EVENTS AND ATTRACTIONS BERAT

Goomburra is one of four visitor nodes of Main Range National Park - part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area. Rugged mountain ranges, spectacular lookouts, trickling streams and rare wildlife make this a very special place. Two open, grassy camping areas hug Dalrymple Creek in the western foothills of the range; close to three walking tracks ranging from an easy 1.2 kilometre circuit suitable for wheelchairs with assistance, to a six kilometre track showcasing waterfalls and freshwater habitats. A short four-wheel-drive away, two more tracks lead to scenic lookouts, both within an hour's walk. Several longer walks can also be chosen, including along an old forestry snigging trail to a winder used back when timber was hauled from these forests. Look for New England blackbutt and manna gums in dry open forests; giant spear lillies on cliff edges; and vines, palms and epiphytes in the rainforests of moist gullies and the escarpment. Watch for echidnas and koalas. See satin bowerbirds and variegated fairy-wrens, or listen to the calls of shy yellow-tailed black-cockatoos. Goomburra is a special area for frogs; keep to tracks and please do not disturb rocks or pollute watercourses.

While the soldier statue has become a symbol of remembrance in Australia relating to the world wars, the first of three soldier statues erected in Queensland after the Boer War (1899-1902) is found the War Memorial Park of Allora. Colonel (later Sir) Harry Chauvel unveiled the soldier statue in 1904, honouring the four local men who died, and 35 others who served in the southern African conflict. The slightly smaller than life-size soldier statue, by sculptor William P Macintosh, is unusual in its details: the soldier's mouth is open and he stands alone, without the traditional tree stump for support. Subsequent additions commemorate those who fought and died in World War I and World War II. General JC Robertson unveiled Allora's WWI memorial-a sandstone and marble obelisk, small field guns carved into the pedestal-in November 1921. A second sandstone and marble obelisk, simpler in design, stands at the park's rear, serving as a WWII memorial. The memorials are situated in a public park in Warwick Street.