The popular Wangara Lookout is one one of the easiest to get to, although with an elevation of 680m (just 80m or so higher than Wilpena Pound) the view is nowhere as impressive as some of other vantage points – Wilpena Pound Lookout, St Mary Peak or Mount Ohlssen Bagge. But you still get a sweeping view from the elevated vantage point, with the upper platform looking south over Ikara / Wilpena Pound to the Wilpena Pound Range / Akurra Ngami Range, which forms the forms the south-western wall of the pound. Beyond it you can see parts of the Elder Range (or Urdlu Warlpunha, meaning kangaroo bones).
Directly south is Fred Nob and Walter Hill, which are part of the Wilpena Pound Range / Akurra Ngami Range.
To the north-east is Appealinna Hill, the site of a permanent waterhole where Joseph Wills took up a pastoral lease in 1856 and established a homestead. (He was eventually forced to move in 1871 after losing a hostile 13 year feud with copper miners who had a lease on an adjoining property over access to the vital water source.) A bit further out is Mount Caernarvon, the highest mountain in the Bunkers Range, and Kibble Hill.
Getting to Wangara Lookout
It’s a pleasant bushwalk to Wangara Lookout from the Wilpena Pound Visitor Centre, initially along the Pound Gap Trail, and old road which follows Wilpena Creek. It enters Wilpena Pound through the Pound Gap, which is the only entrance to Wilpena Pound. (You can also catch an infrequent shuttle which takes you about two kilometres along the road, which is closed to private cars and bicyles.)
From the shuttle stop you can take the “Sliding Rock” bushwalking track or “Top Track” (which is the old road) for another kilometres to the historic Hills Homestead.
There are toilets, tank water and picnic tables here; the restored homestead was home to the Hill family who leased the land from 1899 to 1914 to grow wheat.
The signposted Wangara Lookout trail climbs a series of rocky slaps up the ridge behind the homestead.
After only about 150m you reach the Lower Wangara Hill Observation Deck, a timber platform offering views over Wilpena Pound.
Continue another 450m to the top viewing platform, which gives you a slightly better view.
The Wangara Lookout bushwalk is an easy 8km return walk – or 4km if you take the shuttle. You can also visit Wangara Lookout as part of the much longer (22km) St Mary Peak loop.
More information
- Best Walks of the Flinders Ranges – purchase book
- We Explore – Appealinna Hill and Wills Homestead – A Battle of Wills
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