Dharawal National Park Guides and Resource Collection for New South Wales Protected Lands

Ancient Dharawal lands protecting Sydney's southern watershed

Dharawal National Park

Dharawal National Park represents one of New South Wales most significant recent protected area additions, established in 2012 after decades of advocacy for the protection of the O'Hares Creek Catchment. The park sits at the southern edge of the Sydney Basin on the Woronora Plateau, a landscape shaped by Triassic Hawkesbury Sandstone that creates a rugged terrain of gorges, cliff lines, and sandstone plateaus. The catchments of O'Hares and Stokes Creeks form the headwaters of the Georges River, with the annual average discharge estimated at 40,000 megalitres. The park contains remarkable ecological diversity with 13 distinct vegetation communities, including the dominant sandstone woodland and eastern gully forest, as well as specialized communities such as the endangered O'Hares Creek Shale Forest and the isolated black cypress pine populations of the Woronora Plateau. The park is bounded by rural properties and hobby farms on its eastern and western flanks, while connecting to a broader network of protected areas extending south to Morton National Park and west to the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site.