The History of Lamington National Park

Lamington National Park is 20 600 hectares in size and stretches from the southern side of the Scenic Rim to the crest of the McPherson Range that forms the border between Queensland and New South Wales to the south.

Lamington National Park comprises of two sections: Binna Burra and Green Mountains.

From 10 000 years ago aboriginal groups, the Mingunburri, Wangerriburri and Bundjalung people, lived in and visited Lamington National Park. Visitors can explore the 'caves circuit' from Binna Burra.. The main Kweebani Cave has a sloping shelf of volcanic ash. The aboriginal name means to cook and it stems from the fact that when Romeo Lahey (the first European to see these caves) explored them, he found cooked shells of the Lamington blue crayfish in the ashes of old fires high up on the sloping floor of the cave.

In the early years of European settlement in the area, the dense forests were used for their timber, and many trees were harvested during this time. However, when in 1872 when the world's very first national park was established in the United States, Robert Collins, a local pastoralist, was determined to preserve the remaining areas of the McPherson Ranges. Romeo Lahey, a sawmiller and engineer from Canungra joined Collins in his efforts, and by 1915 the area that we now know as Lamington National Park was declared.

Romeo Lahey and Arthur Groom went on to establish the Binna Burra Guest House in the 1930s, and by 1994, Lamington National Park was listed as a World Heritage Area.