An Ancient Rainforest
The Wet Tropics cover around 450 square kilometres and contain one of the world’s most significant surviving rainforest ecosystems. These forests preserve evolutionary links stretching back 50–100 million years to the Gondwana era, when rainforest covered much of Australia. Many of Australia’s unique marsupials evolved within these ancient ecosystems. The region is also deeply significant to the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people. Places including Wundu / Thornton Peak, Manjal Dimbi / Mount Demi and Kulki / Cape Tribulation hold spiritual significance for the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people. In 2021, the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people formally took back ownership of the Daintree tropical rainforest through a historic agreement with the Queensland Government.
The Campaign
In 1984, the Wilderness Society opened a permanent office in Brisbane to help campaign for the protection of north Queensland’s wet tropical rainforests from logging, road construction and subdivision. That same year, a controversial 30-kilometre road was built through the region. Campaigners responded by mobilising communities across Queensland and Australia. In 1985, around 3,000 people attended a major rally in Brisbane, while campaigners dressed in animal costumes distributed leaked government documents that embarrassed both sides of politics. Despite political resistance, the campaign continued to grow. A major breakthrough came when Senator Graham Richardson persuaded Prime Minister Bob Hawke that rainforest protection had strong public support. Hawke pledged to nominate the Daintree for World Heritage status. In 1988, the nomination succeeded and approximately 894,000 hectares of rainforest received World Heritage protection—marking one of the biggest conservation victories since the Franklin River campaign.
A National Campaign
The campaign united conservation organisations from across the country. The Wilderness Society worked alongside the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Rainforest Conservation Society of Queensland, the Queensland Conservation Council and the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. The campaign also involved regional groups including the Cape Tribulation Community Council, Wilderness Action Group at Port Douglas, Tropical Rainforest Society, Cairns and Far North Environment Centre, and branches of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. Together, these groups gathered and distributed information about the rainforests and helped build national support for protection.
Legacy
The successful World Heritage listing of the Wet Tropics secured international recognition for one of the world’s oldest rainforest ecosystems. The campaign also reinforced the growing power of coordinated national environmental campaigns following the Franklin River victory. As Michael Rae wrote in Wilderness News in 1987:
“After years of hard campaigning Australia’s wet tropical rainforests will get the recognition and protection they deserve.” And as David Attenborough said in The Age in 1984:
“The Queensland rainforest is one of the most breathtaking wild areas in the world; unbelievably beautiful and interesting. There are birds, mammals and plants there that are unique. Beyond any dispute it is a treasure.”