Australia is blessed with world heritage-listed Tropical rain forests in north Queensland. They are some of the oldest on Earth. Some of them would have been witnesses to dinosaurs.
Tucked away on the slopes of Mount Cooh-tha in the inner west of Brisbane, seven kilometres from the CBD, is a man-made version of a tropical rainforest, full of trees, vines and ferns from North Queensland. It is in the Botanic Gardens run by the Brisbane City Council.
The Gardens cover 56 hectares at the base of Mount Coot-tha, Brisbane’s dominant ridge from the top of which one can get panoramic views of the city. The gardens feature over 200,000 plants representing around 5000 different species from around the world. They were founded in 1970 and officially opened in 1976. The original botanic gardens are in the city centre framing the eastern edge of the CBD but they have been vulnerable to severe flooding, damaging valuable plant collections. So the city fathers sought a more secure location.
There are over 25 of what are termed geographic and themed plant communities. The man-made tropical rainforest is at the less-frequented western edge of the gardens beyond the artificial lake. They are a fair uphill hike from the main entrance, which presumably deters many. But the trip is worth it, at least on a sunny winter’s day. But here’s a tip. On weekdays you can get there by car through the main gates.
Tranquil, relaxing and informative as it is, I don’t feel the rainforest is quite as lush as the real thing. But it his nevertheless a calming and interesting experience to hike around the wide, well-cared for and mostly bitumen paths, surrounded by labelled north Queensland plants, and ringed in by fast flowing man-made streams.
The days I have wandered around, I have been struck by how quiet it. I expected it to be a haven for birds, but none did I see or hear. In fact after a while I was struck by the absence of animals of any kind, including water lizards with are prolific in other parts of the Gardens. (Sit for a minute in the Japanese garden down in the valley, tranquil as it is, and soon be aware of three or four of them.) That is, except for often feuding bush turkeys. Yet this absence of fauna is not the case with the rainforests of north Queensland.
Here is an excerpt from the Wet Tropics Management Authority website: “The Wet Tropics region is home to about a third of Australia’s 315 mammal species – including unique green possums, fierce marsupial cats, kangaroos which climb trees and rare bats. As well as relatively common mammals like the platypus and wallaby which are widespread over the continent, the Wet Tropics is home to 13 mammal species which are found nowhere else in the world. All except two of them – the endangered tropical bettongand mahogany glider – are rainforest dwellers. They include two tree-kangaroos, a rat-kangaroo, four ringtail possums, a melomys and an antechinus.”
Maybe they come out at night in Brisbane – alas the gardens close at 5pm, so I can’t tell you whether this is so. But I do not suggest this put you off visiting, merely that the constructed environment is probably not as rich and diverse as the original.
A favourite spot is the pond, with, as you can see, a comfortable bench to sit and observe.
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