Washpools waterhole

Towarri is inhabited by a range of birds and animals, many with a particularly distinctive call, appearance or ability that appears in their name. The powerful owl is as strong as it sounds, hunting and feeding on medium-sized mammals and marsupials including gliders, possums and wallabies. The glossy-black cockatoo is as self-explanatory as the red-tailed and yellow-tailed black cockatoos. The greater glider spreads itself out like a sheet of paper to change trees. The Liverpool Range sees the blending of many plant species. Towarri National Park is home to about 650 species. From the cassuarina forests along the creeklines to the majestic snow gum on the ridgeline, that are capped with snow on occasion. The miltant grass trees stand on the hills amongst the serene poa grasslands. The gully lines off the falls of sandstone play host to dry rainforest pockets providing habitat to many fauna species. The unique area is a floristic wonderland with many species at the edge of the range.

Three distinct bioregions meet in Towarri: the Sydney Basin, the Brigalow Belt South and North Coast. This means that the soil type, fertility and depth differ throughout the park. Throw in a variation in rainfall, elevation and geological features and the result is a mosaic of plant communities. Snow gums decorate the skyline above a snowgrass understorey on the high plateau areas of Mount Tinagroo and Bald Hill.

The Wonnarua people were the first inhabitants of the Hunter Valley, which was known as Coquun before European settlement. Their name, ‘Wonnarua’, means ‘people of the hills and plains’, and their traditional lands reach from near Maitland in the Upper Hunter to the Great Dividing Range towards Wollombi. Their history in the area is shared with nearby groups such as Worimi to the northeast and Awakakal to the southeast. Towarri means ‘warrior’ in the language of the Wonnarua, and these people fought hard for their land after European settlement.