Diamantina National Park
Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Australian place
Diamantina National Park is a national park in the Channel Country of South West Queensland, Australia, Template:Convert west of Brisbane. Like the Diamantina River that flows through it, it is named for Lady Diamantina Bowen, wife of Sir George Bowen, the first Governor of Queensland.
Established in 1993 after the Queensland Government purchased Diamantina Lakes Station in 1992 and gazetted the property as a national park with an area of Template:Convert, Diamantina National Park received an award in March 2007 from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for being among the top 10 reserves of the decade. Recognition was given for the successful efforts to protect the bilby, an endangered mammal native to Australia.<ref>Queensland parks recognised as among best in Australia Template:Webarchive. 28 March 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.</ref>
Livestock was removed from the park in 1998.<ref name="herqldout">Template:Cite book</ref>
Parts of the park contain traditional aboriginal lands. These are noted for their food resources and numerous habitation sites. Aboriginals would roam the area, moving from the sandhills and gibber country in the wet season and returning to permanent water in the dry season.<ref name="herqldout"/>
Average elevations of the terrain is 139 metres.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Birds
[edit]With Astrebla Downs National Park, Diamantina National Park forms part of the Template:Convert Diamantina and Astrebla Grasslands Important Bird Area, identified by BirdLife International as such because it is one of few sites known for the critically endangered night parrot. It also supports globally important populations of the plains-wanderer, Australian bustard, straw-necked ibis, white-necked heron, inland dotterel, Bourke's parrot, black and pied honeyeaters, gibberbird, Hall's babbler, chestnut-breasted quail-thrush, cinnamon quail-thrush and spinifexbird.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2016, a population of the critically endangered night parrot was discovered in the park.<ref name="lknp">Template:Cite web</ref> The parrot is Australia's rarest bird species. This discovery significantly expanded the known range and is the largest known population of the species.<ref name="lknp"/>