Grampians Wildflowers

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It was early October, probably the height of the spring flowering season, when we spent a few days in the Grampians National Park in 2006.

In January 2006 a fire in rugged country was started by a lightning strike. This fire burned for about 2 weeks. It claimed the life of 2 people, destroyed homes and grazing land, as well as burning almost half of the Grampians National Park.

Much of park was still closed when we visited but the burnt areas that we visited were showing how Australian forests regenerate after fire; gum trees were sprouting new growth from the epicormic buds along their trunks, wattle seedlings were germinating, and ferns like bracken were uncurling new fronds. Most astonishing was the mass flowering of grass trees, stimulated by the fire.







































We travelled through both burnt and unburnt parts of the park and in each there was a wonderful display of wildflowers, although there was a much greater variety in unburnt areas. The following photos give some idea of the variety of flowers that we saw during our brief visit.