Porongurup National Park is a national park in the Great Southern region of Western Australia (Australia), 360 km southeast of Perth and 40 km from Albany.
It protects the Porongurup Range, an extremely ancient and largely levelled mountain range formed in the Precambrian over 1200 million years ago. The present range is no more than fifteen km (10 miles) from east to west and consists of granite peaks levelled into domes. The highest point in the Porongurup Range is Devils Slide at 670 metres (2,200 ft) whilst there are several other peaks above 600 metres (1,970 ft), which is about 400 metres above the surrounding plain. Indeed, for much of the Cretaceous and Paleogene the Porongurup Range was an island surrounded by the sea, with the Stirling Range forming the southern coastline.
It is believed that the Porongurup Range is a remnant of the Precambrian collision that joined Australia and Antarctica until they separated in the Paleocene. There remain major granite intrusions in what is left of what must once have been a large mountain range.
Read more about Porongurup National Park: History, Climate and Vegetation, Features
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or park:
“Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of this standard demands of everyone who loves this country a hard look at himself, for the greatest achievments must begin somewhere, and they always begin with the person. If we are not capable of this examination, we may yet become one of the most distinguished and monumental failures in the history of nations.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“and the words never said,
And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
We sat in the car park till twenty to one
And now I’m engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)