Type

Picnic areas

Where

Copeland Tops State Conservation Area in North Coast

Accessibility

Medium

What to
bring

Drinking water, lunch, hat, sunscreen, insect repellent, clothes for all weather conditions

Please note

• There's no drinking water or mobile reception in this park.
• Remember to take your binoculars if you want to bird watch.

All paths in Copeland Tops lead from Hidden Treasure picnic area. This lovely picnic spot, in a red cedar and dry rainforest setting, is situated at the main entrance of the park and is the access point to Basin Loop and Hidden Treasure tracks as well as being the meeting point for guided tours through historic Mountain Maid gold mine.

Enjoy a barbecue or picnic before or after exploring the park. Or just relax for the day and make the most of this picnic area. Keep your binoculars handy for birds such as wompoo fruit-doves and glossy black-cockatoos. Listen out for the rare stuttering frog and look up for koalas munching leaves or dozing in the eucalypts. Animals such as spotted-tailed quolls, brush-tailed phascogale and numerous types of microbats are most likely to be seen at dusk and after dark.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Maps and downloads

Learn more

From little things big things grow

From the delicate epiphytes, only one cell in width, to the gnarled sprawling branches of the ancient grey myrtles, each plant has its place within the ecosystem of the rare dry rainforest. The tract within Copeland Tops is the largest accessible section in the district of Gloucester. Take a walk through the green corridors overhung by strangler figs, shatterwood and grey myrtle. On the ground between mossy rocks and on the sides of trees grow birds nest ferns, staghorns, elkhorns and orchids. The rare stuttering frog is commonly heard around these parts, its call emitting from a preferred habitat of stream-side leaf litter. Its repetitive song is often joined by the screech of glossy black-cockatoos, the "wollack-wa-hoo" of the wompoo fruit-dove and the unpredictable calls of lyrebirds. At night, the masked, powerful and sooty owls come out to hunt and hoot.

Land of plenty

This is the traditional lands of the Worimi and Biripi people who live in the area and previously moved around in response to the seasonal availability of food. Such a broad ecosystem would have provided many resources for medicinal, ceremonial and cultural purposes. It is very likely that people travelling from the coast to Barrington Tops area would have passed through Copeland Tops. Their history will forever be an integral part of this landscape.

Striking it rich

It was the red cedar cutters who, battling to log 'red gold' in this unforgiving terrain from the early 1800s, first discovered gold here in 1875. The area soon became known as Copeland and over the next 60 years more than 50 gold mines were dug in the area. According to the records, over 1800kg of the valuable metal were extracted during that time. Many relics of this mining heritage remain in the form of historic sites and derelict equipment. However, the bushland and rainforest now dominate once again.