Josh Byrne visits the Helen and Aurora Range with WA Wildflower Society member Brian Moyle, who has spent many years working to protect this rare banded-ironstone landscape and its Gimlet gum (Eucalyptus salubris) woodland. It is currently within a conservation park, but the Society is hoping to have it changed to a National Park due to its National Heritage values. The view from the summit is breathtaking.
The hard, hot rock formations result in temperature extremes, ranging from 50 degrees to freezing. The area has produced many species that occur nowhere else in the world, such as the Bungalbin tetratheca (Tetratheca aphylla), which produces masses of purple flowers in spring and grows in tiny cracks in the rock. We also see the ironstone beard-heath (Leucopogon spectabilis), which has white flowers and seemingly grows straight out of the rock!
Link to video here: http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/remote-ranges/10343146