Nature, culture and history
Nature, culture and history
The scenic Blackall Range is a landscape created by volcanoes and sculpted by water over millions of years, and it's only half an hour's drive from the Sunshine Coast.
Rich basalt soils, a result of volcanic activity around 30 million years ago, support warm subtropical rainforest. Tall open forests grow on poorer quality rhyolitic soils derived from a violent volcanic period that began 235 million years ago.
On the edge of the escarpment, waterfalls cascade all year round - thundering and spectacular during the summer rainfall season, then dropping to a gentle trickle in drier winter months.
Mapleton Falls and Kondalilla National Parks, Mapleton and Maleny Forest Reserves, Delicia Road Conservation Park and other small reserves protect the Blackall Range's remnant forest communities, provide essential wildlife habitat and scenic places for nature-based recreation.
Natural environment
At least 107 species of birds live in the Blackall Ranges parks. They include the Australian peregrine falcon, which often soars and roosts near Mapleton Falls. When walking in the rainforest, you may hear the wompoo fruit-dove, whose booming call reaches the ground from its feeding sites among the tree-tops.
Native animals recorded for the Blackall and nearby Conondale Ranges include 70 species of reptiles and 32 species of frogs. Of these, threatened species include the southern day frog, pouched frog and gastric brooding frog.
Caring for wildlife
Plant and animal diversity is high in this area, but habitat clearing and loss of vegetation along the range has threatened some species. Natural corridors of vegetation linking larger reserves are essential to minimise isolation of species and to maximise the genetic breeding pool, helping to avoid local extinction.
Some species that occur only in this local area are rare or vulnerable to extinction. Research and recovery plans are in place to give these species a chance to recover to healthy population levels.
The waterways are of vital importance for the well-being of animals and people. As the upper reaches of all streams here are on private land, careful land management in surrounding properties is needed to keep the water clean and life-sustaining.
Frog monitoring
Several frog monitoring sites are located across the Blackall Range as part of planned research and recovery efforts for vulnerable, rare and endangered species. Some frog species are found only along streams in the Blackall and Conondale Ranges.
Discovered in 1972 at Picnic Creek, Kondalilla National Park, the gastric brooding frog, Rheobatrachus silus, has not been seen since 1979. The tadpoles develop in the female's stomach and produce a substance that prevents the female from secreting her gastric juices. At Baroon Pocket a new boardwalk was built especially, as part of the Great Walk, to protect the habitat of the rare pouched frog, Assa darlingtoni.
Cascade tree frogs, Litoria pearsoniana, have been increasing in numbers and have had their status upgraded from endangered to vulnerable - a step in the right direction!
During summer months the load "wark" calls of the great barred frog, Mixophyes fasciolatus, can be heard and its large tadpoles seen in mountain streams.
Mary River cod
The Mary River cod is an endangered species in the wild, occurring only in small isolated populations in the Mary River catchment, which includes Lake Baroon and Obi Obi Creek.
The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, other Government agencies and community groups have worked together on the Mary River cod's recovery plan. As part of this plan, you cannot take this fish from anywhere in the Mary River catchment. Populations are monitored and the restriction is reviewed every three years.
Culture and history
Bonyee (the Gubbi Gubbi word for bunya) festival
For countless generations, the Blackall Range has held spiritual significance for many Aboriginal people throughout south-east Queensland.
Abundant bunya pines growing throughout this area produced large nut crops, providing enough food for huge gatherings. When the nut crop peaked every three years, Gubbi Gubbi and neighbouring Wakka Wakka people hosted the Bonyee Festival. Many invited guests travelled great distances from coastal and inland areas to share food, songs and dances, arrange marriages, and carry out other business. A large grassy area near Baroon Pocket was an important gathering place.
Pastoralists and timber-getters
From 1842 until 1860, the Blackall Range was part of a large reserve declared by Governor Gipps to protect the bunya pine food source for local Indigenous groups. It was illegal to settle or clear land where bunya pines occurred.
When reserve status was rescinded, pastoralists and timber-getters came. In the 1880s prized timber including red cedar, white beech, bunya pine, blackbutt and tallowwood was logged in the Blackall Range. The forest around Kondalilla was logged heavily and the ring-barked trees can still be seen today along the Picnic Creek circuit. Widespread clearing of the tableland forests ensued as settlement proceeded. However, some small areas were set aside for recreation.
Back to nature
From the early 1900s, people began visiting this area for its natural scenery, waterfalls and spectacular views.
The first area to be protected was Kondalilla - in 1906 it became a recreational area, then a national park in 1945. Since then, reserves have been added across the Blackall Range to protect remnants of its natural communities. Kondalilla National Park (327ha) was linked to Obi Obi National Park in 1988. Mapleton Falls (26ha) became a national park in 1973, after being a reserve for recreational and scenic purposes for 38 years.
The Maroochy library web site offers more information about the history of the Blackall ranges
Last updated 16 March 2010