What are Australian rainforests?

Australian rainforests are tropical, subtropical, temperate, or cool temperate forests with high rainfall, dense canopies, and high biodiversity. They cover only about 0.25 per cent of Australia, mostly along the eastern coast and in Tasmania, but support a disproportionate share of the country's plant and animal species.

Tropical rainforests are concentrated in far north Queensland, especially the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area between Cooktown and Townsville. The Daintree Rainforest, the largest single block of tropical rainforest in Australia, is estimated to be more than 180 million years old and is considered the oldest continuously rainforested area on Earth. The Wet Tropics support species found nowhere else, including the southern cassowary (a flightless bird up to 1.8 metres tall), the musky rat-kangaroo, and the tree kangaroo.

Subtropical rainforests stretch through southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, including Lamington National Park, Border Ranges, and the Dorrigo World Heritage area. They are the modern descendants of the ancient Gondwanan forests that once covered much of the southern continents. The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area covers 50 separate reserves and protects the largest area of subtropical rainforest in the world.

Cool temperate rainforests grow in Tasmania (the Tarkine, Mount Field), in small pockets of Victoria (the Otways, Yarra Ranges), and on the Atherton Tableland. They are dominated by Antarctic beech, sassafras, leatherwood, and giant tree ferns, and are home to species such as the platypus and the endangered Tasmanian masked owl. Rainforests face pressure from logging (historically), bushfire (especially under climate change), and invasive species including myrtle rust, a fungal disease that has devastated Australian myrtle species since arriving in 2010.