Ravenshoe



A timber town on the Atherton tableland. At 930 metres (3,050 ft) above sea level, Ravenshoe is the highest town in Queensland, with Queensland's highest pub "The Ravenshoe Hotel" (formerly the Tully Falls Hotel until 2014) and highest railway station. It also has the Millstream Falls, the widest waterfall in Australia. Traditionally the main industry in Ravenshoe was timber, but since 1987, when the government made 900,000 hectares (2,200,000 acres) of surrounding rainforest world heritage listed, the main industries have been tourism, beef and dairy farming.

Location: 147 km south-west of Cairns; 904 m above sea-level.

Places of interest: Millstream and Little Millstream Falls (2 km south); Pepina and Mungalli Falls; Souita Falls; Koolmoon Creek; Walters Waterhole; Rhyolite Pinnacle; Djilgarrin Track; Cannabullen Creek; Cardwell Range; Bally Knob; Wabunga Wayemba (Charmillan Creek); Nganyaji Interpretive Centre; Koombooloomba Dam

Brief history: The traditional owners of the land in the Ravenshoe district are the Jirrbal people who speak a dialect of the Dyirbal language. In 1881 William Mazlin discovered substantial stands of cedar in the area and named the local river Cedar Creek. The first sawmill was built in 1899 but the town wasn't settled until 1910 mainly because of the difficulties in getting the timber out of the area. For 70 years Ravenshoe relied on timber for its economic survival and its sawmills produced high quality rainforest timbers for markets in Australia and overseas. In 1987 Ravenshoe was the site of a number of major battles between environmentalists and timber workers when 160,000 hectares of land previously been set aside for timber production was nominated as part of 900,000 hectares of World Heritage. Locals argued that if they were not allowed to log the rainforest the town would die. The environmentalists won and the town survived.

Origin of name: reportedly named by the town's surveyor after finding a portion of the Charles Kingsley novel 'Ravenshoe' in the fork of a tree at the locality. How it got there was never determined. It was originally known locally as Cedar Creek.



Ravenshoe steam railway
A tourist railway on the Evelyn Tablelands south west of Cairns. At present only the 7 km section from Ravenshoe to Toumoulin (Queensland's highest railway station) is operational. Rides are available on Saturdays at 1:30 pm during the tourist season.



Tully Gorge National Park
Tully Gorge National Park is 10 km south of Ravenshoe on Tully Falls Road. Access to the falls is by a walk through lush rainforest, sit beside tumbling waterfalls and rest beside clear mountain streams. Tully Falls is part of the Misty Mountains wilderness walking tracks.



NInnot Hot Springs
(31 km west): a natural mineral springs located between Ravenshoe and Mt Garnet on the Kennedy Highway. The hot springs of Nettle Creek have long been established as rejuvenating and healing and the water was even bottled and shipped to Europe a hundred years ago. Be warned that they were not called hot springs by accident (they are up to 75 degrees Celsius)! Sections of the creek are really hot and could potentially burn your skin.



Millstream Falls
Reputedly Australia's widest single-drop waterfall. The park is an open forest of towering bloodwoods and stringybark trees, and is part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Toilets, a shelter shed, picnic tables, wood barbecues and tank water are provided.



Misty Mountain Trails
Australia s first network of long distance walking trails in a high altitude rainforest environment, Misty Mountain Trails are situated between the towns of Innisfail, Tully, Ravenshoe and Millaa Millaa. This 130km walking network offers a variety of rainforest walks from shorter half day and day walks to longer treks requiring overnight camping. Passing through some of North Queensland s most pristine rainforest, the trails give access to stunning waterfalls, spectacular rainforest, crystal clear creeks and magnificent vistas.

Malaan National Park
In 2005, Malaan National Park was declared over forests which were previously known as Dirran State Forest. The park occupies the western third of Beatrice and the eastern fringe of Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tableland. It belongs to the Wet Tropics of Queensland bioregion. The park was established to protect significant animal and plant communities. The areas were previously known as Dirran State Forest. It is adjacent to Tully Gorge National Park and Mount Fisher Forest Reserve.

Mount Fisher is found within the park. It is Queensland's third highest peak and the most elevated volcano in Northern Australia. The park provides habitat for the endangered spotted-tailed Quoll, large-eared horseshoe bat and the vulnerable flute-nosed bat. A total of four rare or threatened species have been recorded in the park.






Tully Gorge

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