NATIONAL WILDERNESS RED INDEX

Published by the Colong Foundation for Wilderness Ltd. 30/09/94
Level 2, 332 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000.
Ph (02) 9261 2400; Fax (02) 9261 2144.

Name:

NORFOLK RANGE

Nominated by:

Not recorded

Location:

Not recorded

Size
For size and tenure information contact the Colong Foundation.

DESCRIPTION

The spine of the Norfolk Range consists of a series of gently rounded but steep
sided hills rising to over 700 metres elevation. To the west is a complex of
sand dunes behind beaches that line the coast. Low, rocky headlands separate the
beaches. Much of the area is underlain by Proteerozoic metasediments,
particularly quartizites, with an area of Devonian granite along the coast. [1]

The dune areas suport heat and sedgeland with eucalypt woodland on better sites.
The range itself is also covered by heath and sedgeland while the eastern slopes
support dense eucalypt forest and cool temperate rainforest. [2]

Fauna within the area is diverse due to the variability of the habitat. Included
amongst the fauna are species of birds which are restricted to the west coast of
Tasmania. [3]

ENDANGERED SPECIES

No endangered species information is recorded for this area.
LAND USE HISTORY


Past Aboriginal use of the area was concentrated along the coastline where
middens may be found. [4]


There is an abandoned mine at Mount Hazelton. [5]

CONSERVATION HISTORY

1975
McPhail et al., accepting a brief to "prepare a case for the preservation of the
Norfolk Range area of Tasmania as a wilderness reserve" study 39,000 ha of the
area and conclude "the study area conforms in a high degree to the accepted
definition of a wilderness". [6]

1979
The Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania publishes a report
to the Australian Heritage Commission describing thirteen wilderness areas in
Tasmania. Among these is a 59,500 ha Norfolk Range wilderness.
[7]

THREATS

GRAZING
Grazing occurs within the area and holding paddocks and an airstrip impinge upon
wilderness values. [8]

OFF ROAD VEHICLES
Off road vehicles have caused breaches in some dunes in the area. [9]

CONTACTS

No contacts are recorded from that area.
ENDNOTES
1
Prineas, P., Lembit, R., Fisher, N., 1986, "Australia's Wilderness An
Inventory".

2
Prineas, 1986, op.cit.

3
Ibid.

4
Prineas, 1986, op.cit.

5
Prineas, 1986, op.cit.

6
McPhail, M., Shepherd, R. and Brown, M., 1975, "Norfolk Range Environmental
Impact Statement", University of Tasmania, cited in Jones et al., 1979.

7
Jones, R., et. al., 1979, Centre for Environmental Studies, Occasional Paper 10,
University of Tasmania, "Wilderness in Tasmania: A Report to the Australian
Heritage Commission".

8
Prineas, 1986, op.cit.

9
Prineas, 1986, op.cit.

Return to Contents Page