New Queensland national park The Lakes an eight-hour road trip from Mackay

Queenslanders will have a new national park to explore after a stunning grazing property was bought to protect its ecosystem and the Great Barrier Reef. Find out where.

Grab the fishing rods and get the four-wheel drive into gear because there’s a new national park opening to the region’s west.

The Queensland Government is in the final stages of finalising the purchase of a mammoth 35,000 hectare grazing property which it intends on turning into the state’s newest national park.

Newly dubbed ‘The Lakes’, it straddles the Great Dividing Range north of Hughenden between the Einasleigh Uplands and Gulf Plains Bioregion.

The new national park is host to range of wildlife and breathtaking landscapes, including high-altitude lakes, plains, creeks, woodlands and escarpments.

Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said it was the largest acquisition yet undertaken under Queensland’s Protected Area Strategy 2020-2030, a major plan to support the growth and management of our national parks and other protected areas.

Ms Scanlon said the Great Barrier Reef would also benefit from the acquisition, with the headwaters of the South Gregory River protected through the purchase.

Ms Scanlon said the Great Barrier Reef would also benefit from the acquisition, with the headwaters of the South Gregory River protected through the purchase.

“This purchase will ensure the future preservation of valuable, undisturbed ecosystems and habitat that will link up to an existing network of protected areas in the region,” Ms Scanlon said.

“As it transitions into a national park, we will also explore ways to make it accessible for visitors who will definitely want to experience the incredible lakes, birdlife and walks for themselves.

“As part of the process to dedicate the land as protected area, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service will engage with Gudjala First Nations peoples’ and look to provide opportunities for involvement in land conservation and indigenous cultural heritage management.”

‘Careful negotiations are currently underway on other high-quality properties as I am determined to increase our protected areas to deliver a world-class protected area system for our state’.

The Queensland Government has designated $28 million to be invested in public area expansion in the next four years with 14 million hectares already offered some protection.

“Careful negotiations are currently under way on other high-quality properties as I am determined to increase our protected areas to deliver a world-class protected area system for our state,” Ms Scanlon said.

Ms Scanlon said the purchase price of The Lakes was commercial-in-confidence but the government received help from The Nature Conservancy Australia.

“The Department of Environment and Science was first approached by The Nature Conservancy proposing a joint protected area acquisition with The Wyss Foundation, a private US charitable foundation, in late 2019,” Ms Scanlon said.

‘It also offers high value for resilience to climate change which is critical for biodiversity protection’.

The Wyss Foundation committed $US1.829 million to the purchase.

Conservation and Science for The Nature Conservancy Australia director Dr James Fitzsimons said the purchase of The Lakes by the Queensland Government was a great achievement for conservation, not only in Queensland, but also in Australia.

“This property presents significant conservation values with a number of priority ecosystems and species,” Dr Fitzsimons said.

“It also offers high value for resilience to climate change which is critical for biodiversity protection.”