Gibraltar Range National Park

The Gibraltar Range and Gibraltar Range National Park lie on the eastern edge of the New England Tablelands between Glen Innes (79k) and Grafton (104k).

This photo from Mark's Clarence Valley Today photo blog shows the view from the Heffron lookout.

This area was always sparsely populated, although there was considerable mining interest, especially gold and tin along the Mann River.

From the 1920s onwards, William Mulligan, grazier and mining engineer, promoted building a hydroelectric scheme using water from both branches of Dandahra Creek. He wanted to rework foothill copper deposits. Falling post-war copper prices and changing government policies were to prevent construction of his private power station.

I found the story of William Mulligan interesting because it is another example of the early interest in hydro electricity that forms a small subset of New England history. Today you can see the remains of his endeavours preserved within the Parl.