Comprehensive Geographic Profile and Mapped Boundaries of Southwest National Park, Tasmania

Tasmania's vast wilderness frontier of ancient landscapes and critically endangered species

Southwest National Park

Southwest National Park is Australia's largest national park in Tasmania, covering approximately 6,183 square kilometers of pristine wilderness in the island's remote southwest. The park forms the core of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, a landscape of extraordinary ecological and geological significance that has remained largely untouched by permanent human settlement. Characterized by dramatic buttongrass moorlands, rugged mountain peaks, ancient rainforests, and remote coastal fjords, the park represents one of the last great temperate wilderness areas in the Southern Hemisphere. The region experiences a notoriously harsh climate with extremely high rainfall, fierce winds, and persistent cloud cover, which has historically deterred human habitation and preserved its natural state. Despite the challenging environment, the park supports remarkable biodiversity with numerous species found nowhere else on Earth, including the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot whose only significant breeding grounds lie within the park's boundaries.