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Boodjamulla National Park - situated in the remote north-west highlands of Queensland, and encompassing Lawn Hill Gorge and the Riversleigh World Heritage Area - was devastated from flooding in 2023.

To support additional environmental recovery works in the National Park, the Australian and Queensland Governments have committed $3.5 million to fund repair works to tracks, trails, visitor site areas and camping areas in the Lawn Hill Gorge section, as well as maintaining the ecological values of the park.

Additional sections of the park are expected to re-open in July 2025, weather permitting.

Environment Minister Leanne Linard visited the national park last week to receive an update from Traditional Owners and rangers on the recovery works.

The investment will also fund fire and pest management activities to aid the recovery of impacted riparian areas, as well as roads leading to and within the national park that were damaged.

The additional funding for Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land) builds on recovery works already carried out by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Waanyi People through the Boodjamulla Cooperative Management Council, including fence and track repairs and planned burns to reduce increased fuel loads.

In August 2023, southern sections of Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land) including the Riversleigh D Site, which is part of the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites World Heritage Area, and Miyumba camping area were re-opened to the public.

This followed months of hard work by rangers, in hot conditions, to allow visitors once again into the less damaged sections of the park. Further sections of the park are expected to re-open to the public next year.

The funding is part of a larger $15 million DRFA Environmental Recovery Package to support long-term environmental recovery in areas impacted by the monsoonal event between December 2022 and April 2023 including:

• Environmental Investigations Program - $1.5million
• Clean Up and Invasive Species Management Program - $3million
• Biodiversity and Riverine Recovery Program - $7million
• National Park Recovery Program - $3.5million

The rain event in March 2023 had a significant negative impact on communities across parts of the Southern Gulf in North Queensland, with more than 1.3 metres of rain falling in the region, including 553mm of rain between 8th and 9th March. This is almost 15 times the median rainfall for the entire month of March.

Floodwaters rose to 30 metres in Lawn Hill Gorge and the Gregory River rose to a record-breaking 18 metres at Riversleigh. This resulted in flooding in the Burke and Carpentaria Shire Councils and adjoining areas, particularly in the Gregory, Leichhardt, Cloncurry and Lower Flinders Rivers.

Learn more about the ongoing flood recovery of Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land) 

Image. Flood damaged Boodjamulla National Park Credit: Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, and Tourism and Events Queensland.

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