Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park - The Park

The Park

The area encompassed by the ranges was always pastoral land, although much of it is so inaccessible and rugged to be unattractive to anything but goats and bushwalkers. The northwestern part of the ranges was first taken into government care from the hands of the Yankaninna station in 1968, a National Park being declared in 1970. Balcanoona station was purchased in 1980, and the lands officially added to the park two years later.

The dual-usage park (an arrangement under which some mining is permitted) has also been subject to mining claims and some controversy, not unfamiliar to the area considering the extensive uranium deposits in the adjacent Arkaroola Sanctuary. One of the most visible of the claims in the Gammons is in Weetootla Gorge, wherein a hill is composed almost entirely of magnesite; BHP had explored this area and placed a claim on it, though no plans were made to mine it. In 2000, another company made moves to acquire the claim, with view to exploiting the deposit. The government blocked the transfer of the lease, and after a legal challenge by the mining company was defeated, a commitment was made by both major political parties in South Australia to extinguish all mining claims in the area, and re-proclaim the National Park with a complete ban on all mining.

The park remains remote and relatively inaccessible. The Copley-Arkaroola dirt road (passable to 2WD vehicles) passes through Italowie Gap at the southern edge of the park, from where it is a one day walk north to Mount McKinlay. There is a 4WD track around Mount McTaggart into Illinawortina Pound, leading to Grindell's Hut and Loch Ness Well, from where bushwalkers may climb Mount John Roberts, an outlying bluff of the Blue Range which dominates the pound. Access to the northern side of the park is even more difficult, with the 4WD track to the bordering pastoral station of Yankaninna providing the closest road. Visitors must climb over the Yankaninna Range or walk in from Arcoona Bluff at the extreme northwest corner of the ranges to access the interior.

Water in the ranges is sparse and difficult to rely on: there are water tanks on the outskirts at Grindells Hut, Italowie Gap, and Arcoona Bluff. There are a number of waterholes, some of which are deep in the ranges and quite reliable, but all of them have been known to dry up in years of extreme drought.