Nature, culture and history
Natural environment
Tamborine Mountain’s ancient uprising is the result of eruptions from a huge shield volcano in the Mount Warning area of northern New South Wales about 20–23 million years ago, which smothered the surrounding landscape with layers of basalt lava flows. By the time the eruptions had ceased, this Tweed Volcano had risen to a height of 2km and a diameter of about 100km, forming a vast dome stretching south to Lismore, west to Mount Lindsay and north to Tamborine Mountain.
Twenty million years ago, after the volcano became extinct, water took over as the primary force shaping the landscape. Rain fell, forming streams that radiated off the dome, like the spokes in a wheel. Over time the streams became deeper and broader, gradually eroding the dome, forming valleys and gorges. Where streams approached each other, sections of the dome became isolated, forming “land islands” or plateaus like Tamborine Mountain.
Tamborine Mountain is home to ten different types of forest including subtropical rainforest, wet eucalypt forest and open eucalypt forest. Incredibly, these forests contain more than 900 different species of plants representing 65 percent of all the plant species found in the “mega-diverse” Gold Coast area.
The forest communities of Tamborine National Park also provide important habitat for wildlife and are essential refuges for native animals from surrounding urban and rural development.
While walking in the cooler months, you may be rewarded by hearing the song of the Albert’s lyrebird Menura alberti. The lyrebird is an excellent mimic, intermingling its own calls with other rainforest noises. The lyrebird’s call is distinctively clear and powerful, sounding like many different birds calling in quick succession. The lyrebird is a poor flyer, so vigilantly keeps watch for danger while foraging for invertebrates and frogs in the damp leaf litter.
The female lyrebird usually positions her dome-like nest of sticks, moss and ferns on rock ledges, between buttress roots or on top of tree ferns. The nest is well camouflaged to ensure the single egg or chick it contains is hidden from predators.
With exceptional hearing and sight, lyrebirds can quickly detect danger. The nest is typically built with a clear downward escape route which the female lyrebird uses to flee from approaching predators and draw attention away from her precious young.
Culture and history
During an overseas trip in 1878, local pastoralist Robert Martin Collins was inspired by accounts of Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park established in the United States of America in 1872. When Collins returned to Australia, he began campaigning for the creation of national parks in Queensland to preserve the majestic mountain forests of the McPherson Range south of his home.
In 1896 Collins was elected to the Queensland Parliament where his campaign continued. Unfortunately, he was fighting for an ideal that in Queensland was without precedent, but not without opposition. Although some were sympathetic to the new ideal, many others thought the concept of environmental conservation was dangerous. However, Collins and others persisted and in 1906 State Government finally passed the State Forests and National Parks Act.
Around this time Tamborine Shire Councillors, Sydney Curtis and Joseph Delpratt, had become alarmed at the amount of clearing taking place on Tamborine Mountain. On 15 June 1907, Council recommended that 154ha of the mountain be set aside … “as a national park for the preservation of the flora and fauna as owing to the way the land in the vicinity is being cleared it would seem that in the near future such an action would prove its necessity”. The Director of Forests agreed, recommending that this area be protected under The State Forest and National Parks Act of 1906 as a national park in October 1907.
Witches Falls was declared a national park in the Government Gazette on 28 March 1908, becoming the first national park in Queensland — 30 years after Collins first heard of the concept in the United States.
The place name Tamborine is from the local Yugambeh language. It means wild lime and refers to the finger lime trees Microcitrus australasica that grow wild on the mountain. The spelling appears on early records as Jambreen, Tchambreem, and even Goombireen, but is recognised now as Tamborine.
Tamborine was eaten by Yugambeh people as a thirst quencher. It was one of the fresh foods traded to the settlers for cooking and jam-making. Despite its sour taste, children relished the fruits and preferred to eat them with salt.
Wonglepong is another name for Tamborine Mountain. In Yugambeh language it means “hearing wrong way” and describes the reverberation of sound as it echoes around the mountain.
The mountain’s rainforest plants provided food and resources for Yugambeh people, while marsupials and reptiles were hunted for food. Piccabeen fronds made excellent baskets for carrying water, food or honey. The lawyer-cane vine, also known as wait-a-while, was used for basket-making after the spikes had been removed.
Yugambeh people still walk the land of their ancestors, telling stories and reminding visitors that this land is our shared heritage. An annual pilgrimage, the Drumley Walk, takes bushwalkers from Beaudesert to Southport via Tamborine, through scenic rainforests, rolling plains and open woodlands. The walk, in honour of Billy Drumley, an Aboriginal ancestor from the Yugambeh region, encourages a better understanding of our environment and Aboriginal heritage.
Last updated 2 December 2010