West of Brisbane National Parks

Australian National Parks

The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. It is in the drainage basin of the Condamine River and its tributaries.

The landscape is dominated by rolling hills covered by pastures of many different vegetables, legumes and other crops including cotton, wheat, barley and sorghum. Between the farmlands there are long stretches of crisscrossing roads, bushy ridges, winding creeks and many herds of cattle. There are farms with beef and diary cattle, pigs, sheep and lamb stock. Other notable features include irrigation systems, windmills serving as bore pumps to get water from the Great Artesian Basin, light planes crop-dusting, a rusty old woolshed and other scattered remnants from a bygone era of early exploration and settlement.

Click here to see a list of parks in West of Brisbane region

The principal town is Toowoomba about 140 km west of Brisbane. Other towns situated on the Downs include Roma, Warwick, Oakey, Mitchell, Pittsworth, Allora, Clifton, Cecil Plains, Millmerran, Nobby and Dalby. The New England Highway and the Warrego Highway traverse the region.

The region is popular with tourists because of its many natural and heritage attractions, including the Goomburra State Forest and the Queen Mary Falls near Killarney in the Main Range National Park. On the northern boundaries of the Downs are the Bunya Mountains and the Bunya Mountains National Park. To the south lie the rocky formations of the Granite Belt and the Dumaresq and the MacIntyre rivers.

Bunya Mountains National Park - The Bunya Mountains form an isolated section of the Great Dividing Range lying about 150km from the coast.

Crows Nest National Park - Open eucalypt forest park on the Great Dividing Range. Cascades, waterfall and gorge scenery along Crows Nest Creek.

Girraween National Park - Girraween, meaning place of flowers, is a park of massive granite outcrops, balancing boulders, clear streams and tumbling cascades.

Main Range National Park - Main Range National Park is a succession of impressive peaks, escarpments and ridges to the south-west of Brisbane.

Mount Barney National Park - Rugged mountain peaks rise above rainforests in this wild, beautiful, World Heritage listed park, popular with bushwalkers and home to many rare and special plant species and communities.

Ravensbourne National Park - Small remnants of the rainforest and wet eucalypt forest that once covered this part of the Great Dividing Range are preserved in Ravensbourne National Park.

Southwood National Park - Brigalow-belah forest remnants are conserved in this park on the western Darling Downs.

Sundown National Park - The wilderness atmosphere of Sundown National Park and Sundown Resources Reserve (16 000ha in total) is maintained by keeping development to a minimum.

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service