Kosciuszko National Park

Kosciuszko National Park, Australia

Early morning light strikes the granite summit of Mount Kosciuszko as a lone walker follows the path.

Kosciuszko National Park holds mainland Australia's highest peak, a rugged alpine landscape of snow, glacial lakes and walking tracks within easy reach of Sydney.

The place

Kosciuszko National Park covers 6,900 square kilometres in the south-eastern corner of New South Wales, about 354 kilometres south-west of Sydney. It takes its name from Mount Kosciuszko, the highest peak on mainland Australia, and its boundaries hold a mix of rugged mountains, open plains and wilderness. Much of the high country has an alpine climate, unusual on the mainland, which is why skiers and bushwalkers come here in large numbers. Only the peaks of the main range receive consistent heavy snow in winter, so the lower valleys can be green and dry while the tops stay white for months. Several major rivers rise within the park, including the Snowy, the Murray and the Murrumbidgee. Walkers will find a network of trails through snow gum woodland and across alpine meadows, with the glacial Blue Lake as one of the best-known destinations. The nearest towns, Jindabyne, Cooma and Tumut, sit just outside the boundary and provide most of the accommodation, fuel and supplies. The park rewards planning, because the weather can change quickly and the roads to the snowfields close in bad conditions.

Its story

Aboriginal peoples have lived in the Australian Alps for more than 20,000 years. Each summer, groups from across southern New South Wales travelled into these mountains, drawn by the bogong moths that gathered on the rocky outcrops in great numbers. The moths were a rich food source, and the gatherings brought people together for ceremony and exchange long before any European arrived.

European exploration of the district began in 1835. In 1840 Edmund Strzelecki climbed the highest peak and named it after Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish patriot and military leader. The name proved difficult for most Australians to pronounce, and it has remained a small point of conversation ever since.

In the later nineteenth century, stockmen brought cattle up to the high country to graze through the summer, and their huts still stand scattered across the park. Banjo Paterson's poem The Man From Snowy River recalls that world of horsemen and mountain tracks. Today the National Parks and Wildlife Service and volunteer groups such as the Kosciuszko Huts Association look after many of these buildings.

Gold brought miners to the high plains near Kiandra, where a community of about 4,000 people once supported 14 hotels. Skiing in Australia is recorded as starting there around 1861. The last resident left in 1974, and Kiandra is now a ghost town of ruins and old diggings. Attention later moved south to the Main Range, where the modern ski resorts grew up. The park itself was proclaimed in 1944 as Kosciusko State Park and became Kosciuszko National Park in 1967.

What to see

Culture

The high country is cared for by Aboriginal communities whose connection to these mountains runs back many thousands of years, and that heritage is still part of how the park is explained today. The Kosciuszko Education Centre covers the region's wildlife, geography and Indigenous history through displays and programmes, so it is a useful first stop before walking. The name carries a Polish history, and the usual pronunciation, KOZ-ee-USK-oh, is what you will hear at information desks. The mountain huts are working heritage: many were built by graziers, are maintained by volunteers, and are sometimes used by walkers for shelter. Rules on bookings, fires and huts are set by the park authority, so check the official site before setting out. Stay on marked tracks to protect the fragile alpine meadows, leave every hut as you found it, and never take plants or stones from the park.

What to wear

Kosciuszko National Park has no single traditional dress of its own, and little is recorded in detail about clothing in the high country itself. Aboriginal communities across the Australian Alps relied on animal skins and plant fibres for warmth and for making cords and bags. The stockmen who grazed cattle here in the nineteenth century wore wool jumpers, moleskin or canvas trousers and wide-brimmed felt hats, and that rugged working style still appears in the region. Today people wear technical clothing: ski jackets and salopettes in the resort villages in winter, and layered walking gear on the tracks in summer. For a visitor, layers matter more than style. Pack a warm fleece, a waterproof shell and a hat, and bring sunscreen, since the sun is strong at altitude even when the air is cool. Sturdy closed shoes with good grip handle rock and wet meadows far better than sandals, and a beanie is useful even in summer on the tops.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. December to March suits walking and open tracks in the high country, while June to August is the season for snow and skiing on the main range. The alpine climate means the tops can be cold and windy at any time of year, and winter nights are far below freezing.

How long. 3–4

Getting there. Canberra and Sydney are the main airports for the region. From either city you drive to Jindabyne or Cooma, then take the Alpine Way towards the Thredbo and Perisher sections of the park.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

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