Avon Valley is a national park in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 (Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

), located 47 kilometres northeast of Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. It was named for the Avon River

Avon River (Western Australia)

The Avon River is a river in Western Australia. It is a tributary of the Swan River totalling 280 kilometres in length, with a catchment area of 125,000 square kilometres.-Catchment area:...

 which flows through it. The area is an undulating plateau with the sides of the valley steeply sloping back to the river approximately 200 metres (656.2 ft) below. The area contains granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 outcrops and a mix of soil types including loam

Loam

Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...

s, gravels and lateritic

Laterite

Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...

 sands.

It was officially named on 15 October 1971.

Jarrah, Marri

Corymbia calophylla

Corymbia calophylla is a bloodwood native to Western Australia. Common names include Marri and Port Gregory Gum, and a long standing usage has been Red Gum due to the red gum effusions often found on trunks.It is distinctive among bloodwoods for its very large buds and fruit Corymbia calophylla...

 and Wandoo

Eucalyptus wandoo

Eucalyptus wandoo is a medium-sized tree widely distributed in southwest Western Australia.-Description:It grows as a small to medium-sized tree up to 25 metres in height. It has smooth bark, often in mottled patches of white, light grey, light brown light yellow and pink...

 trees are found in the park along with 90 different species of birds making it an ideal place for bird watching. Christmas trees and grasstrees are interspersed through the woodlands.

In the springtime the park is visited by wildflower enthusiasts to view the a diverse range of flowers including dryandra

Dryandra

Banksia ser. Dryandra is a series of 94 species of shrub to small tree in the plant genus Banksia. It was considered a separate genus named Dryandra until early 2007, when it was merged into Banksia on the basis of extensive molecular and morphological evidence that Banksia was paraphyletic with...

s, donkey orchids and lechenaultia

Lechenaultia

Lechenaultia is a genus of plants in the Goodeniaceae family. Some species of this genus are used like ornamental plants. Lechenaultia species are diverse in form, they may appear as trees, shrubs, or small herbaceous plants....

s. Other plants found in the area are Conostylis and the rare fringed lily

Thysanotus

Thysanotus is a genus of perennial herbs in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Lomandroideae, which are native to Australia, Malesia and Asia.Species include:*Thysanotus acerosifolius Brittan*Thysanotus anceps Lindl Fringe-Lily...

 are also found within the park.

The bushranger

Bushranger

Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...

 Moondyne Joe

Moondyne Joe

Joseph Bolitho Johns , better known as Moondyne Joe, was Western Australia's best known bushranger.- Biography :...

 used the area as a hide-out with his cave and corral situated within the park boundaries. Both have since been destroyed by a series of bushfires within the park.

The third route of the Eastern Railway is in parts the southern border of the park, on the southern side of the Avon River, and provides - at times of bushfires and other emergencies a track and point of access.

Facilities

Entry and camping fess apply for visitors to the park. Toilets, water, shaded areas and wood barbecues are available for use. Trail signage and an information shelter are located within the park and a dedicated ranger

Council ranger

Council rangers are officers employed by Local Government Areas in Australia to enforce the by-laws of those local governments and a limited range of state laws relating to such matters as litter control, animal control, dog laws, fire control, off-road vehicles, emergency management, and...

is on site.