Join our visiting experts for an insight into the intriguing world of the rainforest.
Learn about the natural history of Lamington National Park and its World Heritage values. This November marks 30 years since the inclusion of the rainforest reserves of the McPherson and Main Ranges in Queensland in the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area.
Forest Weekend includes presentations and guided walks through a variety of forest habitats and visiting scenic locations. Experience walks, bus tours, workshops and lectures focusing on specialised vegetation highlights, forest types and habitats.
These two days are a must-do for those with an interest in botany, rainforests, ecology and the Mt Warning Volcanic Region. Forest Weekend leads into the annual Birdweek immediately after.
Special Forest Weekend Day Price: $275 per person – includes Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Forest Weekend activities (excludes accommodation). Individual activity pricing available – check with Reception/Discovery Centre.
Please call 07 5502 4911 or email [email protected] to make your booking – or if at O’Reilly’s, check with Reception/Discovery Centre for individual activity availability and pricing.
Leader – Dr Bill McDonald – Bill is an Honorary Research Associate at the Queensland Herbarium, where he spent most of his career before retiring in 2012. One of his first tasks was to survey and map the plant communities of the Gold Coast hinterland, which led to a lifelong interest in rainforest floristics and ecology.
He has co-authored a series of publications on rainforest plant identification, culminating in the production of a digital interactive key to trees, shrubs and climbers of eastern Australian rainforests. He hopes to provide a deeper understanding of the plant and animal habitats of Lamington National Park and adjacent World Heritage reserves.
Guest Speaker – Mr Harry Hines – Harry is a Senior Ecologist with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queensland Museum. He worked extensively on the declining frogs problem and was a member of the team that discovered the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), now recognised as the cause of many frog declines and extinctions in Australia and globally. Harry is currently involved in the conservation management of various threatened species including Kroombit tinkerfrog, Kroombit treefrog (both critically endangered) and the endangered silver-headed antechinus.
He has co-authored more than 70 scientific papers on frogs, amphibian chytrid fungus, birds, mammals and fauna surveys as well as a field guide to the frogs of the wet forests of southeast Queensland, and contributed sections on frogs to several other books. In 2023 he was awarded the Queensland Natural History Award.