We recognise the Traditional Owners of the Queensland section of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage area (Gondwana Rainforests)—the Yugambeh, Yuggera Ugarapul and Githabul peoples—and pay our respects to Elders past and present.
The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area (Gondwana Rainforests) is a serial, cross-jurisdictional property comprising of the major remaining areas of rainforest in southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales. The Gondwana Rainforests encompass the Country of many First Nations peoples.
Originally listed in 1986 to cover remnant patches of rainforest in New South Wales, the property was extended in 1994 to include remnant rainforests on the Queensland side of the border. It currently includes parts of 40 parks and reserves located largely on the Great Dividing Range and eastern escarpment, extending from Main Range National Park in southeast Queensland to Barrington Tops National Park in New South Wales. An estimated two million people a year visit this World Heritage area.
The Gondwana Rainforests is listed for three of the ten World Heritage criterion:
- Criteria vii: Outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features.
- Criteria ix: Outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals.
- Criteria x: Containing the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conversation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.
The property has an entire area of 366,507 hectares, with 59,223 hectares in Queensland—including Lamington, Springbrook, Mount Barney, Main Range and Mount Chinghee national parks. Visit the links to find visitor information including park safety updates.
Discover Gondwana
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Discover the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area including Lamington, Springbrook, Mount Barney and Main Range national parks.
View Gondwana's digital story to discover more about the ancient biodiversity of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area.
First Nations partners
The Queensland Government acknowledges the First Nations stewardship across the Gondwana Rainforests over countless tens of thousands of years.
The First Nations peoples of the Gondwana Rainforests have ancient and enduring relationships with these landscapes which are a source of their physical and spiritual cultural practices: carefully protecting, managing and using its rich natural resources. We acknowledge the Yugambeh, Yuggera Ugarapul and Githabul people who have rights and interests over the Queensland section of the property. The department has active partnerships with these groups to care for the area.
Known as ‘Woonoongoora’ in the Yugambeh language, the mountains of Lamington National Park that run through Gondwana Rainforests, are sacred and spiritual, places to be nurtured and respected.
The Yugambeh family groups are identified as the Wangerriburra, Birinburra, Gugingin, Migunberri, Mununjali, Bollongin, Minjungbal and Kombumerri. They shared language, ceremonies, celebrations and economic exchange.
This kinship group used both the open forest and rainforest. Evidence of their occupation has been found in various parts of the park, including the ‘Kweebani’ (cooking) cave near Binna Burra. It is believed a traditional pathway passed through the southern section of Lamington National Park.
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Purlingbrook Falls, Springbrook National park
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The Gondwana Rainforests are home to nearly all of the world's Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforest.
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Natural bridge, carved by the power of water.
Values of the World Heritage area
The internationally recognised Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area tells us so much about the development of Australia’s landscape, plants and animals. Containing rainforests similar to those that once covered the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana but have now contracted to these isolated pockets on the east coast. These rainforests are biodiversity hot-spots containing a fascinating diversity of plants and animals with species from ancient times as well as those recently evolved.
The Gondwana Rainforests protect many rainforest types including warm temperate, cool temperate, subtropical, littoral and dry rainforests. The World Heritage Area is home to extensive subtropical rainforest and nearly all the world's Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforest, and is home to many rare and threatened plants and animals, and ancient life forms.
A full description of the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, including the criteria and attributes, can be found on the Australian Government website.
World Heritage sites are places that are important to and belong to everyone, irrespective of where they are located. In addition to protecting natural values, the Gondwana Rainforests are vital for people by offering significant physical and mental health benefits through recreation and a connection to nature, and providing economic benefits such as increased tourism, income, and jobs.
Culturally, it connects communities to their past and provides shared human identity, offering a legacy of irreplaceable natural and cultural treasures for present and future generations. By engaging local communities and First Nations peoples in management, World Heritage also fosters social cohesion, sustainable development, and a sense of shared responsibility for the planet.
Did you know?
The Gondwana Rainforests provides habitat for more than 200 rare or threatened plant and animal species including Albert’s lyrebird, rufous scrub-bird, and marbled frogmouth. The Hastings River mouse and the parma wallaby, recent rediscoveries, were previously considered to be extinct.
The Gondwana Rainforests is named after the ancient supercontinent Gondwana that existed in the southern hemisphere 500–550 million years ago. Present day Australia is a fragment of this southern land that started to break up 180 million years ago.
The Great Escarpment that runs the length of eastern Australia from Victoria to North Queensland, formed during the break-up of the Gondwana super-continent when ancient seabeds were uplifted to create elevated high country, also known as the Great Dividing Range.
Volcanoes shaped this World Heritage Area. Volcanoes erupted leaving behind the remnants of Main Range, Focal Peak, Tweed, Ebor and Barrington volcanic shields. All lie within the Gondwana Rainforests.
Wollumbin (Mount Warning) is a remnant of the central magma chamber of the ancient, massive, now extinct Tweed Volcano. It is the largest and best example of an erosion caldera in the world.
Management of the World Heritage Area
Management arrangements for Gondwana Rainforests involve the Australian Government, the New South Wales Government and the Queensland Government. The New South Wales and Queensland governments have a cooperative arrangement to coordinate activities across the World Heritage Area to care for and protect this property. The property contains 40 parks and reserves across New South Wales and Queensland. Read more about the New South Wales property.
The parks and reserves within the property are managed principally by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (as part of the Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation) and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (part of the New South Wales Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water), and where possible in partnership with First Nations peoples.
In 2019–2020, bushfires impacted approximately 196,000 hectares, or 53% of the Gondwana Rainforests, including part of the ancient rainforests. Ecological impacts from these fires were varied across the property and understanding their extent, as well as realising full recovery prospects, will take many years. The Australian, NSW and Queensland governments continue to undertake significant assessment and recovery work (State Party Report on the state of conservation of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia 2024). The Queensland Bushfire Recovery Program was established with assistance from the Australian Government’s Bushfire Recovery for Wildlife and their Habitats initiative to implement recovery projects across strategic locations, including the Queensland section of the Gondwana Rainforests (Gondwana World Heritage Area bushfire recovery project | Environment, land and water | Queensland Government).
Advisory committees
Advisory committees for World Heritage areas provide advice to management agencies and State and Australian Government Ministers responsible for World Heritage on matters relating to the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations, of the cultural and natural heritage. Advisory committees are supported through the department, with funding provided by the Australian Government.
The Queensland Gondwana World Heritage Advisory Committee (Committee) includes First Nations representatives, scientists and community members, and an independent Chair.
The Committee works with policy makers and land managers to identify key priorities that contribute to the identification, protection, conservation, presentation, transmission and rehabilitation of the Gondwana Rainforests and enable cross-jurisdictional coordination to protect the entire Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area for future generations.
The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service is responsible for the day-to-day management of Queensland parks within the Gondwana Rainforests.
If you would like any information, email world.heritage@detsi.qld.gov.au.
Communiques
Following each Advisory Committee meeting, the Chair prepares a Communique which is sent to the Queensland and Commonwealth Ministers responsible for World Heritage matters. Communiques outline high-level discussions and key recommendations of the Advisory Committee.
Communiques for the Queensland Gondwana World Heritage Advisory Committee (Qld section) (GWHAC) will be published here as soon as they are available.
- GWHAC Communique – November 2023
- GWHAC Communique – March 2024
- GWHAC Communique – July 2024
- GWHAC Communique – November 2024
The following Communiques relate to the former Community Advisory Committee and Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee.