Royal National Park, Australia

Royal National Park, Australia, on the Pacific Ocean 36 km (22 mi) south of Sydney, Australia, established in 1879. It is the second-oldest national park in the world, after Yellowstone in the United States, but was the first to be called a national park. The word “Royal” was added in 1954 to mark a visit by Queen Elizabeth II. Unlike Yellowstone and many other national parks, but like the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park to the north of Sydney, it is not a wilderness area but was landscaped and designated a national park for the use of the people of Sydney. Covering an area of about 150 sq km (58 sq mi), it consists of a series of forested sandstone plateaux dissected by the valleys of the Woronora, the Hackling, and other rivers, behind a shoreline of cliffs and beaches, many of them suitable for surfing. Some of its sandstone caves contain ancient rock engravings and charcoal pictures made by the Aboriginal Dharawal people.