Brisbane Forest Park, Queensland
Encyclopedia
D'Aguilar Range
The D'Aguilar Range is a mountain range near Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The town of Dayboro is situated on the lower foothills midway along the range and Woodford lies at the northern most point of the range. Many residential areas line its eastern slopes including the town of Samford and the...
. The large nature reserve lies on the western boundary of Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in Enoggera Reservoir
Enoggera Reservoir, Queensland
Enoggera Reservoir is an outer suburb of Brisbane, Australia located north-west of the CBD and bordering the Moreton Bay Region and The Gap. It contains Peewee Bend....
, adjacent to The Gap
The Gap, Queensland
The Gap is a leafy and hilly suburb of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia, located approximately 11 km west of the Brisbane CBD.-Geography:...
and between the Mount Coot-tha Reserve on the Taylor Range
Taylor Range (Queensland)
The Taylor Range or Herbert Taylor Range is a mountain range on the western edge of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first named The Glenmorrison Range by John Oxley during his exploration of the area in January 1824....
and higher peaks to the north. Brisbane Forest Park supports plants and animals and is essential to their survival. The main entrance is located in the suburb of The Gap
The Gap, Queensland
The Gap is a leafy and hilly suburb of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia, located approximately 11 km west of the Brisbane CBD.-Geography:...
although there are a number of other access points.
A number of waterways have their headwaters in the park including South Pine River
South Pine River
South Pine River flows from the foothills of Mount Glorious, north-west of Brisbane City, to its convergence with North Pine River at Lawnton, Queensland Australia.On early maps the river was called Eden River...
, Enoggera Creek
Enoggera Creek
Enoggera Creek is a waterway that rises on the D'Aguilar Range and flows into the Brisbane River. The creek's headwaters form on the southern slopes of Mount Nebo in Brisbane Forest Park....
, Gold Creek
Gold Creek (Queensland)
Gold Creek rises in Brisbane Forest Park in the suburb of Upper Brookfield, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; is dammed by Gold Creek Dam and on leaving the Forest Park runs alongside Gold Creek Road until it joins Gap Creek at Brookfield....
, Moggill Creek and its tributary Gap Creek, Cabbage Tree Creek and Cedar Creek, a tributary of Kedron Brook
Kedron Brook
Kedron Brook is a creek that flows through the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. It starts near the outer suburb of Upper Kedron and flows in an easterly direction...
. Lake Manchester Dam
Lake Manchester Dam
Lake Manchester is built on Cabbage Tree Creek in the suburb of the same name, not far above its confluence with the Brisbane River in South East Queensland, Australia. The dam wall is a concrete gravity-section type. Its original purpose was to supplement supplies when the flow of the Brisbane...
, Gold Creek Dam
Gold Creek Dam
Gold Creek Dam is an earthen dam located on the edge of Brisbane Forest Park on the western outskirts of Brisbane, Australia. The dam holds back Gold Creek Reservoir...
and Enoggera Dam
Enoggera Dam
The Enoggera Dam, which is located within the inner, western suburb of Enoggera Reservoir, in Brisbane, Queensland, and was constructed in 1866. It was built on Enoggera Creek and was the first major dam built in Queensland...
are also located within the park.
History
The first national park on the D'Aguilar Range, Maiala National Park was declared in 1930. The park was established by a community group called the Brisbane National & Recreation Park Committee. In 1973 the group released a study on the feasibility of establishing a park between Mount Coot-tha and Mount NeboMount Nebo (Queensland)
Mount Nebo is a mountain approximately 28 km north of the Brisbane suburb of The Gap in Queensland, Australia. It is part of the D'Aguilar Range which includes other mountains such as Mount Pleasant, Mount Glorious and Mount Mee. The town of Mount Nebo is named after the mountain on which it...
. Initially the Brisbane City Council was concerned with the incompatibility of opening a public recreation area in a water supply catchment. A co-ordinating authority was setup to allay concerns and an Act of Parliament was passed in 1977 protecting 25 000 hectares.
In 2009, Brisbane Forest Park was renamed and became one of two sections of the D'Aguilar National Park.
Walkabout Creek Wildlife Centre
The Walk-About Creek Wildlife Centre (at the Mount Nebo Road, The Gap, entrance to Brisbane Forest Park) has an information and education centre for Australian wildlife, a large walk-through aviaryAviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...
, aquarium
Aquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
s and enclosures for wildlife (including a section for Australian nocturnal animal
Nocturnal animal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by activity during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal"....
s).
Australian wildlife on display at the Walk-About Wildlife Centre includes Australian native birds, a Platypus
Platypus
The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...
, Sugar Glider
Sugar Glider
The sugar glider is a small gliding possum originating from the marsupial family.The sugar glider is native to eastern and northern mainland Australia and is also native to New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago.- Habitat :Sugar gliders can be found all throughout the northern and eastern parts of...
, Wallabies
Wallaby
A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...
, Pademelon
Pademelon
Pademelons are small marsupials of the genus Thylogale. They are usually found in forests. Pademelons are the smallest of the macropods...
s, Wombat
Wombat
Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately in length with a short, stubby tail. They are adaptable in their habitat tolerances, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as...
, Yellow-bellied Glider
Yellow-bellied Glider
The Yellow-bellied Glider is an arboreal and nocturnal gliding possum that lives in a narrow range of native eucalypt forests down eastern Australia, reaching from northern Queensland to Victoria.-Habitat:...
, Spotted-tail Quoll
Tiger Quoll
The tiger quoll , also known as the spotted-tail quoll, the spotted quoll, the spotted-tailed dasyure or the tiger cat, is a carnivorous marsupial of the quoll genus Dasyurus native to Australia...
, Brush-tailed Phascogale
Brush-tailed Phascogale
The Brush-tailed Phascogale , also known as the Tuan, the Common Wambenger or the Black-tailed Phascogale, is a rat-sized arboreal carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, characterized by a tuft of black silky hairs on the terminal portion of its tail...
, Bandicoot
Bandicoot
Bandicoots are a group of about 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia.- Etymology :...
, Potaroo, Snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, Lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s, Turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s and fish (including Lungfish
Lungfish
Lungfish are freshwater fish belonging to the Subclass Dipnoi. Lungfish are best known for retaining characteristics primitive within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and structures primitive within Sarcopterygii, including the presence of lobed fins with a well-developed...
).
Access
Brisbane Forest Park is accessible by car, as well as by Brisbane TransportBrisbane Transport
Brisbane Transport is a business unit of Brisbane City Council, operating suburban and urban bus services under the TransLink integrated public transport scheme in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. The origins of Brisbane Transport can be seen as far back as 1885 when horse...
's BUZ
Bus upgrade zone
Bus upgrade zones, commonly abbreviated to BUZ, are a feature of Brisbane's public transport system. The name is given to high-frequency bus routes operated by Brisbane Transport, the Brisbane City Council agency that operates the city's public bus services for TransLink...
route 385 to The Gap from the CBD
Brisbane central business district
The Brisbane central business district , sometimes referred to as the city, is a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and is located on a point on the northern bank of the Brisbane River. The triangular shaped area is bounded by the Brisbane River to the east, south and west...
, hourly during off-peak times, when Brisbane Forest Park is the final stop (at all other times, Enoggera Reservoir is the final stop on the bus route).
Many walks are possible in the Brisbane Forest Park with boardwalks erected to protect the area and to make it easier for the walkers. The walk to Greene's Falls leads through rainforest to the top of the waterfall.
See also
- Animal SanctuaryAnimal sanctuaryAn animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and be protected for the rest of their lives. Unlike animal shelters, sanctuaries do not seek to place animals with individuals or groups, instead maintaining each animal until his or her natural death...
- Brisbane native plants
- Wildlife refugeWildlife refugeA wildlife refuge, also called a wildlife sanctuary, may be a naturally occurring sanctuary, such as an island, that provides protection for species from hunting, predation or competition, or it may refer to a protected area, a geographic territory within which wildlife is protected...
External links
- The Marsupial Society of Australia - Brisbane Forest Park
- Brisbane Forest Park - Nature, Culture and History - Queensland Government official website
- Brisbane Forest Park, Parks and Forests - Queensland Government official website
- Brisbane Region - Brisbane Forest Park, The Gap, is mentioned in the section about 'Mount Glorious'
- Wildlife, Parks and Gardens
- Brisbane parks and gardens - contains information about Brisbane Forest Park and The Gap
- Nature Works - Aquariums - including at Walkabout Creek at Brisbane Forest Park