Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

near the Elvina Track on the Park's Lambert Peninsular|thumb|left Ku-ring-gai Chase is part of the Hornsby Plateau, a massive block of sandstone tilting upwards to the north. The park comprises a plateau with an elevation of generally 150–200 m above sea level. Between 250 and 200 million years ago, sand silt and mud was deposited by rivers across flood plains. Other rock types in the park are less common. Soils derived from the Narrabeen group of shales are around the eastern shore of the Lambert Peninsula, particularly around Elvina Bay and Lovett Bay. These richer soils provide for a vegetation type different from that of the sandy ridge top soils, providing for forests of spotted gums (Corymbia maculata) with forest oaks as a secondary layer. Eroded remnants of volcanic dykes occur including at Resolution Picnic Area at West Head and Campbells Crater near Cowan, which provide for forests of Sydney blue gum (Eucalyptus saligna). More recent volcanic activity has forced small intrusions of igneous rock into the sandstone. A band of dolerite runs across the West Head peninsula near White Horse Beach, providing fertile soils for a distinct group of plants. The Smith's Creek area has intrusions of breccia. The plateau is divided into separate sections by the steep valleys of Cowan Creek, Coal and Candle Creek, and Smiths Creek. These "flooded" or "drowned" valleys, knowns as rias, were eroded into the sandstone much deeper than the current sea level during the glacial phases of the Pleistocene ice age. When the ice caps melted about 10,000 years ago, the sea levels rose and flooded the valleys of the park, and separated Lion and Scotland islands from the mainland. The tributaries of Pittwater and Cowan Creek became bays and inlets along and extended shoreline. The dominant rock type is Hawkesbury Sandstone which determines the topography and the vegetation in the sandy soils. Sandstone cliffs, rocky and outcrops, and worn caves are common throughout the park. Indigenous people engraved the flat sandstone outcrops. Tessellated pavements are found in the park whereby regular chequered patterns in the stone form along fault lines and lines of weakness. The park's highest point is 246 m at Willunga Trig near West Head Road which runs along the ridge of the Lambert Peninsula. ==History==

Pre-European history The name Ku-ring-gai (also spelled Kuringgai, Kuring-gai, Guringai, Kuriggai) () is an ethnonym referring to (a) an hypothesis regarding an aggregation of Indigenous Australian peoples occupying the territory between the southern borders of the Gamilaraay and the area around Sydney (b) perhaps an historical people with its own distinctive language, located in part of that territory, or (c) people of Aboriginal origin who identify themselves as descending from the original peoples denoted by (a) or (b) and who call themselves Guringai. Little about the original inhabitants was recorded by Europeans at contact and their communities were soon destroyed through disease and conflict with European settlers. The national park contains extensive evidence of Aboriginal occupation of the area prior to European contact, across more than 800 sites in the park. These include rock engravings, cave drawings, occupation sites, paintings and stencils, axe grinding grooves and middens providing significant evidence of the way of life of the Guringai people. Park history In 1788, the first year of English settlement of the Sydney area, Governor Arthur Phillip and a small party explored Broken Bay and the Hawkesbury River, but seeking agricultural land, they showed little interest in the steep and stony landscapes. The television series, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo was shot in northern Sydney at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and the adjacent Waratah Park. Bushfires ravaged the park in January 1994. ==Locations, access and facilities==

Many of the park's attractions are accessible only by walking track. Many kilometres of the park front the shores of Broken Bay, Pittwater and Cowan Creek, making it a good place to explore by boat. The Flint & Steel Guesthouse was one of the first buildings on West Head. Gun emplacements were built for WW2 defences, and a bushtrack still leads down to their remnants. • Barrenjoey headland is at the northern end of Palm Beach and is not joined to the rest of the Park by land but separated by 1kilometre of water, the Pittwater. It is the site the historic Barrenjoey Head Lighthouse, constructed in 1880. • The Sphinx Memorial is a sandstone monument commemorating the fallen Australian Imperial Force comrades of William Shirley during World War I and was created by the returned soldier in the 1920s. The Sphinx took about one and a half years to complete. • Cottage Point is Sydney's smallest locality and is listed as a heritage conservation area. Cottage Point Kiosk and Boat Hire, built around 1918, is situated at Cottage Point at the entrance to Coal and Candle Creek. • Jerusalem Bay is accessible by a track which is part of the Great North Walk from Cowan railway station next to the Pacific Highway. The track passes through a creek gorge lined with temperate rainforest and large turpentines before opening to the bay. At the bay is an old abandoned habitation site. It opens out to Cowan Water and Broken Bay making it popular with boating and fishing enthusiasts. After the bay the track proceeds up a steep climb past Campbell's Crater and along the ridge to Brooklyn. Campbell's Crater is a volcanic diatreme containing subtropical rainforest species such as red cedars and Cabbage Palms with a floor of ferns. ==See also==