The Daintree Rainforest
Flora Activity
Create an annotated(labelled) model of the 4 layers of the rainforest. This must show 1 or 2 plants at each layer of the rainforest and the features of each layer. For example, you should note the differences in leaves in each layer and use 1 or 2 sentences to explain why they are like that. Remember:
Daintree Fauna
Concealed among the lush vegetation are some of Australia’s rarest species of wildlife. One third of Australia’s 315 mammal species call the Daintree Rainforest, including the Mossman Gorge, home. Thirteen of these species cannot be found anywhere else in the world including unique green possums, ringtail possums, fierce marsupial cats, rare bats, and tree kangaroos and the rare antechinus. On an odd occasion you may even be lucky enough to spot one of these special animals. The trees in the Gorge also play host to the “Boyd Forest Dragon”. Often seen basking in the sun, this quiet creature is a chameleon and can change its colour to blend in. The forest dragon will remain still if approached in attempt to remain undetected. The endangered spotted-tail quolls which inhabit the rainforest are another rare and unique sight to behold. The cat sized animals are reddy-brown with white spots and have long slender tails. The animal is one of Australia's few carnivorous animals and has a distinct piercing scream when threatened. Over 430 different species have been spotted through the years by birdwatchers at the Gorge including the Australian Pelican, Little Pied Cormorant, Great Egret and the Endangered Southern Cassowary. The wildlife doesn’t stop there. The region is home to a quarter of Australia’s frog population, a little over a third of the country’s freshwater fish and one of the largest butterfly colonies in existence. With all this and more, a trip to the Gorge offers an experience like no other in the world. Some more wildlife species to look out for include: Birds:
Reference: http://mossmangorge.com.au/the-environment/flora-and-fauna THE DAINTREE BLOCKADE
In the early 1980s, pressure was growing for the missing road link between Cape Tribulation and Bloomfield to be completed. The campaign was spearheaded by the Douglas Shire Council, a move the State Government supported wholeheartedly. It was known that the council of the day had an agenda to ‘open up’ the northern portion of the shire to development. However the 17,000 hectare Cape Tribulation National Park had been gazetted in 1981, encompassing a significant part of the last remaining large tract of tropical lowland forest in Australia. The only problem was that the road was to be forged through the new national park! Several official reasons were given for the justification of the road - it would benefit tourism; authorities would be better equipped to police a steadily growing drug problem; it would deter bird trappers and orchid thieves; and it would allow residents of Cooktown an easier and quicker access to Cairns. Some supporters of the road put forward their reasons to justify its impending construction - it would 'deter illegal immigrants, wildlife smugglers, drug runners and other undesirables, and serves as 'an invaluable defence measure from invaders from the north!' The same supporters of the road argued that there should be no concern for the destruction of the lowland forest if the road were to be built for 'there was plenty of rainforest on the mountains above the lowlands through which the road was to be built.' It was also argued that most of the road would run through 'scrubby mixed forest which is only rubbish anyway. Those campaigning against its construction obtained scientific opinion. This showed that, in keeping with the rest of the lowland rainforest in the area, it was scientifically some of the most important and significant on Earth. They too voiced their opinions for the reasons for construction of the road, including a suspicion that a developer had plans to subdivide another large tract of rainforest and needed access. In retrospect and with the events that followed, they were probably close to the mark. THE CONFRONTATION In December 1983, Douglas Shire Council bulldozers arrived to construct the road. Many people gathered to try to physically prevent work from proceeding. Protesters set up headquarters at the work site at Cape Tribulation and the long confrontation began. A large contingent of police arrived. Over the following days protesters climbed trees, chained themselves to trees or buried themselves in the path of the bulldozers. Many were arrested. After some delay, bulldozers began work from both the Cape Tribulation and the Bloomfield ends of the road. The Daintree Blockade confrontation attracted the media which every day reported the happenings to the nation. The building of the road quickly became the major environmental issue in Australia, but the government was unrelenting. In three short weeks, the road was pushed through. The Douglas Shire Council claimed victory. THE RAIN COMES ... The year was almost at an end and the men who had driven the machines left for the traditional Christmas break. Then the traditional Wet arrived! Constant deluges of heavy rain damaged the new road in many places as predicted by those opposing its construction. Landslides completely blocked it. Significant amounts of soil were flushed into the waters of the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef. The road was abandoned until the following Dry, when in August the council returned to repair and re-open it. An atmosphere of controversy and protest still prevailed. Finally the road was officially opened on 7 October, 1984. Local parliamentarians, politicians and local supporters attended. The Minister for Main Roads performed the ceremony, after which the official motorcade left to traverse the road. Before they had travelled far, 30 millimetres of rain fell and their vehicles became bogged in the mud. (October is one of the driest months of the year) The final nemesis was had by the national newspaper ‘The Australian’ which blazoned the headlines across the nation the next morning - ‘BIGWIGS BOGGED AFTER GRAND OPENING OF DAINTREE ROAD!’ WORLD HERITAGE LISTING The final outcome of the Daintree Blockade controversy resulted in a determined effort by the conservation movement to protect all tropical rainforests in north Queensland for all time by having them listed under World Heritage protection. The Queensland Government vehemently opposed the anticipated listing and sent a delegation led by the Minister for National Parks to a meeting of the world body for World Heritage in Brazil to oppose the nomination. But the government's efforts failed. With the support of the Commonwealth Government, the Wet Tropics of Queensland claimed its rightful place on the world Heritage List on 9 December, 1988. THE HIGH COURT CHALLENGE But the saga did not end there. The State Government continued its opposition to the listing, refusing to co-operate with the Commonwealth Government in a joint management scheme and retaliating by launching two court challenges. The first, in the High Court of Australia, based on constitutional issues, was lost. In November 1989 the Commonwealth Government went ahead and set up a management authority without the participation of the State Government and appointed its own representatives. The second challenge in the Federal Court involved technical matters including sustained logging in World Heritage forests. But the case was never heard. At the ensuing election in early December 1989, the government was soundly defeated after 23 years in power. The new State Government lost no time in announcing its support for the listing and gave assurances that it would work closely with the Commonwealth Government to manage the new World Heritage area. THE ROAD TODAY The road has benefited tourism, enabling many people to experience this beautiful region, however, because it was constructed in haste, it was poorly built. In many places, especially over Donovan and Cowie Ranges, it is very steep, eroding during the Wet when it can become impassable for weeks. In the Dry it is a slow road which can only be negotiated by four wheel drive vehicles. Blockade Creek where most of the protest took place is located a couple of kilometers north of the Cape Trib Beach House. It is an unnamed creek distinguished by the Daintree National Park - Cape Tribulation Section sign. This extract is from ‘Daintree - Jewel of Tropical North Queensland’ self-published by Lloyd Nielsen (author, illustrator, publisher) in 1997 and is reproduced here with kind permission. This book can be purchased at Daintree Discovery Centre, Masons Shop, The Bat House, and online at www.birdingaustralia.com.au. |
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HISTORY AND CULTURE
The Daintree region, which includes the Daintree National Park and the Daintree River, was originally home to the aboriginal people of the Kuku Yalanji tribe who lived in small camps scattered along the banks of creeks and rivers. Altogether, there are 18 Rainforest Aboriginal tribal groups in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. In this area, the Traditional Owners are the Eastern Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal people. Their country extends from near Cooktown to Port Douglas. For the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people many natural features of the landscape have spiritual significance including Wundu (Thornton Peak), Manjal Dimbi (Mount Demi), Wurrmbu (The Bluff) and Kulki (Cape Tribulation). A rich array of plants and animals provided reliable food for the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people as they travelled seasonally throughout the area. The coastal lowlands were particularly productive and could sustain a relatively large population. Understanding the weather cycles and the combination of vegetation types allows the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people to find a variety of food throughout the year—when jilngan (mat grass) is in flower, it is time to collect jarruka (orange-footed scrubfowl) eggs and when jun jun (blue ginger) is fruiting, it is time to catch diwan (Australian brush-turkey). Many tree-dwelling animals were also hunted including murral (tree-kangaroos), yawa (possums) and kambi (flying foxes). The islands, beaches, creek mouths, backing dunes and lowland rainforest of the Daintree area also provided a major focus for camping and other uses for the Kuku Yalanji. Combined with the fringing reef and sea, a diverse range of resources were available to the Yalanji people on a systematic, seasonal and cultural basis. Characteristic cultural features of the Daintree region include a complex network of Aboriginal walking tracks. These were based around two major tracks, one along the coast and one further inland which were joined by an intricate network of associated tracks which connected all destinations, places of cultural importance and resource use. Many of these were later developed into the roads and tracks used today. The Daintree River was only discovered by Europeans in 1873 and their first settlement, Daintree Village, was the base for European and Chinese settlers attracted by the discovery of gold, the potential for tin and mineral mining and the logging of stunning red cedar. 1770 Captain James Cook named Cape Tribulation because 'here began all our troubles'. His barque, Endeavour, struck the Great Barrier Reef and they limped in to Cooktown to make repairs. He also named Mount Sorrow behind Cape Tribulation. 1873 George Dalrymple 'discovered' the Daintree River and named it after a former Queensland Government geologist, Richard Daintree, who was then Queensland's Agent-General in London. Oddly, Richard Daintree never visited this area but his geological surveys helped open up many coal and gold mines in later years. 1877 The discovery of gold changed everything for the rainforest Aboriginal people, violent clashes with European settlers often resulted in fatalities. 1879 The first permanent settlers in the Daintree Village area were the Stewart brothers. 1883 Daintree Village was established on the Daintree River, which was the only way of access until 1933 when the road to Mossman was completed. Supplies and mail arrived once a week from Port Douglas and produce and passengers left on the return journey. Daintree Village was first a base for the red cedar timber industry and in the old logging days the logs were floated down river and loaded onto small coasters at Daintree Heads. Later European and Chinese settlers on both sides of the Daintree River tried many crops – sugar-cane, coffee and other crops but floods, disease and marketing proved major stumbling-blocks. 1900 The two half-time schools at Cow Bay and Daintree Village closed due to the resignation of the teacher who, each week, had to row 16 miles between the schools, 4 of them in the open sea along the coast. 1911 A cyclone razed Port Douglas and surrounding countryside, two people were killed. 1924 Daintree State School opened in Daintree Village with 10 pupils. A butter factory and sawmill were built, both running on the same steam boiler – the caravan park now occupies the site. The Village had a store, post office, drapery, butcher, baker, cafe, blacksmith and sawmill office. 1929 Barratts Creek Bridge opened – before that it was a 6-8 hour horse-ride from Daintree Village to Mossman and the creek could only be crossed at low tide. 1932 The Mason family were the first white settlers of Cape Tribulation. Walter Mason reported that more than 300 Aborigines lived along this coast in small family units. 1933 Completion of the road from Mossman to Daintree Village. 1937 There were six settlers and their children at Cape Tribulation. A parcel of meat arrived weekly on the Cairns-Cooktown boat. 1942 During World War 2 a Japanese aircraft dropped 8 bombs in the region, one landing along Bamboo Creek Road, near Miallo and the Whyanbeel Valley. There is a stone memorial with a plaque stating:- "At 3.30 am on 31st July 1942 a Japanese aircraft dropped eight bombs in this Shire, one landing 50 metres directly behind this point. Carmel Zullo, aged 2 1/2 years was asleep in the home of her parents when the bomb exploded nearby. Shrapnel pierced the iron walls of the house, one fragment grazing Carmel's skull.” She was the only civilian casualty inflicted by the enemy on the Eastern Australian mainland throughout World War 2. 1954 A steel punt was used as a ferry to cart timber trucks from the timber mill north of the Daintree River to the south side. 1958 The Douglas Shire Council built an outboard-driven ferry to service residents north of the Daintree River – this was eventually replaced by a new privately-owned ferry. 1962 The Daintree Ferry to Cape Tribulation Road was opened by Andrew Mason. 1966 Electricity was turned on in Daintree Village. Daintree National Park was declared by the Queensland State Government. 1968 Local farmers and the community wanted to open a cattle track from Cape Tribulation to Bloomfield. A Dutch-born Cape Tribulation local called Rykers refused permission for it to go through his property so a track was constructed from Bloomfield to a spot just north of Cape Tribulation. Cattle had to walk along the Cape Tribulation beach then up a steep hill to join the Track. Both cattle and vehicles traversed this “Pioneer's Track” and it became a hiking trail for experience-seekers and nature-lovers, helping promote the area's wilderness values. 1978 The Nicholas family established a tea plantation (now called Daintree Tea) at Diwan, from seed from the Nerada plantation at Innisfail. 1981 The Great Barrier Reef was inscribed onto the World Heritage List for it's unique natural properties and enormous scientific and environmental importance. 1983 THE DAINTREE BLOCKADE (see separate page) 1985 Storekeeper Beryl Wruck was taken by a crocodile at Barratt's Creek near Daintree Village 1988 Daintree National Park received World Heritage listing by UNESCO in recognition of it's universal natural values and is now part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA) 1994 The last section of road from Mossman to Daintree Village was fully sealed 1996 The Queensland State Government offered residents north of the Daintree River (who still do not have mains power) a subsidy to install solar power. 1500 mm (almost 5 feet) of rain fell in 36 hours – the current in the Daintree River was so strong the ferry cables broke, cutting off access for a week. 2002 The last section of the road from the Daintree Ferry to Cape Tribulation was sealed. TODAY The Daintree thrives on tourism with hundreds of national and international visitors arriving every year. Descendants of the original settlers still live here, many operating thriving, environmentally-sustainable beef cattle, tropical fruit and sugar-cane farms and plantations. Reference: http://www.destinationdaintree.com/the-daintree/history-culture |