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Lawn Hill Gorge, Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land) Outback Queensland | Tropical North Queensland

Take a pre-flood virtual tour of Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land) from your desktop

Immerse yourself in the magic of Boodjamulla from the comfort of your home. Gaze across vast outback plains, visit a world-renowned fossil site and canoe through picturesque Lawn Hill Gorge. Photo credit: B. Hicks © Queensland Government

Lawn Hill Gorge is a beautiful oasis in the outback. Photo credit: © Tourism and Events Queensland

Boodjamulla flood recovery

Boodjamulla Cooperative Management Council—the Waanyi People and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service—are committed to managing Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land) together.

Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land) experienced widespread flooding in March 2023 resulting in a temporary closure of the park due to extensive damage to visitor facilities and critical park infrastructure. This page has been created by the Boodjamulla Cooperative Management Council to provide updates on the progress of the recovery efforts to restore, and even improve, park visitor facilities and infrastructure until such time as the park re-opens fully.

Our number one priority is the safety and wellbeing of our staff and visitors. Areas of the park will only be re-opened as recovery and improvement efforts make them safe to do so. We thank the local community, the visiting public and the tour group operators for their understanding during the temporary closure.

Check Park Alerts for details about which areas of the park remain closed while recovery efforts continue.

    The flood impact

    In the first quarter of 2023, unprecedented flood levels severely impacted Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land). More than 1.3m of rain was dumped in the region, including 553mm of rain on 8–9 March—which is almost 15 times the median rainfall for the entire month of March! Floodwaters rose to 30m in the gorge itself and the Gregory River rose to 18m at Riversleigh (breaking a previous record of 10.8m in 1971).

    Ranger residences, the Lawn Hill Gorge visitor centre, building services, the Lawn Hill Gorge and Miyumba camping areas, walking tracks and trails were inundated with floodwaters, riparian vegetation was stripped from the banks of Lawn Hill Creek, and the roads leading to and within the national park suffered damage.

    View from lookout looking down at river with lush green vegetation growing right up to riverbank edge. Red gorge cliffs in the background
    View from lookout looking down at river with vegetation missing from the riverbank edge. Red gorge cliffs in the background
    View from lookout looking down at river with lush green vegetation growing right up to riverbank edge. Red gorge cliffs in the background View from Duwadarri before the flood Photo credit: © Queensland Government View from lookout looking down at river with vegetation missing from the riverbank edge. Red gorge cliffs in the background View from Duwadarri after the flood Photo credit: © Queensland Government

    Assessing the damage

    Infrastructure assessments

    Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land) was so impacted by the flooding that it wasn’t until late May 2023 that Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and Ngumari Waanyi rangers were able to join engineers to safely conduct a site inspection of the accessible areas of the park. During this inspection, the level of structural damage to park assets was assessed and a flood study, that is informing the reconstruction project, was conducted.

    Floodwaters went through much of the park’s infrastructure, including our storage areas, resulting in the loss of equipment and vehicles needed in restoration efforts. The interior of the park office and all staff residences, except for one, were submerged by floodwater and the interpretive hub near the main office was destroyed by fast flowing water and debris.

    Sign structures under a shelter with 2 people reading the signs
    Shelter with no roof and signs missing. Shelter floor covered in mud, twisted metal and vegetation debris
    Sign structures under a shelter with 2 people reading the signs Interpretive hub before the flood Photo credit: © Queensland Government Shelter with no roof and signs missing. Shelter floor covered in mud, twisted metal and vegetation debris Interpretive hub after the flood Photo credit: © Queensland Government

    Geological assessments

    Large boulders above Indarri Falls required a geotechnical assessment to determine the safety risks.

    Looking down on river bend with lush green vegetation growing right to the riverbank. People swimming and canoeing in the river
    Looking down on river bend with riverbanks stripped of vegetation
    Looking down on river bend with lush green vegetation growing right to the riverbank. People swimming and canoeing in the river Indarri Falls before the flood Photo credit: © Queensland Government Looking down on river bend with riverbanks stripped of vegetation Indarri Falls after the flood Photo credit: © Queensland Government

    Cultural assessments

    Boodjamulla Country is the spiritual heart of Waanyi and the flood impacts are devastating to the Waanyi People. The impact to Waanyi cultural heritage on the park was assessed by Waanyi Elders and community members. The assessment involved using helicopters to inspect significant sites across the landscape, including the Lawn Hill Gorge section and Riversleigh section of the Australian Fossil Mammal Site World Heritage Area. All significant sites were found to be above the flood height and not significantly impacted.

    Ecological assessments

    A rapid assessment of the ecological impacts of the flood was also undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team in July 2023, with a report to be submitted in early 2024. The team covered a lot of ground to assess the most heavily impacted key natural value—the riparian ecosystems—which supports many species that occur nowhere else within Queensland’s protected area estate.

    The team established 6 vegetation monitoring sites, undertook ecosystem health checks, and resurveyed purple-crowned fairy-wren monitoring transects established by Dr Amanda Freeman in 2010. This charismatic little bird, a vulnerable species, is largely reliant on the pandanus fringing the waterways. Despite the impacts of the flood on pandanus, the team were heartened by the numbers of individuals and groups of fairy-wrens found.

    The threatened gulf snapping turtle was also observed to be persisting, but further surveys will be undertaken over the next 2 years to better inform us of the likely impacts to this highly restricted threatened species.

    Three purple-crowned fairy-wren birds. Male has purple crown, black face, brown back and bright blue tail. Two females have brown head and back, rusty brown cheeks and bright blue tails
    Close up of head and shoulders of a gulf snapping turtle which is grey and brown in colour. It has it’s mouth open slightly and looks like it’s smiling
    Three purple-crowned fairy-wren birds. Male has purple crown, black face, brown back and bright blue tail. Two females have brown head and back, rusty brown cheeks and bright blue tails Purple-crowned fairy-wrens Photo credit: © Anders Zimny Close up of head and shoulders of a gulf snapping turtle which is grey and brown in colour. It has it’s mouth open slightly and looks like it’s smiling Gulf snapping turtle Photo credit: © Harry Hines

    The road to recovery—a staged approach

    Informed by the site assessment, engineers reports, geotechnical assessments and ecological impacts report, the Boodjamulla Cooperative Management Council are working through a planned recovery project. They are also looking at building new opportunities that will improve the visitor experience, create awareness of Waanyi culture, and strengthen the existing partnership between Waanyi People and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

    The recovery of the park will be a staged approach with restored and improved areas being re-opened to the public and commercial operators as soon as it’s safe and feasible to do so.

    Southern sections re-opened

    In August 2023, the southern sections of Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land)—Riversleigh D Site (part of the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites World Heritage Area) and Miyumba camping area—were re-opened to the public. This re-opening followed months of hard work by rangers, in hot conditions, to restore and present these less damaged sites for visitors.

    The main area of the park—Lawn Hill Gorge—remains closed as recovery efforts continue in this extensively flood-damaged area. Check Park Alerts for details about which areas of the park remain closed.