Bunya Mountains National Park
Encyclopedia
Bunya Mountains is a national park in Queensland
, Australia
. The park includes much of the mountain range
called the Bunya Mountains
. The mountains are covered by the most westerly forests in southern Queensland and the largest area of bunya pines remaining in the world. It is situated 63 km northeast of Dalby
or 58 km southwest of Kingaroy
.
The park is known for its abundant wildlife and spectacular views. The mild climate of the range means morning and evening temperatures are low. The park is accessed by a steep and winding roads and is well serviced with camping grounds, an extensive network of walking tracks and several picnic grounds.
, bunya pine
and hoop pine
and the Aboriginals
were pushed out. European settlers began to visit the area and enjoy the scenery in the same decade.
The Bunya Sawmill opened in 1883. As the 9,112 hectare national park was declared in 1908, it makes it the second oldest national park
in Queensland. Timber was still removed from the national park until about 1917. The last sawmill on the mountains closed in 1945.
The first walking tracks were constructed in 1939. Carbine's chute was the first of many trenches built to assist the removal of logs off the mountains. It can be accessed by a 1.5 km track from Munros camp. The last sawmill in the area was at Wengenville, which closed in 1961. In a successful attempt to reduce the splintering and damage to logs from falling down the steep trenches the owner of the Wengenville sawmill, Lars Anderson, used a combination of tramway, winches, winders and flying foxes to transport logs.
Some of the parks Bunya Pines
are estimated to be up to 600 years old and 25 metres high. The forests contain stinging nettles, wild raspberry, many vines and pockets of ferns. Other trees species in the park include White Beech and Silky Oaks. Grass trees on Mount Kiangarow grow nearly 5 m tall and some are least several hundred years old.
Scattered throughout the mountain forests are many natural clearings
known as 'grassy balds'. These clearings are typically a few hectares in area and are caused by bushfires
and geological conditions. Where there a slabs of unfractured basalt
soil formation and root penetration is impossible, leaving a patch in the forest. There are about 100 balds, although those caused by fire are steadily being lost due to a lack of recent fires. The grassy balds have a higher biodiversity
than the dense rainforests, because they are home to birds and rodents not found elsewhere in the forest.
The park is home to more than 200 frog
s and reptile
s as well as marsupial
s such as Pademelon
s, Rock wallabies, Swamp wallabies
and the Bunya Mountains Ringtail possum. Some snake species common to the area are the Carpet snake
, Red Bellied Black Snake and Brown Tree Snake
.
The mountains are part of the Bunya Mountains and Yarraman Important Bird Area
which contains what is thought to be the largest population of the Black-breasted Button-quail. There are 120 species of birds including the Wedge-tailed Eagle
, Australian Brush-turkey
, Eastern Whipbird
, King Parrot, Satin Bowerbird
, Goshawk
s and Finch
es. The Bunya Mountains support important populations of Green Catbird
s, Regent Bowerbird
s and Paradise Riflebird
s, as well as being the western limit of the biome
-restricted Australian Logrunner
. There are also Currawong
s, Noisy Pitta
s, King parrots, Crimson rosella
s, Wonga pigeon
s and brush turkey
s.
, Dalby
and Nanango
all lead up the mountains. Steep grades mean travelling with caravans and trailers is not recommended.
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...
. The park includes much of the mountain range
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
called the Bunya Mountains
Bunya Mountains
The Bunya Mountains are a distinctive set of peaks forming an isolated section of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland. The mountain range forms the northern edge of the Darling Downs near Bell and Dalby. The mountains are south of Kingaroy and just to the south west of Nanango...
. The mountains are covered by the most westerly forests in southern Queensland and the largest area of bunya pines remaining in the world. It is situated 63 km northeast of Dalby
Dalby, Queensland
Dalby is a town in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, and is located approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane, at the junction of the Warrego, Moonie and Bunya Highways. Dalby is the administrative centre of the Western Downs Region and the centre of Australia's richest...
or 58 km southwest of Kingaroy
Kingaroy, Queensland
Kingaroy is an agricultural town in Queensland, Australia, approximately or about 2½ hours drive north-west of the state capital Brisbane. The town is situated on the junction of the D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highways...
.
The park is known for its abundant wildlife and spectacular views. The mild climate of the range means morning and evening temperatures are low. The park is accessed by a steep and winding roads and is well serviced with camping grounds, an extensive network of walking tracks and several picnic grounds.
History
The Waku Waku tribes were the first to populate the mountains. During the 1860s the park was logged for red cedarToona ciliata
Australian Red Cedar , Toona ciliata is a forest tree in the family Meliaceae which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. In Australia its natural habitat is now extensively cleared subtropical rainforests of New South Wales and Queensland...
, bunya pine
Araucaria bidwillii
Araucaria bidwillii, the Bunya Pine, is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the genus Araucaria, family Araucariaceae. It is native to south-east Queensland with two small disjunct populations in northern Queensland's World Heritage listed Wet Tropics, and many fine old specimens planted in New...
and hoop pine
Araucaria cunninghamii
Araucaria cunninghamii is a species of Araucaria known as Moreton Bay Pine, or Hoop Pine. Other less commonly used names include Colonial Pine, Richmond River Pine, Queensland Pine, Alloa, Ningwik, or Pien, the wood is sometimes called Arakaria)...
and the Aboriginals
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
were pushed out. European settlers began to visit the area and enjoy the scenery in the same decade.
The Bunya Sawmill opened in 1883. As the 9,112 hectare national park was declared in 1908, it makes it the second oldest national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
in Queensland. Timber was still removed from the national park until about 1917. The last sawmill on the mountains closed in 1945.
The first walking tracks were constructed in 1939. Carbine's chute was the first of many trenches built to assist the removal of logs off the mountains. It can be accessed by a 1.5 km track from Munros camp. The last sawmill in the area was at Wengenville, which closed in 1961. In a successful attempt to reduce the splintering and damage to logs from falling down the steep trenches the owner of the Wengenville sawmill, Lars Anderson, used a combination of tramway, winches, winders and flying foxes to transport logs.
Flora
Araucaria bidwillii
Araucaria bidwillii, the Bunya Pine, is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the genus Araucaria, family Araucariaceae. It is native to south-east Queensland with two small disjunct populations in northern Queensland's World Heritage listed Wet Tropics, and many fine old specimens planted in New...
are estimated to be up to 600 years old and 25 metres high. The forests contain stinging nettles, wild raspberry, many vines and pockets of ferns. Other trees species in the park include White Beech and Silky Oaks. Grass trees on Mount Kiangarow grow nearly 5 m tall and some are least several hundred years old.
Scattered throughout the mountain forests are many natural clearings
Glade (geography)
A glade or clearing is an open area within a woodland. Glades are often grassy meadows under the canopy of deciduous trees such as red alder or quaking aspen in western North America. They also represent openings in forests where local conditions such as avalanches, poor soils, or fire damage have...
known as 'grassy balds'. These clearings are typically a few hectares in area and are caused by bushfires
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
and geological conditions. Where there a slabs of unfractured basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
soil formation and root penetration is impossible, leaving a patch in the forest. There are about 100 balds, although those caused by fire are steadily being lost due to a lack of recent fires. The grassy balds have a higher biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
than the dense rainforests, because they are home to birds and rodents not found elsewhere in the forest.
Fauna
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s and reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s as well as marsupial
Marsupial
Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...
s such as Pademelon
Pademelon
Pademelons are small marsupials of the genus Thylogale. They are usually found in forests. Pademelons are the smallest of the macropods...
s, Rock wallabies, Swamp wallabies
Swamp Wallaby
The Swamp Wallaby is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. This wallaby is also commonly known as the Black Wallaby, with other names including Black-tailed Wallaby, Fern Wallaby, Black Pademelon, Stinker , and Black Stinker...
and the Bunya Mountains Ringtail possum. Some snake species common to the area are the Carpet snake
Carpet snake
Carpet snake may refer to:* Morelia spilota variegata, a.k.a. the Northwestern carpet python, a harmless subspecies found in New Guinea and Australia.* Pituophis melanoleucus, a.k.a. the pine snake, a harmless colubrid species found in North America....
, Red Bellied Black Snake and Brown Tree Snake
Brown tree snake
The brown tree snake is an arboreal rear-fanged colubrid snake native to eastern and northern coastal Australia, Papua New Guinea, and a large number of islands in northwestern Melanesia....
.
The mountains are part of the Bunya Mountains and Yarraman Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
which contains what is thought to be the largest population of the Black-breasted Button-quail. There are 120 species of birds including the Wedge-tailed Eagle
Wedge-tailed Eagle
The Wedge-tailed Eagle , sometimes known as the Eaglehawk in its native range, is the largest bird of prey in Australia, but it is also found in southern New Guinea. It has long, fairly broad wings, fully feathered legs, and an unmistakable wedge-shaped tail...
, Australian Brush-turkey
Australian Brush-turkey
The Australian Brushturkey or Australian Brush-turkey, , also frequently called the Scrub Turkey or Bush Turkey, is a common, widespread species of mound-building bird from the family Megapodiidae found in eastern Australia from Far North Queensland to Illawarra in New South Wales...
, Eastern Whipbird
Eastern Whipbird
The Eastern Whipbird is an insectivorous passerine bird native to the east coast of Australia, its whip-crack call a familiar sound in forests of eastern Australia. Two subspecies are recognised. Heard much more often than seen, it is a dark olive-green and black in colour with a distinctive white...
, King Parrot, Satin Bowerbird
Satin Bowerbird
The Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus is a bowerbird endemic to eastern Australia.A rare natural intergeneric hybrid between the Satin Bowerbird and the Regent Bowerbird is known as Rawnsley's Bowerbird.-Distribution:...
, Goshawk
Goshawk
The Northern Goshawk , Accipiter gentilis, is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes other diurnal raptors, such as eagles, buzzards and harriers....
s and Finch
Finch
The true finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. They are predominantly seed-eating songbirds. Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but one subfamily is endemic to the Neotropics, one to the Hawaiian Islands, and one subfamily – monotypic at genus level – is found...
es. The Bunya Mountains support important populations of Green Catbird
Green Catbird
The Green Catbird, Ailuroedus crassirostris is a species of bowerbird found on subtropical forests along the east coast of Australia, from southeastern Queensland to southern New South Wales. Its colouring is emerald green, with faint black markings on the face and white streaks on the neck.Green...
s, Regent Bowerbird
Regent Bowerbird
The Regent Bowerbird, Sericulus chrysocephalus is a medium-sized, up to 25 cm long, sexually dimorphic bowerbird. The male bird is black with a golden orange-yellow crown, mantle and black-tipped wing feathers. It has yellow bill, black feet and yellow iris...
s and Paradise Riflebird
Paradise Riflebird
The Paradise Riflebird, Ptiloris paradiseus, is a medium-sized, up to 30 cm long, passerine bird of the Paradisaeidae family. The male is black with an iridescent greenish blue crown, throat and central tail feathers. It has a black curved bill, black feet, dark brown iris and yellow mouth...
s, as well as being the western limit of the biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
-restricted Australian Logrunner
Australian Logrunner
The Australian Logrunner is a species of bird in the Orthonychidae family. It is endemic to eastern Australia...
. There are also Currawong
Currawong
Currawongs are three species of medium-sized passerine birds belonging to the genus Strepera in the family Artamidae native to Australasia. These are the Grey Currawong , Pied Currawong , and Black Currawong . The common name comes from the call of the familiar Pied Currawong of eastern Australia...
s, Noisy Pitta
Noisy Pitta
The Noisy Pitta, Pitta versicolor, is a species of bird in the Pittidae family. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.It eats earthworms, insects and snails....
s, King parrots, Crimson rosella
Crimson Rosella
The Crimson Rosella is a parrot native to eastern and south eastern Australia which has been introduced to New Zealand and Norfolk Island. It is commonly found in, but not restricted to, mountain forests and gardens. The species as it now stands has subsumed two former separate species, the Yellow...
s, Wonga pigeon
Wonga Pigeon
The Wonga Pigeon Leucosarcia melanoleuca is a pigeon that inhabits areas in eastern Australia with its range being from Central Queensland to Gippsland, eastern Victoria, Australia....
s and brush turkey
Australian Brush-turkey
The Australian Brushturkey or Australian Brush-turkey, , also frequently called the Scrub Turkey or Bush Turkey, is a common, widespread species of mound-building bird from the family Megapodiidae found in eastern Australia from Far North Queensland to Illawarra in New South Wales...
s.
Facilities
There is a visitor information centre and campgrounds at Dandabah. Other campgrounds are provided at Burton's Well and Westcott. There are a number of well-developed walking tracks, some with lookouts. Picnic facilities are provided at Dandabah.Access
Roads from Toowoomba, KingaroyKingaroy, Queensland
Kingaroy is an agricultural town in Queensland, Australia, approximately or about 2½ hours drive north-west of the state capital Brisbane. The town is situated on the junction of the D'Aguilar and the Bunya Highways...
, Dalby
Dalby, Queensland
Dalby is a town in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, and is located approximately west of the state capital, Brisbane, at the junction of the Warrego, Moonie and Bunya Highways. Dalby is the administrative centre of the Western Downs Region and the centre of Australia's richest...
and Nanango
Nanango, Queensland
Nanango is a town in the South Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. It is the fourth oldest town in Queensland. At the 2006 census, Nanango had a population of 3,083. It is situated north-west of the state capital, Brisbane...
all lead up the mountains. Steep grades mean travelling with caravans and trailers is not recommended.