Flinders Chase National Park is located at the north-western end of Kangaroo Island in South Australia approximately west of Kingscote. It is located within the gazetted localities of Flinders Chase, Gosse and Karatta.
Extent
As of 1993, the national park consists of three separate parcels of land:
'Cape du Couedic' which is refers to the main parcel of land within the national park and which is bounded at the north by the West Bay Road and the West Melrose Track, to the east by the West End Highway and an unsealed track called the Sand Dune Track; and the portion of coastline extending from West Bay in the west to Cape du Couedic in the south and to Sanderson Bay in the east. This portion of the national park includes the following islands - Paisley Islet at West Bay and the Casuarina Islets immediately south of Cape du Couedic.
The Gosse Lands - a parcel of land which is bounded by the Playford Highway to the north and the West End Highway to the west.
Parts of the national park first acquired protected area status as a ‘flora and fauna reserve’ declared on 16 October 1919 under the Fauna and Flora Reserve Act 1919, an act whose specific purpose was:
…to establish a Reserve on Kangaroo Island for the Protection, Preservation, and Propagation of Australasian Fauna and Flora, and to provide for the Control of such Reserve, and for other purposes.
It was constituted as a national park upon the proclamation of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 on 27 April 1972 which repealed five items of existing legislation including the Fauna and Flora Reserve Act 1919. At proclamation in 1972, it consisted of the following land in the following cadastral units as well as the entirety of the Casuarina Islets - section 11 in the Hundred of Borda, section 64 in the Hundred of Gosse, section 17 in the Hundred of McDonald and section 66 in "South out of Hundreds". On 15 October 1993, land in section 11 of the Hundred of Borda, section 64 of Hundred of Gosse and Allotments 50 and 52 in DP 38340 and with an area of was removed from the national park and consitututed under the Wilderness Protection Act 1992 as the Ravine des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area.
Sanctuary
Since creation in November 1919, it has become a sanctuary for endangered species, some of them introduced from the mainland in the 1920s and 1930s. During the 1940s, 23 additional species were introduced, including Koalas and Platypus. Most of these species can still be observed today. Kangaroos, Goannas and Echidnas are commonly seen in the national park.
Little penguins
s have been recorded in Flinders Chase in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. It is believed that these colonies have since gone extinct, partly due to the increase of long-nosed fur seal populations since the end of commercial sealing. In 1886, little penguins were seen at Admiral's Arch.
Geological monuments
The national park contains two geological features that have been listed as geological monuments by the Geological Society of Australia - Cape du Couedic and Remarkable Rocks. Remarkable Rocks are naturally sculptured formations precariously balanced atop a granite outcrop. They remind visitors of the sculptures of Henry Moore.
Fire
Lightning strikes on Thursday 6 December 2007 caused approximately of land in both the national park and the adjoining Ravine des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area to be burnt, before being brought under control ten days later. The national park was again damaged during the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, with the Visitor Centre completely destroyed.
