The Fitzgerald River National Park has been classed as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO, under its Man and the Biosphere programme. The biosphere reserve designation means that Fitzgerald River National Park meets specific criteria to ensure that the area ‘promotes and demonstrates a balanced relationship between humans and nature’. The area must also incorporate a variety of ecological systems: terrestrial, coastal or marine.

The Fitzgerald River National Park includes the areas that surround the inlets of the Gairdner, Fitzgerald and Hamersley Rivers, between Bremer Bay and Hopetoun. The park is one of the most diverse botanical regions in the world and is home to more than 1800 species of flowering plants, lichens, mosses and fungi; representing nearly 20% of the total number of plant species in Western Australia. The park is also home to 62 plant species unique to the area and a further 48 plant species that can be found in and around the area.

The variety of plant life supports a diverse array of native animals and birds, including 19 native mammals. Fitzgerald River National Park is one of Western Australia’s most important areas for fauna conservation.

• The dibbler (a small marsupial) was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered near Albany in 1967.
• The heath rat was thought to be extinct in Western Australia, but evidence of its presence was found in the 1980s in Fitzgerald River National Park.
• The Fitzgerald River National Park is home to the woylie and the tammar wallaby – both are threatened species.
• The ground parrot is one of three endangered birds that are now found only in this area.

Location: the Fitzgerald River National Park is located 180 kilometres north east of Albany, or 520 kilometres south east of the city of Perth.

Australia’s South West

Albany Visitor Centre