Cooloola
Large sand dune area with many different vegetation types, lake and river
Access
There are two main ways of reaching Cooloola. The first route is by travelling to Lake Freshwater via a sand road 5 kilometres south of Rainbow Beach. The second route is by boat. Cooloola is dissected by various watercourses including Teewah Creek and the Noosa River. By following these watercourses from Noosa, Tewantin or from Boreen Point you will reach the park. An Information Centre has been established on Lake Cootharaba at Kinaba Island near the mouth of Kin Kin Creek. Please remember, keep to the speed limit when boating in Cooloola as high speed can cause severe erosion.
Activities
The activities that can be undertaken at Cooloola are as varied as the animals and plants found there. There arc many tracks criss-crossing the park and a topographical map from the National Parks and Wildlife Service or the Forestry Service will help you decide which ones to take. There are also some boardwalks that will give you easy access to some of the park wetlands. These leave from the Kinaba Information Centre. If you have a boat or canoe a slow cruise up one of the many small creeks will give you an opportunity to see some of the park wildlife. Birdwatching is a popular activity as a large range of birds occur in the park.
History
The first known inhabitants of the Cooloola area were the Kabi Aborigines. This tribal group occupied an area from the Mooloolah River to the Burrum River. They ate fish and various molluscs. Life in Cooloola must have been particularly rich, judging from the amount of broken shells that can be found on the beaches. Then in 1770, Captain Cook sailed past and named Double Island Point at the northern end of Cooloola. In 1842 however, Governor Gipps sent Andrew Petrie to explore this area and this opened the way to exploitation of a magnificent area known as the Kin Kin Scrubs. Today only a small remnant of this vast rainforest is left.
Features
Cooloola is well known for its unique wildlife. There are several animals and plants that are only found in this area. The ground parrot (Pezoporus wallicus) is a shy secretive bird that, as its name suggests, spends most of its time in the coastal wallum. This bird is particularly susceptible to land clearing and has disappeared from much of its original range due to this habitat destruction. Another bird of interest is a variant of the southern emuwren (Stipiturus malachurus). Until recent times this bird was not known from Queensland but it has now been discovered in the Cooloola area. It feeds on insects and may be heard singing from reeds in the wallum. As yet the exact status of this beautiful bird has not been ascertained and studies are continuing.
If you look into some of the freshwater lakes of Cooloola or in the lowland rainforest you may see a small green frog with numerous brown spots known as Litoria cooloolensis. This unusual frog has only recently been discovered and is only found in the coastal wallums of Cooloola and Frascr Island. The platypus frog (Rheobatrachus silus) is also found at Cooloola. The frogs found here are very specialised and recent studies have shown that the acid water of the wallum may be a contributing factor.
The mammals of Cooloola are similar to those found in other coastal areas. The yellow-footed marsupial mouse (Antechinus flavipes) is found in Cooloola, in open forest areas as well as in rainforest. Like many marsupials it is nocturnal, lives mainly alone and is a swift, agile climber. It often builds a nest under a fallen log.
At night, in the trees above the park you may be able to see some of the larger marsupials. The yellow-bellied glider (Pelaurus austrahs), the largest of its group, is one such marsupial, the sugar glider (P. breviceps) and the squirrel glider (P. norfolicensis) being others. They feed on the nectar, blossoms and the sap of eucalypts. If you look closely at some of the scribbly gums at Coops Corner you will see the scratch marks the gliders have made as they climbed the trees.
There are many different vegetation types to be found at Cooloola — rainforest, open forest, heath, herbland and sedgeland. The rainforest is historically important, being the remnant of the once-widespread Kin Kin scrubs. Rainforest areas are found along creeks and near Lake Cooloola and
Como. There are two species of pine which are important, hoop pine [Araucaria cunninghamii) and kauri pine (Agathis robustus). They often emerge above the canopy of the rainforest to form an impressive sight.
In the open forest there are many different plants that grow under the tall eucalypts. Some of the plants include Banksia aemula, the grass tree (Xanthorrhoea sp) and bracken fern (Pteridium sp).
In the wetter areas, heath and sedgeland occur. The sedgeland is particularly interesting because apparently the floral composition varies according to the height of the surrounding sand hills. When the sedgeland becomes drier there are often impressive displays of wildflowers during summer months. One thing that has been underestimated though in the past is the importance fire plays in defining the vegetation of Cooloola. Fires of a certain intensity and at a regular rate are needed if the wallum is to survive.