Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the Kabi Kabi / Gubbi Gubbi people as the Traditional Owners

of the lands and waters of the Noosa region. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. The river, lakes and wetlands remain culturally significant, and we ask all visitors to travel respectfully.

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Traditional Owners – Gubbi Gubbi (Kabi Kabi)The river, lakes and wetlands you are travelling through remain culturally significant today. We ask all visitors to move respectfully through this environment and honour its long and continuing connection to Country. For thousands of years, the Gubbi Gubbi people have travelled, cared for and held deep knowledge of the Noosa River system. Cootharaba, the name of Noosa’s largest lake, is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'the place where wood used to make notched or studded clubs is found'. Lake Cootharaba serves as the main gateway to the Noosa Everglades. These waterways were central to daily life for the Gubbi Gubbi people, providing food and transport, hosting ceremonies, and offering opportunities to pass knowledge of the land on to younger generations. Traditional canoes were crafted from the bark of trees such as tallowwood and stringybark. Bark was carefully removed at specific times of year, when the sap helped prevent splitting. The canoes were then shaped and sealed for use across lakes and rivers. The area around Fig Tree Point would have been an important resting and gathering place as families moved through the river system by canoe.

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Early Settler & Logging History (Mill Point → Timber Getters → Harry’s Hut)

Mill Point, a historic landmark on the western shore of Lake Cootharaba just north of Elanda Point, was once a private sawmill settlement operating from 1869 to 1892. The mill processed large quantities of local hardwoods and softwoods to supply nearby markets and the booming Gympie goldfield, as well as towns such as Tewantin and Brisbane. At its peak in the 1880s, the operation employed more than 200 workers, and a small township grew up around the mill, including a school, hotel, shops and a cemetery. Although the mill closed in 1892, remnants of the settlement remain visible today, including a large boiler, the tramway formation and cemetery remains.

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In 1957, as logging expanded upriver under Sam McKinnon of Tewantin Sawmills, Harry’s Hut was built by timbermen Alan Buchanan and Norman Thrush to provide workers with basic comforts while living deep in the bush for extended periods. Despite its builders, the hut was later named after Harry Spring, a respected pharmacist from Cooroy and Pomona, remembered for his generosity and support of local schoolchildren. Harry loved fishing for bass in the upper Noosa River and often camped near the hut with friends. In the 1960s, after logging ceased, he purchased the hut from Sam McKinnon and secured a lease from the forestry department. Harry expanded the original one-room structure by adding a galley and veranda, using local timber and even embedding empty beer bottles into the foundation.

When Harry died in 1999, the lease returned to the National Parks administration. Today, Harry’s Hut remains largely unchanged and continues to be a popular destination for fishermen, campers and river visitors.​

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​Kinaba Information Centre
The Kinaba Information Centre — also known as the Sir Thomas Hiley Information Centre — Is an impressive structure that sits on the northern edge of Lake Cootharaba where the river begins. Queensland Parks describes it as a key gateway to the Upper Noosa River. It provides information on wetlands, birdlife, and the natural systems of the Everglades. It has been used as a ranger operations point, an education hub and a rest stop for paddlers entering the river system.

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What Makes an Everglade?
The Noosa Everglades are one of only two recognised everglade systems in the world — and the only one in Australia.

Everglades are slow-moving, tannin-rich wetlands where calm water creates mirror-like reflections. The dark water comes from natural tannins released by surrounding melaleucas, paperbarks and wetland plants. Combined with narrow winding waterways, abundant birdlife and quiet forests, this creates the world famous ‘River of Mirrors’.

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Cooloola & K’gari – A Unique Linked Ecosystem
The Noosa Everglades sit within the Cooloola section of Great Sandy National Park — part of the same massive coastal sand mass that stretches north to K’gari (Fraser Island). Together they form one of the most significant protected sand dune and freshwater systems on Earth. Cooloola is known for its towering sand dunes, wallum heath, rainforest pockets, paperbark wetlands, perched lakes and long coastal plains. K’gari is World Heritage listed for its outstanding natural beauty, evolving dune systems, ancient rainforests and crystal-clear lakes. Both landscapes are shaped by wind, water and sand over hundreds of thousands of years.

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Birdlife You May See

The Everglades and Upper Noosa River are internationally recognised bird habitats with more than
40% of Australia’s bird species recorded in the region. Common sightings include:

• White bellied sea eagle

• Osprey

• Brahminy kite & whistling kite

• Azure & sacred kingfishers

• Great & little egrets

• White faced & striated herons

• Black necked stork (jabiru)

• Little black cormorant & darter

• Pelicans, black swans, swamphens & ducks

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Mammals

• Eastern grey kangaroos

• Swamp wallabies

• Brush tailed possums

• Koalas (occasionally seen)

• Echidnas

• Flying foxes at dusk Fish & Aquatic Species.

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Freshwater species recorded in the Noosa River system include:

• Australian bass (Macquaria
novemaculeata)

• Eel tail catfish (Tandanus tandanus)

• Longfin eel (Anguilla reinhardtii)

• Freshwater mullet species

• Freshwater turtles

In brackish or lower river areas you may also encounter mullet, bream and occasionally stingrays.

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Bull Sharks (Factual, Calm Note)
Bull sharks naturally move between salt and freshwater and have been recorded in the Noosa River system. Sightings are uncommon, and paddlers are not at risk. As with all waterways, avoid swimming at dawn or dusk and keep splashing to a minimum.
 

Leave No Trace
• Take all rubbish with you
• Use toilets where available
• Do not feed wildlife
• Keep to designated areas
• Protect vegetation and cultural sites
• Respect the quiet and beauty of this environment