Eungella National Park Mackay

Survive your visit to Finch Hatton Gorge

Take extreme care around cascades and fast flowing streams. Six people have died in accidents around the Finch Hatton Gorge area over the past 40 years. Many more have been seriously injured―some of these include spinal injuries. These incidents are specifically due to slipping on the wet slippery rocks and jumping into water holes—please take warnings seriously and do not enter a restricted access area. Photo credit: Adam Creed © Qld Govt

Things to do

    Eungella National Park offers many opportunities for you to explore and enjoy the natural surroundings.

    Camping and accommodation

    Camping

    Fern Flat camping area is on the western side of the Broken River day-use area (about 600m away). It is a shady spot in tranquil rainforest with a toilet, tent sites, and water provided (treat all water before drinking). The Broken River day-use area has information, picnic tables and barbecues. It is a 5km drive from Eungella township.

    Broken River camping area is set amongst natural bushland adjacent to Broken River.

    Camp in the rainforest at Eungella National Park.

    Camp in the rainforest at Eungella National Park.

    Photo credit: Qld Govt

    Camping permits are required and fees apply.

    Camping is also available in nearby parks and forests within the Mackay Highlands. For more information see the camping links below.

    Crediton State Forest

    Homevale National Park

    Mia Mia State Forest

    Other accommodation

    Commercial cabin-style accommodation and motels are available in Eungella, Finch Hatton and at Broken River.

    Eungella Dam (located approximately 27km along Eungella Dam Road, past Broken River) is a popular site for camping, fishing and recreational water-based activities. Canoeing, sailing, water skiing and jet skiing are popular activities on the dam. Check with SunWater for information about boating on the dam. Stocked Impoundment Permits (SIPs) are required for those wishing to fish in the dam. These can be obtained by contacting Fisheries Queensland (part of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries) on 13 25 23. Self registration camping is available at Eungella Dam. Contact SunWater on 13 15 89.

    For more information see the tourism information links.

    Walking

    Walk to see the strangler fig arch at Cedar Grove.

    Walk to see the strangler fig arch at Cedar Grove.

    Photo credit: Qld Govt

    Eungella National Park has more than 20km of walking tracks, varying from 30 minute easy walks to half day and day walks. Many are part of the 56km Mackay Highlands Great Walk which begins at Eungella..

    So, whether you want to stroll with the family, walk for several hours, or set out on the Great Walk, there’s something to suit.

    Wear insect repellent and sturdy shoes when walking.

    View the Journeys page for more information about available walks.

    Mountain biking

    You can mountain bike through Eungella National Park on the internal roads and fire breaks, unless otherwise signed. Expect to share the roads with pedestrians, trail bikes, vehicles and other cyclists. Cycling is not permitted on walking tracks within the national park.

    Driving

    If long-distance hiking is not your style, explore Eungella and the Mackay Highlands in your vehicle. A network of quiet gravel tracks will give you a different view of rainforest, open woodland and dry open country.

    View the Journeys—Drives page for more information about recommended drives.

    Picnic and day-use areas

    Day visitors must bring their own drinking water or treat water before drinking and cooking. All rubbish (including food scraps) must be carried out―no bins are provided.

    Sky Window: offers parking, information signs, three walking tracks and wheelchair-accessible toilets, barbecues and picnic tables.

    Broken River: offers the greatest range of facilities and activities—parking, information signs and a range of short walks. Toilets, barbecues and tables in a shady, wheelchair-accessible day-use area make this a great place for lunch.

    Finch Hatton Gorge: has parking, toilets and two walking tracks.

    Ensure you lock your vehicle, and take any valuables with you or store them securely out of sight.

    Viewing wildlife

    An amazing diversity of wildlife surrounds you in the park's tall trees, seasonal creeks, hollow logs and leaf litter. Some species here are found nowhere else. For about 30,000 years, wide corridors of dry open forest have isolated Eungella's rainforest. Moisture-loving species—unable to cross these corridors—have evolved here into distinct local forms.

    Eungella offers excellent opportunities to view wildlife. Look out for platypus, eels and turtles from the platform at Broken River.

    Go spotlighting at night. You can see greater gliders, tawny frogmouths, sugar gliders and brushtail possums. Birdwatch during the day. You might see rainbow lorikeets, red-browed finches and blue-faced honeyeaters. A rustle from the forest floor and a green flash of feathers will draw your eyes to noisy pittas foraging in leaf litter. Their distinctive 'walk-to-work' call carries clearly through the rainforest.

    Eungella's forests provide a refuge for unusual frogs. Secretive Eungella tinkerfrogs are found only here in the Clarke Range. They are a rare sight, but you might hear them calling from rocky creek margins—listen for their short series of metallic ‘tinks’.

    Two other threatened frog species, the northern gastric brooding frog and Eungella day frog, are listed as endangered in the Nature Conservation (Animal) Regulation 2020 (Qld).

    Habitat critical to these frogs' survival is restricted to perennial rainforest streams of Eungella National Park and adjacent State forests. Both species have undergone range contractions, with dramatic declines in all known populations. The northern gastric brooding frog has not been sighted since March 1985.