The History of the World Heritage Nomination of the Tweed Volcano and Focal Peak Groups
Natural History
Natural History Index
The Tweed Volcano and Focal Peak Groups are part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia World Heritage "property".
This "property" is actually composed of a series of 8 distinct groupings of parks and reserves between Newcastle and Brisbane, united by the common story they tell of Australia's unique and evolving rainforests. Although each park has important values, it is the series as a whole which has outstanding universal value.
The Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia were originally placed on the World Heritage List in 1986, based on the 1985 nomination, and called the "Australian East Coast Temperate and Subtropical Rainforest Parks".
In the Tweed Volcano Group, this nomination included what the NSW NPWS call the "Caldera Parks and Reserves" (Border Ranges National Park, Limpinwood Nature Reserve, Mount Warning National Park, Nightcap National Park and Numinbah Nature Reserve).
In 1994, this group was re-listed and expanded to include nearby national parks and state forests in Queensland, including Springbrook National Park and Lamington National Park, which enabled the declaration of the "Lost World Wilderness" area spanning across the border of New South Wales and Queensland.
At the same time in NSW, several flora reserves on the Richmond and Koreelah Ranges were added to the property. These included Dome Mountain, Murray Scrub, Cambridge Plateau and Mallanganee Flora Reserves.
Together with Mt Barney National Park in QLD and the already listed Mt Nothofagus Flora Reserve, these reserves form the Focal Peak Group.
The whole property was then re-listed in 1994 under the name the "Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia".
Between 1995 and 1999, new national parks were created in NSW, many formerly state forests. All of the Focal Peak Group's World Heritage listed flora reserves are now in much larger national parks; Richmond Range, Toonumbar, Tooloom, Koreelah, Mount Clunie and Mount Nothofagus National Parks.
There are plans to review the World Heritage listing again to incorporate all of the areas within these national parks.
