World heritage-listed Washpool National Park is a place of dramatic gorges, crystal-clear waters and magnificent ancient rainforest. It’s situated almost midway between Glen Innes and Grafton on the NSW north coast. For many thousands of years Washpool has been important. It was a meeting place for the Bundjalung, Ngarrabul and Gumbaynggir nations: a place of creation stories, initiation and sacred sites, of abundant food and water and, when Europeans arrived in the area, a place of refuge. In the 1900s it was a place of work for cedar cutters and sawmillers. One of them, Bill Haydon, a man known as ‘the Cedar King’, got lost there and was never found, after one of the largest searches in NSW history. Later still, it was a site for strong protest from conservationists, leading to its eventual listing as World Heritage protected. Washpool’s importance now lies in the study of its natural beauty – its diverse trees, plants, birds and wildlife tell us much about its past and our collective future.
On this walk you will be welcomed to Country by Bundjalung elder Roy Gordon, who guides you through Washpool National Park’s rich history, through stories and songs of people, the animals and the birds who’ve wandered this trail.