National Parks and Conservation

The establishment of national parks in tropical Australia has always proceeded in full accord with Aboriginal ownership. Over the period 2004–2014, over 2 million hectares in Queensland alone were placed under Aboriginal ownership. The Kimberley region of the north of Western Australia can be defined as the area extending north from just south of latitude 18°S, taking in the widespread catchment of the Fitzroy River and continuing inland as far as the Northern Territory–Western Australian border. The Pilbara region extends from Wyndham in the north to the Newman area in the south. There are several river catchments including those of the Fortescue and Ashburton Rivers which, like the other, mostly ephemeral rivers of the Pilbara, flow generally north-west to the Indian Ocean. One of the larger of the conservation areas is the Karijini National Park, located in the Hamersley Range just north of the Tropic of Capricorn.