The Bunya Mountains is wholly unique in it’s vegetation and the waterways that feed the Brisbane and Maryborough  Rivers, the Artesian Basin and as far south as South Australia.

Having inhabited this land for over 200 years it is time to stop and assess where we are and what we are doing to preserve what is left.

Bunya Watch has been initiated by a group of concerned residents for the future of our magnificent mountain and surrounding foothills.

The Bunyas is covered with rainforest – the only stand of rainforest of it’s kind so far from the coast and the biggest stand of Bunya Pines in the world.

Bunya Pines, White and Red Cedar and many other species covered thousand of acres of countryside. Today one can still see the occasional Bunya Pine (due to clearing) scattered towards the coast.  This magnificent tree still holds it’s ground on the top of the mountain – and it is this that we want to protect always.

The Bunya Mountains is a National Park but unfortunately the felling of these trees continues even to today.

Houses are still being built on ‘balds’.  These are very special to both Aboriginals and us.  Balds are large areas scattered throughout the mountain which ‘only’ grows grass – a time capsule to the past.  The forest did not seem able to ‘acquire’ these balds.  Many smaller animals inhabited these balds for reasons that the forest itself was too dense.  

So today, what are we doing?  More specifically our ‘leaders’.

Nanango Shire Council is planning to turn thousands of acres of land in the foothills of the Bunya Mountains into Intensive Farming – feedlots, piggeries, chook barns.  This form of farming is dependant on millions of ltrs of water daily. This council has already approved a 10,000 head feedlot in her foothills.

Council and Rangers permitted and dropped poisoned grain with 1080 throughout the National Park to kill feral pigs! This was done during a prolonged drought where even our parrots, scrub turkeys and hundreds of different animal species, would of appreciated a ‘free’ feed.  Since the dropping of this bait many neighbours around the mountain saw a dramatic fall in bird and wallaby numbers.  

Should you have any comments or any information that could help us to protect this glorious place please leave us a message.

Queensland owes the Bunya Mountain a lot because if it wasn’t for the mountain Queensland wouldn’t be a state.

We cannot do without the Bunya Mountains , but we can do without Bad Government Leadership.

You can only rape something like this for so long before it gives up the ‘will to live’.

We are also calling to the Aboriginal people to help protect what was their Aboriginal Parliament.  It was here they gathered to feast on Bunya Nuts and discuss issues, swap blood lines etc.  All tribes held a truce during these gatherings, so important was it to their culture.

Even our town Nanango was named after an old
Aboriginal ‘King Nanango’ who helped the white settlers in spite of his own well-being, putting himself at risk.

His necklace is displayed in the Nanango Information Centre.