The Dharawal National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The national park is situated between the Illawarra Range and the Georges River and is approximately south west of Sydney. There are three entry points to the park: from the east through ; from the north through ; and from the south through . The national park covers almost both the O’Hares and Stokes Creek catchments. It contains significant biodiversity and ecosystems and Aboriginal culturally significant sites. It has high conservation significance within the region, especially due to the low disturbance within the park and limited public access. The landscape varies from gorges and waterfalls to upland swamps to sandstone woodland, rainforests, and eastern gully forests. The residents of the park include koalas, wallabies, wallaroos, platypuses, potoroos, pygmy possums and many more animal species. The conservation objectives of the park are to maintain the natural and cultural heritage, provide education and research opportunities as well as providing some recreation activities. Etymology and indigenous heritage The name Dharawal refers to the indigenous Dharawal community, which has lived in the area for more than 15,000 years. The Dharawal once occupied the area from the southern shores of Botany Bay, south to the Shoalhaven River, and northwest to . The park is within the Tharawal and the Illawarra Aboriginal Land Councils areas. There are many archaeological sites within the Dharawal National Park and surrounding region, estimated at 15,000 over the Woronora Plateau. The rock art found at these sites consists of drawings, paintings, and stencils created with black charcoal, white clay, or red, yellow, or orange ochre. Within the national park approximately 236 sites that have been found. History In 1927 the O’Hares Creek Catchment was proclaimed a 'water catchment' in connection with the supply of water by the Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board. In 1978, the Sydney Metropolitan Water Sewage and Drainage Board decided that the catchment would not be used for water supply, and so the Government of New South Wales proposed creating a state recreation area over the catchment. Due to conflicting government interest, it took until 1996 before the catchment area was declared a nature reserve and state recreation area. As a result of the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 2001 passed by New South Wales, all state recreation areas became state conservation areas. The