Home to some of the state’s most magnificent Karri forest, Shannon National Park offers a variety of ways to experience its beauty. Follow the Great Forest Trees Drive along a beautiful unsealed road suitable for conventional vehicles, get up close to the forest on several different walktrails, spot the wildlife, go canoeing or stay a few nights in the Shannon Campground, the old townsite where more than 90 houses once stood (https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/shannon-campground) . Horses are welcome at the campground with a purpose-built camping area and explore the Warren Blackwood Stock Route. The Stock Route is a 320km bridle trail based on the old cattle droving routes of the pioneering families of the south west.
The park and the Shannon River were named after the HMS Shannon, an English Royal Navy Ship. The Shannon was one of the last areas in the South West to be opened up for logging due to its inaccessibility. The area was largely untouched until the 1940s when an acute shortage of timber after WWII prompted the State government to establish a timber mill at Shannon. Timber cutting began in the Shannon basin in the mid-1940s and the town and timber mill were established in the late 1940s.
Gazetted as a national park in 1988, today the Shannon lures visitors seeking to immerse themselves in its natural beauty. The Karri trees are certainly the jewel of this park, some growing up to 90 metres tall. View these forest giants up close at Snake Gully Boardwalk and at Big Tree Grove. The park also features beautiful stands of Jarrah, Marri, Bullich, Paperbark and Blackbutt, biologically rich wetlands, heathlands and granite outcrops. The entire catchment system of the Shannon River is pristine and completely contained within Shannon National Park and the adjoining D’Entrecasteaux National Park.
Click here to go to the website: https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/shannon
