Description of the attraction
Lamington National Park is located on the plateau of the same name on the MacPherson Ridge on the border of the states of Queensland and New South Wales, 110 km from Brisbane.
The park is famous for its amazing nature - rain forest, ancient trees, waterfalls, breathtaking views from mountain passes, a variety of animals and birds. It is part of the Gondwana Rainforest UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of the park is located at an altitude of 900 meters above sea level, just 30 km from the Pacific coast. The Lamington Plateau and Mountains itself and the nearby Springbrook National Park are the remains of the huge Tweed Volcano, which is more than 23 million years old!
For at least 6 thousand years, local aborigines have lived in these mountains. The extinct tribes of the wangerriburras and nerangballum considered the plateau their home, but about 900 years ago, the aborigines began to leave these places. The first Europeans to explore the park were Captain Patrick Logan and Alan Cunningham in the mid-19th century. Soon, intensive timber harvesting began here.
In the 1890s, local activist Robert Martin Collins called on the government to protect these forests from deforestation, he even appealed to parliament, but died before MacPherson ridge was taken under protection. Later, another activist, Romeo Leyi, organized a campaign to establish Queensland's first protected area on the ridge. Lamington National Park was established in 1915 and named after Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1902.
Pristine mountain landscapes, waterfalls, caves, rainforest, heathery steppe, picturesque coves, a huge variety of wildlife and some of the best hiking trails in Queensland are all protected in Lamington National Park. In 1979 the famous British TV presenter David Attenborough visited the park for the filming of the documentary "Life on Earth".
Many of the park's plants are found nowhere else on earth, such as Lamington's myrtle, Mount Merino eyebright and the hardy daisy that has survived here since the last ice age. Here you can also see endangered plants such as the spotted orchid.
The park is one of the region's most important wildlife habitats, including rare and endangered species such as Coxen's fig parrot, eastern bristle beak, Elbert's lyrebird, and Richmond's birdwing. Lamington's blue crayfish is found only on the Lamington Plateau in ponds and streams at an altitude of 450 meters above sea level. Other rare species in the park include Flea's striped frog, the giant striped frog, and the cascading tree frog.
The "pearls" of the park are more than 500 waterfalls, including Elabana Falls and Running Creek Falls in the southern part, which plunge into an almost vertical canyon.
The park has a well-developed network of hiking trails - more than 150 km were laid during the Great Depression, and they were laid in such a way that tourists walking along them never feel out of breath. Where mountainous slopes were inevitable, steps were built instead of steep paths. Some trails are short enough, while others can take up to 7 hours to master. One of the most popular hiking trails, the 23-kilometer Borderline, runs right along the border between Queensland and New South Wales along the summit of the MacPherson Ridge.
