbler, a small marsupial with distinctive white eye rings, which was thought to be extinct until 1967.
Other rare animals include the heath rat, and the woylie and tammar wallaby. One of the rarest birds is the ground parrot, which nests on the ground and spends most of its time walking around quietly, foraging for seeds and fruits.
As well as being the repository of numerous rare plants and animals, Fitzgerald National Park is also one of the last great wilderness areas of the south.
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