The Pinacles, Cervantes, WA

Nambung National Park is a national park in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia (Australia), 162 km northwest of Perth. It contains the Pinnacles Desert.

Nambung is an Indigenous Australian word meaning crooked or winding referring to the Nambung River that drains into the area.

The park is bordered to the north by Southern Beekeepers Nature Reserve and to the south by Wanagarren Nature Reserve. A large area of vacant Crown Land is found along much of the eastern edge.

Europeans first visited the area in 1658 when Dutch maps recorded North and South Hummocks on their maps. Philip Parker King also mentioned the Hummocks in his journals in 1820. The Pinnacles Desert area remained relatively unknown until surveyed in the late 1960s after the area had been added to an existing national park that was formed in 1956.

Visitors can access the "Pinnacles" from Cervantes, 17 km north of the park, via Cervantes Road and Indian Ocean Drive. With the opening of the final (south) section of Indian Ocean Drive from Lancelin to Cervantes on 19 September 2010, visitors travelling from Perth can now access the "Pinnacles" Nambung National Park directly via Indian Ocean Drive.

The Pinnacles Desert Discovery Centre features exhibits about the geology of the pinnacles formations and the cultural and natural heritage values of the area.

Flora and fauna

Nambung National Park includes many wildlife features. The western grey kangaroo is a native animal. In the breeding season humpback whales will also breed in the area. There are around 90 different species of birds in the area. There are also snakes and many other reptiles such as lizards.