Smithsonian Magazine has an article about the world's newest national park in the world. Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia opened to the public in on Thursday, April 27th, 2023. It's a huge area, 148,000 acres. In 1946, Reg Sprigg found the fossil bed that housed fossils that would later be referred to as the Ediacaran biota. These strange lifeforms lived around 550 million years ago. The state government is currently working to get the Flinders Ranges area designated as a Unesco World Heritage site.
“This is a journey 550 million years in the making, a region that has attracted significant international attention,” says Susan Close, South Australia’s deputy premier and environment minister, to the Australian Associated Press’ Tim Dornin. “This is not only a place of amazement but a place of learning.”
The state government is currently vying for a Unesco World Heritage site designation for the broader Flinders Ranges area, and the addition of Nilpena Ediacara National Park strengthens its bid. The site, which hosts traditional ceremonial grounds, is culturally significant to the Adnyamathanha people, and it is a piece of South Australia’s pastoral history. Plus, the region is the only place on the planet where scientists can observe a near-continuous geological record spanning 350 million years.
For now, travelers who wish to explore the park must do so by booking a guided tour. Along the way, they’ll be able to stop at a new immersive, audio-visual exhibition about the fossils, located inside a former blacksmith shop. While there, they can also see Alice’s Restaurant Bed, which the South Australia government describes as the most significant fossil bed in the park.
