Type

Picnic areas

Where

Moore Park Nature Reserve in North Coast

Accessibility

Medium

What to
bring

Drinking water, hat, sunscreen

Please note

• Please avoid any disturbance to the flying fox camp while it’s occupied
• Remember to take your binoculars if you want to go bird watching

Moore Park picnic area, at the north end of Moore Park Reserve, is the best place to start any visit to the area. Pack a barbecue lunch and settle down around some tables in the cool shade of the rainforest.

Moore Park Nature Reserve is the largest and best remaining example of lowland subtropical rainforest in the entire state, with 127 native plant species showing what the region looked like before widespread logging across the NSW Northern Rivers region in the last century. This makes it a superb place to escape from the hustle and bustle of modern life to the tranquil solitude of nature.

The picnic area is surrounded by beautiful scenery at the junction of Findon Creek and Richmond River. You might notice the high ridges of McPherson Range and Border Ranges National Park. Richmond Range begins to rise to the west and south.

Birdwatchers in particular will find much to occupy their attention here. Rainforest pigeons are often seen in the area, as well as black bitterns, bush hens, and the rose-crowned fruit dove. The grey-headed flying fox dominates the reserve for up to eight months a year. Massing together, they make a dramatic spectacle, but be careful not to disturb their camp when it’s occupied.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Maps and downloads

Learn more

First inhabitants

This region of northern NSW is the home of the Githabul Aboriginal people, for whom the rainforest was an extremely important source of food. There are several known sacred sites in the Northern Rivers area.

Flying high

Moore Park Nature Reserve is also a well-known birdwatching area, with species including the tiny varied sittella (also called nuthatches), rose-crowned fruit dove, the barred cuckoo-shrike and the ground-dwelling bush hen. The reserve is also an essential habitat for winged mammals, with both grey-headed flying foxes and endangered black flying foxes raising their young in a canopy nursery from October to May.

Fragile forest

Much of the landscape around here would have resembled that of Moore Park Nature Reserve before extensive logging and clearing took place during the 20th century. Now, this 14-hectare reserve represents one of the last remnants of the once much-larger Boyd's Scrub, the most important example of black bean rainforest in the state. Robert J Moore, who was the Kyogle Shire Council president from 1920 to 1936, played a leading role in the council's purchase of what remained of Boyd's Scrub and the reserve is now named in his honour. 

Meeting spot

Even before this park was created in 1989, it was an important place for the local community, who have enjoyed its serenity and scenery for decades. Many families would gather here and hold functions in what is now the picnic area beside the Richmond River. The area remains a popular destination for picnics and bird watching.