has many forests of importance due to significant features, despite being one of the driest continents. Australia has approximately 147 million
There are 457 forest communities distributed across Australia. These have been grouped into the following seven native forest types which are characterised by dominant species and the structure of the forest:
(softwood and some hardwood) have been defined as an eighth group which covers trees planted for commercial use.
The majority of Australia's trees are hardwoods, typically eucalypts, rather than softwoods like pine. While softwoods dominate some native forests, their total area is judged insufficient to constitute a major forest type in Australia's National Forest Inventory.
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Notable features |
Alpine National ParkThe Alpine National Park is a national park in Victoria , northeast of Melbourne. It covers much of the higher areas of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria, including Victoria's highest point, Mount Bogong and the associated subalpine woodland and grassland of the Bogong High Plains...
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Extensive Mountain Ash and Snowgum forests |
| Brisbane Forest Park |
Large nature reserve on the western boundary of the City of Brisbane, bordering on the Mount Coot-tha Reserve which supports a large variety of native plants and animals. |
Brown Mountain forestThe Brown Mountain forest is located in East Gippsland, Victoria , and is notable for containing large tracts of old growth forest, including over fifty Shining Gum trees estimated to be over 300 years old.-Fauna:...
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Located in East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Australia covering 31,740 square kilometres of Victoria. It has a population of 80,114....
, Victoria, abuts the Errinundra National ParkErrinundra is a national park in Victoria, Australia, 352 km east of Melbourne. Errinundra National Park is centred on the Errinundra Plateau, a southwards extension of the Monaro Tablelands of New South Wales...
, and is notable for containing large tracts of old growth forest, including over fifty Mountain Ash trees estimated to be over 300 years old. The eucalypt forest provides key habitat for rare and threatened species such as the Powerful OwlThe Powerful Owl , also known as the Powerful Boobok, is a species of owl native to south-eastern and eastern Australia, the largest owl on that continent...
, the Spotted Quoll, mainland Australia's largest marsupial carnivore, and the Long-footed PotorooThe Long-footed Potoroo is a species of potoroo found in southeastern Australia, in a small area around the coastal border between New South Wales and Victoria. It was discovered in 1967 when an adult male was caught in a dog trap in the forest southwest of Bonang, Victoria...
, Victoria's rarest marsupial. |
Daintree RainforestThe Daintree Rainforest is a tropical rainforest on the north east coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Mossman and Cairns. At around 1200 square kilometres the Daintree is the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest on the Australian continent...
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Tropical rainforestRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
near Daintree, QueenslandDaintree is a settlement in North Queensland located 111 kilometres north of Cairns and 56 kilometres from Port Douglas, Queensland. The McDowell Ranges are near the town while the Daintree River flows nearby. It takes its name from Richard Daintree, a pioneering geologist of British origin in...
. At around 1200 square kilometers the Daintree is AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's largest contiguous area of rainforest. Contains 30% of frogFrogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
, marsupialMarsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...
and reptileReptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
species in Australia, and 65% of Australia's batBats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
and butterflyA butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
species. 20% of birdBirds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
species in the country can be found in this area including the threatened CassowaryThe cassowaries are ratites, very large flightless birds in the genus Casuarius native to the tropical forests of New Guinea, nearby islands and northeastern Australia. There are three extant species recognized today...
. Added to the World Heritage List in 1988. |
| Disappointment Reference Area Disappointment Reference Area is a scientific reference area within the Wallaby Creek section of Kinglake National Park. It is located in the Central Highlands of the Victoria, Australia, 50 kilometres northeast of Melbourne....
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Extensive Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forest with dense treeferns along many creeks. Prior to the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, which burnt the majority of the reference area, this forest has not been burned since the 1700s, making many of the trees ~300 years old. |
Errindundra forestsErrinundra is a national park in Victoria, Australia, 352 km east of Melbourne. Errinundra National Park is centred on the Errinundra Plateau, a southwards extension of the Monaro Tablelands of New South Wales...
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The Errinundra National ParkErrinundra is a national park in Victoria, Australia, 352 km east of Melbourne. Errinundra National Park is centred on the Errinundra Plateau, a southwards extension of the Monaro Tablelands of New South Wales...
in East Gippland contains the largest remaining cool temperate rainforests in Victoria. These Old Growth ForestAn old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...
s harbour many rare and threatened species of flora and fauna, including powerful owlThe Powerful Owl , also known as the Powerful Boobok, is a species of owl native to south-eastern and eastern Australia, the largest owl on that continent...
s, tiger quollThe tiger quoll , also known as the spotted-tail quoll, the spotted quoll, the spotted-tailed dasyure or the tiger cat, is a carnivorous marsupial of the quoll genus Dasyurus native to Australia...
s and long-footed potoroosThe Long-footed Potoroo is a species of potoroo found in southeastern Australia, in a small area around the coastal border between New South Wales and Victoria. It was discovered in 1967 when an adult male was caught in a dog trap in the forest southwest of Bonang, Victoria...
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| Gloucester National Park Gloucester National Park is a national park in Western Australia , 281 km south of Perth and about 3 km from Pemberton, Western Australia....
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KarriEucalyptus diversicolor, commonly known as the Karri, is a eucalypt which is native to the wetter regions of south west of Western Australia.-Description:...
Eucalyptus forests that includes the Gloucester TreeThe Gloucester Tree is a giant karri tree in the Gloucester National Park of Western Australia. At 72 metres in height, it is the world's tallest fire-lookout tree, and visitors can climb up to a platform in its upper branches for a spectacular view of the surrounding karri forest...
, Western AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
's most famous karri tree. |
| Gondwana Rainforests of Australia |
Remnants of Gondwanaland forests |
| Goolengook The Goolengook valley is a remote forested region of south-eastern Australia, located near Orbost in the far eastern corner of Victoria. It contains a number of forest types including a rare warm temperate/cool temperate "Overlap Rainforest"....
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Old growth cool temperate rainforest in Eastern Victoria. |
| Great Otway National Park |
Diverse range of landscapes and vegetation types including some old growth Eucalyptus forest |
| Karawatha Forest Karawatha Forest or Karawatha nature reserve is approximately 770 hectares of bushland in the Brisbane suburbs of Karawatha and Stretton, Australia...
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Protected bushland at Karawatha, Queensland Karawatha is an outer suburb of Brisbane, Australia. It is 22 km south-east of the CBD.The naming of the suburb Karawatha originates from an Aboriginal word meaning a place with pine trees...
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Kinglake National ParkKinglake is a national park in Victoria, Australia, 50 kilometres northeast of Melbourne. The park includes tracks , and camping facilities....
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While much of the forest area was logged in the early part of the 20th century, many old growth trees remain. |
| Lake Mountain Lake Mountain is a cross-country ski resort in Victoria 90 km from Melbourne. It is the most popular ski resort in Australia in visitor numbers due to its proximity to the populous city of Melbourne, mainly from casual visitors....
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Old growth Mountain Ash and Snowgum forests, including habitat for the threatened Leadbeater's PossumLeadbeater's Possum is an endangered possum restricted to small pockets of remaining old growth mountain ash forests in the central highlands of Victoria north-east of Melbourne...
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Lamington National ParkLamington is a national park in Queensland, Australia, lying on the Lamington Plateau of the McPherson Range on the Queensland/New South Wales border...
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Part Gondwana Rainforests of Australia of the World Heritage site on the QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
/New South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
border. One of the largest upland subtropical rainforest remnants in the world and the most northern southern beechNothofagus moorei, is an important Gondwana relict of the rainforests of the southern hemisphere. It occurs in wet, fire free areas at high altitude in eastern Australia....
cool temperate rainforest in Australia. |
| Limpinwood Nature Reserve Limpinwood Nature Reserve is a wilderness region of 26 km² situated in the Border ranges of north eastern New South Wales in Australia.The reserve is part of the Shield Volcano Group of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia inscribed in 1986 and added to the Australian National...
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World Heritage listed wilderness region of 26 km² situated in the Border ranges of north eastern New South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. Vegetation is primarily sub-tropical rain forest with some wet sclerophyllSclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....
forest. |
Mount Buffalo National ParkMount Buffalo is a mountain plateau in Victoria , 200 km northeast of Melbourne. It is one of the oldest parks in the Australian Alps, being first established in 1898 when 1165 ha was reserved around Eurobin Falls...
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Over 550 native species occur; the most significant vegetation communities are the alpine and sub-alpine communities. The lower slopes have communities of mixed gum and peppermint, including the Bogong Gum, Eucalyptus chapmanianaEucalyptus chapmaniana, commonly known as the Bogong gum, is a small to medium-sized tree of montane and subalpine eastern Victoria and far south-eastern New South Wales.-Description:...
. These grade into pure stands of Alpine Ash, Eucalyptus delegatensisEucalyptus delegatensis, commonly known as Alpine Ash or Gum-topped stringybark or White-top, is a sub-alpine or temperate tree of southeastern Australia. A straight, grey-trunked tree, it reaches heights of over 90 metres in suitable conditions. The tallest currently known specimen is located in...
around 1100 metres elevation, and subalpine woodland of Snow Gum, Eucalyptus paucifloraThe Snow Gum is a small tree or large shrub native to eastern Australia.-Habitat:It is usually found in the subalpine habitats of eastern Australia. Snow Gums also grow in lowland habitats where they can reach heights of up to 20 metres. Lowland Snow Gum is sometimes known as White Sallee, Cabbage...
above 1300 metres. Numerous endemic plant species. |
| Mount Warning National Park Mount Warning National Park is a park in northern New South Wales, Australia, 642 km north of Sydney near the border with the state of Queensland. It surrounds Mount Warning, part of a remnant caldera of a much larger extinct volcano . The park is administered by the NSW National Parks and...
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Included in the UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Listings in 1986. Extensive subtropical rainforest remnants. |
| Mount Read (Tasmania) Mount Read is a mountain in Tasmania, Australia, that is at the north west edge of what is known as the West Coast RangeAs colourful a history as that of Mount Lyell, Mount Read has had mines, settlements and other activities on its slopes for over a hundred years.The main copper and gold ore...
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Despite extensive historic mining and human activity on its slopes, Mount Read has unique and significant stands of rare Huon Pine forests on its slopes. |
| Sherbrooke Forest Sherbrooke Forest lies at an altitude of 300 m within the Dandenong Ranges, 40 km east of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia, close to the suburb of Belgrave. The vegetation is classified as wet sclerophyll forest with the dominant tree species the Mountain Ash, Eucalyptus regnans, the tallest...
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Wet sclerophyll Sclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....
forest with the dominant tree species being the Mountain Ash, Eucalyptus regnansEucalyptus regnans, known variously by the common names Mountain Ash, Victorian Ash, Swamp Gum, Tasmanian Oak or Stringy Gum, is a species of Eucalyptus native to southeastern Australia, in Tasmania and Victoria...
, the tallest flowering plantThe flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
in the world. The forest has recovered well from logging which occurred from the mid 19th century until 1930. Sherbrooke Forest is famous for its population of Superb LyrebirdThe Superb Lyrebird is a pheasant-sized songbird, approximately 100cm long, with brown upper body plumage, grayish-brown below, rounded wings and strong legs...
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Springbrook National ParkSpringbrook National Park is a national park at Springbrook on the McPherson Range in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland, , 96 km south of Brisbane. It is part of the Shield Volcano Group of the World Heritage site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia...
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Part of the World Heritage site Central Eastern Rainforest ReservesThe Gondwana Rainforests of Australia formerly known as the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, are the most extensive area of subtropical rainforest in the world...
. Rainforest and eucalypt forest. |
| Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest The Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest is one of six main indigenous forest communities of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is also among the three of these plant communities which have been classified as Endangered, under the New South Wales government's Threatened Species Conservation Act...
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The main canopy trees are Turpentine (Syncarpia glomuliferaSyncarpia glomulifera is a tree native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, which can grow to more than 30 metres in height...
, Grey Ironbark (Eucalyptus paniculataEucalyptus paniculata is a common eucalyptus tree of eastern New South Wales, Australia. A dark trunked forest tree with grey furrowed bark. When in flower, the nectar is attractive to birds and insects, and is used in honey production.- Habitat :The natural range of distribution is high rainfall...
), Narrow-leaved Ironbark (Eucalyptus crebraEucalyptus crebra, commonly known as the Narrow-leaved ironbark or Narrowleaf red ironbark, is a type of Ironbark tree native to eastern Australia. A member of the large genus Eucalyptus, this tree is in the Myrtaceae family and can grow to a large spreading tree up to 35 m high...
) and Red Ironbark. Very few remnants of Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest remain. |
| Tarkine The Tarkine is a large wilderness area in north-west Tasmania, Australia. The area has a high concentration of Aboriginal sites and has been described by the Australian Heritage Council as "one of the world's great archaeological regions"...
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Extensive stands of Eucalypt forest and cool temperate rainforest which includes ancient Myrtle Beech trees. |
Tarra-Bulga National ParkTarra-Bulga is a national park in eastern Victoria, Australia, 158 km from Melbourne in the Strzelecki Ranges. It is home to one of the last remnants of the indigenous eucalypt forests which once covered the region....
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Remnant cool temperate rainforest in the Stzelecki Ranges. The deeply-incised river valleys of the park are dominated by wet sclerophyll tall open forest of mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnansEucalyptus regnans, known variously by the common names Mountain Ash, Victorian Ash, Swamp Gum, Tasmanian Oak or Stringy Gum, is a species of Eucalyptus native to southeastern Australia, in Tasmania and Victoria...
), with an understorey of blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon), hazel pomaderris (Pomaderris asperaPomaderris is a genus of 70 species of shrub to small tree in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. 65 of the species are native to Australia and the other five are from New Zealand. There is some overlap....
) and tree ferns (Dicksonia antarcticaDicksonia antarctica, known as the Soft Tree Fern, Man Fern or Tasmanian Tree Fern, is an evergreen tree fern native to parts of Australia, namely south-east Queensland, coastal New South Wales and Victoria and Tasmania.- Anatomy and biology :...
and Cyathea australisCyathea australis, also known as the Rough Tree Fern, is a species of tree fern native to southeastern Queensland, New South Wales and southern Victoria in Australia, as well as Tasmania and Norfolk Island. It grows in moist shady forest, both coastal and montane, at an altitude of up to 1280 m,...
). Pockets of the park feature cool temperate rainforest, including Myrtle Beech Nothofagus cunninghamii. |
| Tuart Forest National Park Tuart Forest National Park is a national park in the South West region of Western Australia , south of Perth. It contains the largest remaining section of pure tuart forest in the world. Traditionally the state forest associated with this stand of trees has been known as the Ludlow State...
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Contains rare old growth Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephalaEucalyptus gomphocephala is a species of tree, also known as Tuart, in the genus Eucalyptus. Native to the southwest of Western Australia the tree grows to over 35m tall. As a durable hardwood the timber is sought after for scantlings, structural timber, the construction of railway carriages, and...
) forest. |
| Walpole-Nornalup National Park Walpole-Nornalup National Park is a national park in the South West region of Western Australia , 355 km south of Perth. It is famous for its towering Karri and Tingle trees. Red Tingle trees are unique to the Walpole area.-Tourism:...
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Contains rare old growth giant Tingle eucalypt forest known as 'The Valley of the Giants'. |
| Wielangta forest The Wielangta forest is located in South East Tasmania, Australia. It is notable for its role in a 2006 court case that called into question the effectiveness of Australia's cooperative Commonwealth-State forest management regime known as Regional Forest Agreements.-Environment:The Wielangta forest...
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Part of remnant glacial refugia forest and contains blue gum eucalypt forest and pockets of cool temperate rainforestRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
. The forest is a key habitat of rare and threatened species, including the Tasmanian Wedge-tailed EagleThe Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagle is an endangered bird of Tasmania. It is a subspecies of the more common Wedge-tailed Eagle.-Description:...
, Swift ParrotThe Swift Parrot breeds in Tasmania and migrates north to south eastern Australia from Griffith-Warialda in New South Wales and west to Adelaide in the winter. It is related to the rosellas, with the feeding habits of a lorikeet...
, Broad-toothed Stag Beetle, Spotted-tail Quoll and Eastern Barred BandicootThe Eastern Barred Bandicoot was once distributed across the Basalt Plains of south west Victoria, and in Tasmania. It is a small, rabbit sized marsupial weighing less than 1 kg with a short tail and three to four whitish bars across the rump. It lives for just two to three years and is not...
. A rare orchid (Corunastylis nuda) has also been discovered in the forest. |
Wollemi National ParkWollemi National Park is the second largest national park in New South Wales, and contains most of the largest wilderness area, the Wollemi Wilderness...
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Contains the only known wild specimens of the Wollemi PineWollemia is a genus of coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae. Wollemia was only known through fossil records until the Australian species Wollemia nobilis was discovered in 1994 in a temperate rainforest wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, in a remote series of...
(Wollemia nobilis), a species thought to have become extinct approximately thirty million years ago, but discovered alive in three small stands in 1994.. |