Lakefield National Park
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Lakefield National Park Queensland |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Lakefield National Park
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| Nearest town or city | Cooktown |
| Established | 1979 |
| Area | 5,370 km2 (2,073.4 sq mi) |
| Managing authorities | Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service |
| Website | Lakefield National Park |
| See also | Protected areas of Queensland |
Lakefield is a national park in Lakefield, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia, 1,707 km northwest of Brisbane and 340 km north-west of Cairns by road, on Cape York Peninsula. At 5,370 km2 (2,073 sq. miles) making it bigger than (Trinidad and Tobago and almost as big as Brunei) Lakefield is the second largest park in Queensland and a popular place for fishing and camping.
The park stretches from Princess Charlotte Bay in the north to the town of Laura. It covers 537,000 ha of land, and includes sections of the Normanby River, Morehead River and North Kennedy Rivers, as well as lakes, billabongs and wetlands. There are more than 100 permanent riverine lagoons in the park.
There is one main, unsealed road (Lakefield Road) through the park but it is impassable through much of the wet season, when the park closes. There is a ranger station within the park which can assist with information or give help in emergencies.
From early December to April is the wettest time in Lakefield National Park. The average rainfall is about 1,200 mm. At the times monsoon rains fall causing the rivers to overspill their banks. In the distinctly drier months, the plains of the Laura Basin become parched and dusty.
Before Europeans settled in the area around the 1870s, numerous Aboriginal clans occupied the fertile coastal strip. Aboriginal cultural heritage sites are located at Hann and Kalpowar crossings.
The first explorer to visit the area by land was Edmund Kennedy. Another early explorer of the region was William Hann. Laura Homestead was established in 1892 or earlier and is one of the oldest, intact, pastoral homesteads in the region. Lakefield Station, extending for over 150 kilometres from Musgrave Station in the north on Princess Charlotte Bay to the northern boundary of Laura Station to the south, an area of about 25,000 km2., ran about 1,500 - 2,000 head of Hereford-cross cattle until about 1964 when its owner, Tarrawinebar Agency, introduced Brahmain bulls into the herd in an effort to improve the breeding stock. The bulls were offloaded from a Scandanvian cattle ship at a dock on Princess Charlotte Bay near the northern border of the Station. Management was also attempting to improve pastures by seeding Townsville lucerne and dividing the station into stock management blocks by means of an extensive fencing program. In 1960 the original Lakefield Homestead was replaced by a new homestead, located a few hundreds of metres to the southeast, and in 1965 the old stockmen's quarters were replaced by a new building further to the east, nearer to the airstrip and the horse paddock. At that time the station supported five Caucasian stockmen and several Aboriginal stockmen and their families.
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Wikipedia