About Wellington Park

Wellington Park is much loved and enjoyed by visitors and locals alike. It is Tasmania's second most visited attraction, and the most visited natural attraction. The Park offers a diverse range of recreational opportunities, is an important hub for communications, and a source of drinking water for Hobart.

Wellington Park was established under the Wellington Park Act 1993, and is governed under its own set of rules. Although the Park is not a national park, at 18,011 ha, it is one of the Tasmania's largest reserved areas outside of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, stretching westward from the 1271m summit of kunanyi / Mount Wellington for almost 30km. 

kunanyi / Mount Wellington and the Wellington Range are the traditional lands of the Muwinina (mou wee nee nar) people. The Trust is working closely with Palawa knowledge keepers to articulate the Aboriginal values of the lands within Wellington Park and to support opportunities to reconnect community with country.

Average rainfall in Wellington Park ranges from 750mm along the northern and southern foothills, to 1500mm on the higher peaks. Snow can fall in any season, but the changeable weather and proximity to the sea make persistent snow cover a rarity. The alpine area is subject to rapid and extreme changes in weather. Severe conditions with snow, sleet and high winds can occur with startling suddenness at any time of the year.

Winds are predominantly from the west and north-west throughout the year. Tasmania's strongest wind gust of 200 km/hr was recorded on the mountain on 20 March 1998,  a record now shared with Maatsuyker Island off the southern coast of Tasmania following a strong wind event in July 2023. In the warmer months, strong and dry north-westerly winds can cause extreme bushfire weather, as was seen in the devastating fires of 1967.

The Bureau of Meteorology collects weather observation data at the Pinnacle using an automatic weather station. Weather observing on the mountain is a long–standing tradition. The first weather observing stations in the Southern Hemisphere were established at The Springs and on the summit in 1895 by Clement Lindley Wragge, also known in unfavourable weather as ‘Inclement Wragge’. With Wragge’s revolutionary technique the observatories, at different altitudes, played a vital role in weather forecasting. 

Early naturalists were fascinated by the mountain's flora, taking specimens for collections in England. Today, all flora in Wellington Park is protected, and permits are required to collect or remove any vegetation. 

Contemporary research has since identified the richness and significance of the Park's flora that features:

• over 500 native species, representing 30% of Tasmania's native vascular flora
• over 80 species only found in Tasmania - the mountain, in particular, is recognised as one of Tasmania's richest sites in terms of number of endemic species, with two species being only found in this area
• a number of plants of conservation significance because they are poorly reserved or threatened
• a total of 164 mosses, 130 liverworts (60% of Tasmania's bryoflora) and 95 macrolichen species
• ten plant communities that have restricted distribution or are poorly reserved in Tasmania

Over 130 exotic vegetation species have been recorded in the Park, predominantly in the foothills near modified areas. Control programs are conducted by community groups, and neighbours are encouraged to reduce invasive species in their gardens. 

The range of altitude, vegetation and landforms across Wellington Park influences fauna diversity. Consequently, the Park is species rich with many significant communities and threatened species. 

During the 1800s early naturalists visited kunanyi / Mount Wellington and collected numerous species. Contemporary research has since confirmed the importance of the Park’s fauna which features: 

• optimal habitat (high altitude boulder screes) for the endemic long-tailed mouse
• at least 67 bird species,  one of the richest avifaunas for an area of its size in Tasmania (55 species are regularly observed including many of Tasmania’s 12 endemics)
• three bird species considered to be threatened in Tasmania – wedge tailed eagles, swift parrots and grey goshawks
• the presence of breeding sites (sandstone cliffs) for peregrine falcons
• an alpine-adapted lizard
• an estimated 5-6,000 invertebrate species, many of these being endemic and some having very restricted distributions
• a suite of invertebrates restricted to the alpine and subalpine zones that are of great scientific and conservation significance
• the presence of some species of invertebrates (both terrestrial and freshwater) that are possibly restricted to Wellington Park
• the presence of three invertebrate species which are officially classified as rare or threatened in Tasmania
• the presence of endemic invertebrates eg. terrestrial amphipods (crustaceans) which could be used as bio-indicators of climate change
• the occurrence of two specialised invertebrate habitats, pseudo–karst and sandstone cliffs.

Wellington Park is home for the long–nose potoroo, pademelon, bettong, southern brown and eastern barred bandicoots, brush tail, ring–tail, pygmy and eastern pygmy possums, eastern quoll, platypus and echidna, swamp rat, long-tailed mouse, dusky antechinus and various species of bats. 

In damp places in and around the Park reside the Tasmanian and brown froglet, brown tree frog, southern toadlet, bull frogs, spotted grass frogs and the endangered green and gold frog.

Reptiles found in the Park include blue–tongued lizards, mountain dragons, a variety of skinks, all three of Tasmania’s snakes – the tiger, copperhead and white–lipped snake.

All fauna within Wellington Park is protected and permits are required for any collection and/or monitoring.

A number of exotic species including house mice, black rats, rabbits, blackbirds, goldfinches, sparrows, feral cats, goats and bumble bees are found in the Park. These species have a detrimental effect on native flora and fauna, and the integrity of natural systems.

More information on the fauna in Wellington Park can be found in the publications listed or through the Tasmanian Field Naturalists.

The geology of the Park provides the physical foundation for the landscape, ecosystems and character of the Wellington Range – the sheer dolerite columns of the Organ Pipes, hidden caverns of Lost World, familiar features of Collins Cap and Collins Bonnet, the band of sandstone beneath the Wellington Range and mudstone waterfalls in the foothills. 

Millions of years of geological construction, erosive processes and change have shaped the area to form the landforms we know today.

The Park’s geodiversity ( the range of geological, landform and hydrological processes and soil types) is highly significant in a number of ways including:

• the scientific value of the high altitude periglacial landforms, the most extensive in the State which have not been affected by glacial processes
• individual outstanding features e.g. the Lost World ‘pseudo karst’ boulder cave system (including the longest non-carbonate terrestrial caves known in Tasmania), and the Yellow Cliffs (one of the highest and most extensive sandstone cliffs in Tasmania containing rare examples of non–carbonate stalactites and stalagmites)
• the peat soils at Dead Island, the most south–easterly alpine peats in Tasmania
• the purity of the water in the Park and its role as habitat

Non–living components are a vital part of the life sustaining systems within the Park, providing the foundations for other species. More information is available in the Geodiversity Overview available to download below. Additionally, there are many individually significant features. Geoconservation management  ensures the preservation of these unique natural landforms. 

French expeditions in the late eighteenth century reported extensive Aboriginal firing of the forests on the foothills of the Wellington Range. Since European settlement severe fires are known to have occurred on parts of the Wellington Range in 1806, 1851, 1897, 1914, 1934, 1945, and 1967. Approximately 90% of the Park was burnt in the ‘Black Tuesday’ bushfires on 7th February 1967. These bushfires burnt 270 000ha across southern Tasmania including the fringe of Hobart. In five hours 1300 houses and 128 major buildings were burnt. Sixty two people lost their lives. Since 1967 there have been major bushfires in the Park in 1983, 2001 and 2013. 

Bushfires within the Park can threaten surrounding property and vice versa. Within the Park bushfires can damage and destroy infrastructure and cultural heritage, reduce scenic values and affect the quality and amount of water that can be extracted from the drinking water catchments in the Park. Although many of the plant communities in the Park benefit from occasional fire, some can be severely degraded by fire. Much of the vegetation in the higher parts of the Park is still recovering from the 1967 bushfires. 

Park neighbours should reduce the risk of fire through simple preparation and precautions. Every neighbouring household should have a Bushfire Survival Plan and this must be implemented early. Visitors to the Park are reminded to observe fire restrictions during total fire bans as no fire places can be used during these periods. To minimise the risk to Park visitors and reduce the risk of bushfires, the Park will be closed on days with an Extreme or Catastrophic fire danger rating.  

The Wellington Range includes prominent skyline features such as Sleeping Beauty, Collins Cap, Cathedral Rock and kunanyi / Mount Wellington. For today’s locals and visitors to southern Tasmania, the mountain is especially significant visually, offering a sense of homecoming and arrival. 

Early visitors to Van Diemen’s Land portrayed their impressions on canvas and Mount Wellington was an obvious influence. Lieutenant G. Tobin painted the views during Bligh’s visit in 1792, then later that year C.F. Beautemps–Beaupré sketched images on D’Entrecasteaux’s journeys. 

Many early settlers to the new colony depicted the local views including John Glover. 'Mount Wellington and Hobart Town from Kangaroo Point 1831-33' is considered one of Glover’s most significant works, depicting the mountain, the river, and Aboriginal people.