thumb|Sign at the entrance to Eungella National Park
thumb|Day use areas for visitors to Eungella National Park are well used and well maintained
thumb|View down the Pioneer Valley from sky window
thumb|[[Australian brushturkeys are common in the rainforest and day use areas at Eungella National Park]]
Eungella National Park ( ; meaning "Land of the clouds") is a protected area in Queensland, Australia. It is on the Clarke Range at the end of the Pioneer Valley 80 km west of Mackay, and 858 km northwest of Brisbane. Eungella is noted for the national park which surrounds it. It is considered to be the longest continual stretch of sub-tropical rainforest in Australia. The original inhabitants are the Wirri people. The park is covered by dense rainforest and is known for its platypuses.
Regional description
Eungella National Park is located on an isolated massif about 80 km west of Mackay in North–central Queensland. The Eungella Plateau rises to 1259m at Mt Dalrymple and to similar elevation at Mt William, forming part of the Clarke Range.
The park preserves about half (30,000 ha) the area of rainforest present at the time of European settlement, which has been much reduced by logging. Notophyll vine forest with tall eucalypts such as red stringybark (Eucalyptus resinifera) is found on the ridges of eastern facing slopes and drier western slopes often contain hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii). The rainforest is bordered by eucalypt forests and woodlands across much of its extent.
The word Eungella is an aboriginal name meaning 'land of the cloud' and with an average annual rainfall of 2240mm, it often seems perched in a cloud. There were three key refuge areas in mid-east Queensland during past periods of rainforest contraction. Much of the rainforest in the National Park is complex mesophyll vine forest with pockets of simple and complex notophyll vine forests on poorer soils.
Dicots
Elaeocarpus largiflorens is a rainforest tree reaching 30 m in height which occurs in the wet tropics from sea level to 1200 m elevation and is at the southern limit of its natural range at Eungella. It produces 20 mm long fruits that are eaten and dispersed by a range of frugivorous vertebrates. Omphalea celata is a small tree currently listed as vulnerable at a state and federal level, which was first described in 1994 and is found at Hazlewood Gorge within the park. It is a host plant for the zodiac moth (Alcides metaurus).
Ferns
In the southern half of Queensland, the giant fern (Angiopteris evecta) is found in only four widely spaced sites, including Eungella, which may indicate a past wider distribution when Queensland was much wetter. It can be distinguished from it is close relative and sister species the bridled honeyeater (Lichenostomus frenata) by its plumage colour and markings, size, bill colour and calls. It was first collected in 1975 and described in 1983, making it the most recently described Australian bird species. The buff-breasted paradise kingfisher (Tanysiptera sylvia) and the white-browed robin (Poecilodryas superciliosa) are at the southern extent of their distribution at Eungella. as do the brown thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) and the glossy black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami). Australian swiftlets (Aerodramus terraereginae) breed in caves in the Finch Hatton Creek area, and one of the few Australian records of glossy swiftlet (Collocalia esculenta) was in the park.
Amphibians
A total of 16 amphibian species have been recorded in the park. Amphibians are more threatened and are declining more rapidly than either birds or mammals. The causative agent may be the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, although this has not as yet been detected in stream-dwelling frogs in the park.
Eungella National Park is recognised as one of eleven areas with high levels of frog endemism. Of the three endemic frog species endemic, two are still believed to exist today, the Eungella dayfrog and the Eungella tinker frog, while one species, the northern gastric brooding frog, is believed extinct. All three species are ground dwelling and their distribution is restricted to streams or areas close to streams in mid to high elevation rainforests. This frog is one of only two species known to use body language, including small hops and movements of the arms and legs, to attract the attention of other frogs; a behaviour which may have evolved due to the noise of mountain streams rushing over rocks in its habitat making calling a less effective means of communication.
The Eungella tinkerfrog is considered near threatened in Queensland. Potential threats to this species include forest grazing, trampling by livestock, introduced species such as the cane toad (Rhinella marina) and the chytrid fungus. It is one of only two species in the world known to brood its young in its stomach, with the mother swallowing fertilised eggs or early larval stages, before 'giving birth' through the mouth. They have an unusual foraging behaviour and are the only mammal known to use electrolocation for detecting prey. Platypus are generally found in slow-moving rivers and small pools and are highly adapted to a semi-aquatic life. They have extremely dense fur, large webs on their feet extending well beyond the toenails, a broad, flat tail and excellent swimming ability, paddling with their forelegs in alternating strokes, with their hindlegs and tail trailing behind.
Reptiles
20 species of reptiles occur in the park. P. nepthys is endemic to the Clarke Range. The skink species Lampropholis basiliscus reaches its southern limit at Eungella. The fly species Drosophila birchii is restricted to patches of warm, wet tropical rainforest between New Guinea and Eungella.
The katydid Phricta zwicka has been collected from Eungella National Park. The Megalopteran Protochauliodes eungella is known only from the Eungella area. Two new species from the order Odonata were collected in the Eungella area; Austroaeschna christine and A. eungella. A survey of butterflies in the park undertaken in 1993 recorded 37 species with an additional 15 species known from museum and private records.
Crustaceans
The Eungella spiny crayfish is unique to the creeks on the Clarke Range.
Environmental threats
Threats to the biodiversity of Eungella National Park include habitat fragmentation, the effects of introduced species, fire and human impacts.
Pest plants and animals
Many introduced animals have been recorded in the park including the cane toad, red fox, feral cat, rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), black rat (Rattus rattus), house mouse (Mus musculus), and feral pig. Cinnamon fungus has been found on the Clarke Range, including in one area of Dalrymple Heights, where approximately 20% of the rainforest has died.
Cats, foxes and feral dogs (Canis familiaris) can threaten native fauna through predation, competition for resources and transmission of disease. In Australia, cats are known to prey on 186 native bird species, 64 mammal species, 87 species of reptile, 10 species of amphibians and numerous invertebrates. Foxes prey on possums, small dasyurids, native rats, and other mammals, birds and insects. (Mackay Regional Pest Management Group 2013). Other highly-flammable weeds common in the park include guinea grass (Megathyrsus maximus), rat's tail grasses (Sporobolus spp.), para grass (Urochloa mutica) and molasses grass (Melinis minutiflora).
Fire
Fire is a key disturbing pressure on the rainforests of Eungella National Park, and can result in fragmentation of the rainforest into smaller areas less capable of maintaining the present complexity of plants and animals and increasing edge effects. Other management principles for National Parks are to present the park's cultural and natural resources and their values and to ensure that park use is nature based and ecologically sustainable. The Broken River picnic area has facilities for day visitors.
There are more than 20 km of bushwalking tracks, some with scenic lookouts. A platform on the Broken River provides good viewing of platypus, eels and turtles.