Tamborine National Park Brisbane | Gold Coast

Photo credit: Maxime Coquard © Queensland Government

About Tamborine

    Park features

    The Witches Falls section of the park was Queensland’s first national park to be declared under the new State Forests and National Parks Act 1906. Declared in 1908, it is Queensland's oldest national park. Over the years, additional reserves have been declared on the Tamborine plateau and surrounding foothills. They are now combined into Tamborine National Park, which is made up of 14 sections of land.

    The park protects remnants of Tamborine Mountain's plant communities and includes areas of rainforest with distinctive piccabeen palm groves, wet eucalypt forest dominated by tall flooded gums, open forest with bracken fern understorey and woodland. These plant communities provide essential wildlife habitat in a landscape almost entirely surrounded by urban and rural development.

    Tamborine Mountain escarpment hosts 85 percent of all animal species and 65 percent of all plant species found in the City of Gold Coast area. Some common animals seen in the national park include Australian brush-turkeys, scrubwrens, pademelons and one of the world’s largest skinks, the land mullet. Catch a glimpse of the near threatened Albert’s lyrebird or hear it mimicking calls of other birds, particularly during the winter months. The Richmond birdwing butterfly and one of the rainforest’s most colourful birds, the noisy pitta, migrate seasonally to the park from nearby higher altitude rainforests.

    Basalt columns, cliffs, rocky outcrops and waterfalls are a lasting legacy of volcanic eruptions 23 million years ago. Tamborine is the most northerly remnant of the flows from a volcano centred on Mount Warning (Wollumbin).

    Looking after the park

    • Take your rubbish home. No bins are provided.
    • Let animals find their natural food. Human food can make native animals susceptible to disease, and can cause overpopulation and aggressive behaviour.
    • Do not ride bikes in the park. Riding bikes in national parks causes erosion and disturbs other visitors.
    • Do not take or disturb plants or animals. Everything is protected.
    • Keep to the defined walking tracks. Short-cutting causes erosion, damages plants and can be dangerous on steep slopes.
    • Show consideration for other park users and keep noise to a minimum.
    • Please use gas and electric barbecues provided. Lighting a fire in the national park is prohibited.

    Trail bikes are not permitted in Tamborine National Park.

    See the guidelines on caring for parks for more information about protecting our environment and heritage in parks.

    Park management

    The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) manages Tamborine National Park under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 to preserve and present the remarkable natural and cultural values of the area.

    Tourism information links

    Tamborine Mountain Visitor Information Centre
    www.visitscenicrim.com.au
    Doughty Park, 2 Main Western Road
    North Tamborine Qld 4272
    Phone: (07) 5545 3200
    Email: tmvic@bigpond.com

    Beaudesert Community Arts and Information Centre
    www.visitscenicrim.com.au
    Westerman Park, Cnr Mt Lindesay Highway and Enterprise Drive
    Beaudesert Qld 4285
    Phone: (07) 5541 4495
    Email: bdstarts@bigpond.net.au

    Canungra Information Centre
    www.visitscenicrim.com.au
    12–14 Kidston Street, Canungra Qld 4275
    Phone: (07) 5543 5156
    Email: canungrainformation@bigpond.com

    Surfers Paradise Visitor Information Centre
    www.destinationgoldcoast.com
    2 Cavill Ave (Cavill Mall), Surfers Paradise Qld 4217
    Phone: 1300 309 440
    Email: infosurfers@gctourism.com

    For tourism information for all regions in Queensland see Queensland Holidays.