Daintree National Park
Located in Kuku Yalanji Country northwest of Cairns, Daintree National Park (CYPAL) comprises two sections—Mossman Gorge and Cape Tribulation, with a settled area that includes the towns of Mossman and Daintree Village separating the two sections. Its name is derived from the Daintree River, named by George Elphinstone Dalrymple after geologist Richard Daintree.
The park was founded in 1981 and became a World Heritage Site in 1988. The Cape Tribulation section — initially Cape Tribulation National Park —was amalgamated into Daintree National Park in 1983. A historic deal between the Queensland government and the area's traditional owners saw the eastern Kuku Yalanji people take formal ownership of Daintree National Park in 2021.
Around 85 kilometres northwest of Cairns, the 56,500 ha Mossman Gorge section lies in the rugged, largely inaccessible slopes of the Main Coast Range, and Windsor and Carbine tablelands and includes the headwaters of the Mossman and Daintree rivers with dense rainforests on the lowlands and seaward slopes, stunted montane rainforests towards the summits and open forest and woodlands on the drier, western slopes.
The 17,000ha Cape Tribulation section (https://maps.app.goo.gl/E8gpSLHUp4DWnQxY8) has one of Australia's last extensive stands of lowland rainforest in an intermittent strip between the Daintree and Bloomfield Rivers, with long, relatively unspoiled sandy beaches, rocky headlands, and steep mountain ranges with dense upland rainforests intersected by numerous creeks and rivers. This section includes Thornton Peak, Mt Hemmant, Mt Sorrow and the Alexandra Range. The McDowall Range forms the park's western boundary.
Sources:
Queensland Government: Parks and Forests: Daintree National Park (CYPAL): https://parks.desi.qld.gov.au/parks/daintree/about
Wikipedia: Daintree National Park: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daintree_National_Park
