Gulaga National Park
Gulaga National Park was established in January 2001. It covers an area of 4673 hectares.
Gulaga (Mt Dromedary) and the surrounding landscape has great spiritual significance to local Aboriginal people, particularly Aboriginal women. The park also incorporates the former Wallaga Lake National Park. In May 2006 the park was handed back to its traditional Aboriginal owners in an historic agreement signed by the NSW Environment Minister and the Yuin people.
The forested ancient volcano that is Gulaga, also known as Mt Dromedary, can be seen from Tathra to Moruya, and hides near its summit magnificent granite tors that are of great spiritual and cultural significance to the Yuin Aboriginal people of the south coast. There have been a number of volcanic eruptions from Gulaga, the first about 95 million years ago during the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs were still at the top of the food chain.
The volcano has had a significant impact on the surrounding environment with both Little Dromedary (Najanuka) to the east and Montague Island (Baranguba) formed through the volcano's activity. Gulaga, which is now about 800 metres above sea level, would have originally been close to two thousand metres higher, and its foothills would have extended to Tuross. The mountain that you see today is basically the inner core of the original volcano, now long dormant.
During the early 1800s, the villages of Tilba were a bustling economy driven by the gold mining industry, with good deposits found on the mountain.
Today Gulaga National Park is the imposing backdrop for the heritage villages of Central Tilba and Tilba Tilba. Bushwalkers can summit the Gulaga peak by taking the old mining road behind Pam's Store at Tilba Tilba. The rich damp forest walks is steep, but walkers will be rewarded with spectacular views of the valley and beyond to the coast.
For more information visit the NSW National Parks website.
Below: Gulaga Mountain looks over the picturesque villages of the Tilba region.