Carnarvon Gorge

Carnarvon Gorge is located in the Southern Brigalow Belt bioregion in Central Queensland (Australia), 593 km northwest of Brisbane. Primarily created by water erosion, Carnarvon Gorge is around 30 kilometres long, located in Carnarvon National Park, and six hundred metres deep at the mouth.

It is the most visited feature within Carnarvon National Park due to the diversity of experiences it contains and the ease with which it can be accessed. The closest towns are Injune and Rolleston. In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Carnarvon Gorge was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "Natural attraction".

Some western researchers have suggested that Aboriginal people did not live in the gorge permanently, due to defensive concerns and lack of food resources, whilst others suggest that permanent occupation was not allowed due to the gorge being considered sacred. The dreamtime stories tell a tale of the Rainbow Serpent which made the gorges, and which resides in their permanent waterholes to this day. Ludwig Leichhardt was the first European explorer to pass nearby and make note of the ranges, during his expedition to Port Essington in 1844. Two years later, Thomas Mitchell passed to the west of Carnarvon Gorge. It was Mitchell who named the Carnarvon Range, possibly after Henry Herbert, 3rd Earl of Carnarvon. The reports of pastureland and good water carried back to the colonies brought settlers to the area, and began a period of bloody conflict between settlers and Aboriginals. By the late 1870s the newcomers had prevailed. Local Aboriginals sought refuge on properties run by those sympathetic to their plight. Subsequent years would see many forcibly removed from their homelands and transferred to government and church run reserves and missions. The latter process of removal is considered by some to have been, culturally, more destructive than the direct conflict that preceded it. The farming of cattle and growing of crops remains a vibrant industry around Carnarvon Gorge but, since 1932 when it was gazetted as a National Park, such activities have no longer been allowed in the gorge itself. In 1974, the Ka Ka Mundi area which had been heavily grazed for about a century, also became part of the park. In place of the grazing of cattle, a tourism industry has grown. Over 70,000 visitors per annum make the trek to Carnarvon Gorge.

Within the lower ten kilometres of the Gorge, visitors can encounter a variety of cultural and natural values that, elsewhere in the region, would require considerable travel to experience; significant Indigenous cultural sites and rock art sites, narrow sandstone canyons, extensive sandstone cliff lines, basalt-capped tablelands and mountain ranges, and relict rainforest vegetation.

Carnarvon Gorge's climate is considerably different from that experienced in the flatter terrain surrounding it. Average rainfall in the Gorge is higher at 1,000 millimetres per annum and temperatures on the Gorge floor are more moderate. The lowest temperature recorded in the Gorge is -2 °C, whereas temperatures lower than -5 °C are experienced within 5 kilometres of its mouth. Average July temperature range is 6.3 °C – 20.9 °C, and average January temperature range is 20.5 °C – 35.5 °C. Statistically, the wettest month is February and the driest is August. These figures should always be considered in the context of Australia's notoriously unpredictable climate. For example, between October 2007 and February 2008, Carnarvon Gorge received 1,400 millimetres of rainfall; 140% of its annual average.

Three broad vegetation types are present in Carnarvon Gorge; eucalypt and angophora dominated woodland to open woodland; mixed eucalypt, acacia, white cypress pine or turpentine woodlands and/or open forests on sandstone slopes, scarps, ridges and residuals; cleared and/or regrowth areas. Four regional ecosystems listed as of concern are easily encountered by visitors to Carnarvon Gorge: Queensland blue gum woodland on alluvial plains; silver-leaved ironbark woodland on alluvial plains; Queensland blue gum, river she-oak fringing woodland on alluvial plains; and tall open forest in sheltered gorges and moist habitats. Two plant species, in particular, are considered Carnarvon Gorge icons; the cycad Macrozamia moorei (no common name) and the Carnarvon fan palm (Livistona nitida). Macrozamia moorei is closely associated with the Tertiary basalt flows of the Buckland Volcanic Province, and is endemic to Central Queensland. Livistona nitida is endemic to the springs and waterways of the Dawson River catchment, and Carnarvon Gorge is considered its stronghold. Several plants occur in disjunct populations, or approach the limits of their distribution, within Carnarvon Gorge such as the isolated colony of king ferns (Angiopteris evecta) found in Wards Canyon and the stately Sydney blue gum (Eucalyptus saligna) found in the Gorge's wettest habitats.

QPWS has a base at Carnarvon Gorge attached to the National Park Visitor Centre. The Visitor Centre is open 8am to 4pm every day and offers free wifi. The Carnarvon Gorge Day Use Area has picnic tables and toilet facilities and parking facilities for cars, motorhomes, and caravans. The Carnarvon Gorge Camping Area only opens during the Easter, Winter and Spring Queensland School Holiday Periods. The Big Bend Camping Area is open year-round.A variety of accommodation options are available including cabins, caravan and motorhome sites and camping. Commercial tours of the gorge are available.