Qualla: Sturt National Park

Sturt National Park: Introduction

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Poyt448 Peter Woodard, Public domain. Drive four hours north of Broken Hill, past where the bitumen surrenders to dirt, and the country starts to change. The plains flatten and redden. Mesas rise like broken tables on the horizon, the worn stumps of an ancient mountain range. This is Sturt National Park, more than 3,250 square kilometres of arid New South Wales reaching to the very northwest corner of the state, where three borders converge and the longest fence on Earth runs straight off into the heat. It is named for a man who came here certain he would find an inland sea.

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Image: Poyt448 Peter Woodard | Public domain

Sturt National Park: A Land of Jump-Ups and Gibber

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Poyt448 Peter Woodard, Public domain. The park stages several deserts at once. In the east lie floodplains, scattered trees, and small rocky gorges cut by creek beds that run only after rain. Toward the centre rises the Olive Downs country, the "jump-ups": flat-topped mesas standing as much as 150 metres above the pl...

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Image: Poyt448 Peter Woodard | Public domain

Sturt National Park: Red Kangaroos and the Long Fence

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Poyt448 Peter Woodard, Public domain. At least 31 species of mammals, 67 of reptiles and nearly 200 birds have been recorded here. The animals you are most likely to meet are the icons: red kangaroos, the largest marsupials on Earth, lounging in whatever shade they can find, alongside western and eastern grey kangaro...

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Image: Poyt448 Peter Woodard | Public domain

Sturt National Park: The Explorer Who Found No Sea

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peterdownunder, CC BY-SA 3.0. The park carries the name of Charles Sturt, the British colonial explorer who led repeated expeditions into inland Australia and who, in 1845, built a stockade called Fort Grey beside Lake Pinaroo in what is now the park's northwest corner. Sturt was convinced a great inland sea ...

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Image: Peterdownunder | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sturt National Park: Coming to the Corner

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Poyt448 Peter Woodard, Public domain. Reaching Sturt is part of the experience. The Silver City Highway runs paved as far as Tibooburra, then turns to dirt, and from there the park spreads out in long looping drives like the Gorge Loop Road, which passes the old Mount Wood sheep station, now a place to stay the night...

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Image: Poyt448 Peter Woodard | Public domain