A Visit to Gondwanaland

Photo essay on Mait’s Rest, one of Australia’s remnant temperate rainforests.

Author’s Note: I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Great Ocean Road region: the Wadawurrung, Eastern Maar & Gunditjmara peoples. I pay my respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging. I recognise and respect their unique cultural heritage and the connection to their traditional lands. The full importance of the reconciliation movement lies in building genuine and lasting partnerships that recognise and support self-determination, equity of outcomes and a strong voice for Australia’s first people.

Small pockets of remnant rain forest can be found in southeastern Queensland and Northeastern New South Wales, as well as in Victoria. Mait’s Rest is a short drive from where I live in the Otway Ranges, about 100 K west of Melbourne. Photo by DWC.

Gondwana, or Gondwanaland, was one of Earth’s great supercontinents that have assembled and dispersed multiple times over hundreds of millions of years in the geologic past. And there are just a few places left on the planet where you can still experience a Gondwanan ecology, characterized by plants and animals that are much like their ancestors in the fossil record. These include many rare and threatened species.

Maits Rest, one of several fragmentary rain forests in Victoria, has recently been beautifully upgraded with handsomely crafted walkways and barriers that encourage visitors to protect the fragile ecology. Photo Source