Australia So Much to See

Mount Moffatt in the Carnarvon National Park

To reach the plateau in the Mount Moffatt section of the Carnarvon National Park by road involved driving over 300 kilometres via Injune and heading into the highlands.  This part of the Carnarvon Gorge National Park can be accessed with a dirt road capable caravan and tow vehicle.  Roads within the park may be closed following rain. 

The Mount Moffatt area has a history dating back at least 19,500 years, as dated from fire beds uncovered in a cave later used by legendary outlaws Patrick and James Kenniff. The Kenniff brothers became wanted men due to their cattle stealing, so with their horses they took refuge in the relatively inaccessible ranges. 

Cattle were run in the area from the 1860s until 1979, when the station was purchased for incorporation into the Carnarvon National Park. 

The symmetrical Mount Moffatt that gives the park its name.  At 1,097 metres above sea level, Mount Moffatt is not the highest peak or point within the park. 

Water remains in rock pools at Dargonelly Rockhole Campground

Mount Moffatt

You will see unique shaped sandstone formations in the Mount Moffatt section of the Carnarvon National Park.  Soon after entering the park, a grey weathered rock near the road is known as Cathedral Rock.  The weathered surface of this and some of the other rocks in the park give the image of scales of a giant reptile.  A short walk can be taken around Cathedral Rock.

We are in bushranger country here in the heights of the Carnarvon Range.  The cave where Patrick and James Kenniff sheltered in is now closed to the public due to instability of the cave roof.  This cave also contains some of the most significant Aboriginal rock paintings in the area.  In 1902 the Kenniffs murdered two policemen who apprehended them at the place known as Lethbridge Pocket near their lookout point, high on the northern side of the ridge and incinerated their bodies nearby.  The lookout, the site of the murder of the two policemen and the rock where their bodies were incinerated by the Kenniffs are in this high section of the park can be accessed by four wheel drive tracks.  

A further drive through the mahogany forest ends at the source of Carnarvon Creek high in the Consuelo Tableland. 

The track beyond the Dargonelly campground passes the Marlong Arch where a natural bridge of sandstone forms a slender archway with the two sides linking in the centre like outstretched necks of dragons meeting to kiss.   

The Duchess is a bell tower shaped formation high on a sandstone outcrop.  

The Tombs are found in a large sandstone outcrop with small caves at the base.  The caves are now empty as the remains of those interred there were stolen during the early 1900s.  Corpses were wrapped in cylinders of bark from the Budgeroo tree and were bound with animal hides.  The cylinders were decorated with ochre and placed into the caves under the rock.  Stencil paintings of hands, feet and kangaroo feet in red and yellow ochre remain on the surfaces around these caves and include the unique stencilled image of a man.  

A large Lace Monitor took to the safety of tree.