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NPA welcomes Labor’s announcement to create a Georges River Koala National Park  

National Parks Association of NSW welcomed NSW Labor’s recent announcement of plans to fast-track the creation of a Georges River Koala National Park in southwest Sydney.  

The Gardens of Stone

nature’s wonderland on the frontline

Keith Muir, Wilderness advocate

Situated in the western Blue Mountains, the 30,000ha Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area is the heart of pagoda country and a wonderland of cultural and natural heritage. Unfortunately, its internationally rare pagoda landscapes overlie coal mines and now are slated for commercial tourism infrastructure development.  

In 2019 the Gardens of Stone Alliance of conservation groups published Destination Pagoda to promote how the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area could become a major visitor attraction for Lithgow.  

Nature’s Gifts and Politicians

Dr Graeme L. Worboys AM is an Honorary Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. Bruce Gall is a former Director of the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service and is a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas.   

This is the seventh article in an 8-part series discussing our nature’s gifts

One of the greatest threats to nature’s gifts is not climate change or habitat destruction but the actions of our politicians. Our future leaders are generally attracted to a political career for reasons other than saving the planet. But there have been outstanding exceptions; some remarkable Labor, Liberal, Greens and even National Party politicians have made visionary contributions to protecting our nature’s gifts. With no disrespect to others who battled heroically to have parks created, we pay tribute to some of our political champions. 

A big step forward for conservation in western NSW 

The National Parks Association of NSW has congratulated the NSW Government on today’s announcement that it has acquired the former Thurloo Downs property to create a major new National Park in the state’s northwest.    

‘This is a fantastic day for conservation in NSW’ stated NPA President Dr Grahame Douglas.  ‘Not just because of the sheer size of the acquisition, which is more than 400,000 hectares, but because those hectares have been carefully selected to bring protection into bio-regions that are chronically under-represented in the current reserve system’