Crows Nest Falls

Boulder strewn creek with waterfall

Access

The park is located just 6 kilometres east of the Crows Nest township. Travel out of Crows Nest towards Hampton until you see the national park sign. Turn left here and follow the direction of this sign. You will eventually come to the park camping area after following a gravel road for a distance.

Activities

Crows Nest Falls features a rugged granite gorge over 160 metres deep that is strewn with large boulders. There is a lookout that will give you views over the Valley of Diamonds, a feature of the park, and further on to the junction of Perseverance Creek and Creesbrook Creek. At certain times of the year, many different plants burst into bloom and these flowers will provide you with some interesting photographic subjects. A walking track leads from the camping area to the Valley of Diamonds Lookout. There is also a pool at the base of Crows Nest Falls which you may wish to swim in during summer months.

History

The name ‘Crows Nest’ is rather an unusual one. Popular belief has it that it was named after an Aborigine called Jimmy Crow. Apparently he lived in a hollow tree near the site of the Alice Station. This in turn became an overnight resting spot for bullockies and timber haulers and was known as Jimmy Crow’s Nest. Then in 1876, the town of Crows Nest sprang up. Early use of the area had been by James Canning Pearse who took up 27045 hectares of land in 1849 to run cattle. The national park was declared in 1967.

Features

The vegetation type found in Crows Nest National Park is mainly of an open forest type. On your walk from the camping area down to the Valley of Diamonds Lookout you’ll be able to get a good look at some of this vegetation. In Crows Nest Creek you will see the red bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis) and the river oak (Casuarina cunninghamiana). This creek is one of the best places to see some of the park’s wildlife. Members of the honeyeater family are especially plentiful, including the yellow-faced honeyeater (Meliphaga chrysops) and the eastern silvereye (Zosterops lateralis).

As you move away from the creek the open forest changes from having rough-barked apple (Angophorafloribunda) and swamp mahogany (Tristania suaveolens) as the dominant trees to having forest red gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis), white stringybark (E. phaeotricha) and the smooth-barked apple (Angophora costata). In the canopy of these trees you may see some of the other birds found in the park. These included the rufous whistler (Pachycephala rujiventris), the grey shrike thrush (Colluriancla harmonica) and the grey fantail (Rhipidurafuliginosa). Although the grey shrike thrush is a drab grey bird it is regarded as one of Australia’s most accomplished songsters.

Reptiles are frequently seen during the summer months in the park. Two small skinks that would probably go unnoticed are Sphenomorphus scutirostrum and Leiolopisma delicata. These small brown skinks scamper around on the forest floor hunting for their insect meals. Sphenomorphus scutirostrum sometimes has a reddish flush under its tail.