Mount Barney Wilderness Camping (Bartopia) – Weekend Excursion, 15-18 November 2024 (3 nights)

Arrive Friday 15 November, Leave Monday Morning 18 Nov (3 nights)

QNC November 2024 excursion is to the property “Bartopia” (previously Mt Barney Wilderness Camping) adjoining Mount Barney National Park.  The property is, and has been for 30 years, owned by Ben Barton.  The property was last visited by the QNC in 2014.

The website for the lodge is currently being revamped and is not functioning at the time of writing. In the meantime visit the scenic rim Mt Barney Wilderness Camping – Scenic Rim . On this site there are photos (as a slide show) of the camp area and cabins, along with a mobile phone number & email address to contact the lodge for further information. 

 However, booking at the lodge is not required. The club has been gifted the use of the cabins and camp areas for the period of the excursion. Only the usual club camping fees and a fixed, once only firewood fee ($5 per person – independent of nights stayed) will apply.

Register for this excursion via the website using the form below. You must be a QNC club member to attend, although club members can bring guests, including children under 18 years of age. 

LOCATION and DIRECTIONS

The property is located about 40 km south of Boonah.  From Boonah travel south on Boonah – Rathdowney Road for 23 km, then turn right (west) into Burnett Road.  Turn left (south-east) into Newman Road. Take the right fork (south-west) into Waterfall Creek Road, travel the entire length of Waterfall Creek Road and you will have entered the property.  You will pass through 3 or so gates; please leave them as you found them.  One gate may be secured by a combination lock, and several club members will be provided with the combination ahead of the excursion.

THE ACCESS ROAD TO THE PROPERTY

Although the directions are easy to follow, the road itself becomes a challenge; it is steep and rough towards the end.  Realistically, the road should only be attempted by high clearance four-wheel-drives, as most probably smaller four-wheel-drives, Subaru and similar, would not make it to the campsite without damage to the undercarriage.  Towing a full-size caravan is not advised, though high clearance trailers would be fine.  Overhead clearance or lateral clearance would not be a problem.

This is likely to place some restrictions on who might consider attending this excursion, and it is advisable to make car-pooling arrangements in advance.  It is only the last several kilometres of Waterfall Creek Road that represents the hazard.  There are a few popular free camping sites where people could leave their cars, however there is some risk if leaving vehicles unattended.  These camping areas were three quarters full on the Saturday of the October long weekend when the recce was undertaken. 

THE CAMPING AREA and CABINS

Arrangements at the camping location will be very comfortable.  There is a flattish one-acre area of land with plenty of room for tents and trailers.  The remainder of the cleared area, perhaps 2 ha., is sloping and becomes quite steep.  The club has exclusive use of 2 cabins; each cabin contains 8 bunks in an open plan sleeping area.  The cabins are well-built and comfortable with a veranda at one end which, in the case of the lower cabin, overlooks an attractive, well vegetated small dam over which some Odonata hovered.

Flush toilets are available, and there is a hot shower heated by gas on a 3-minute timer. A large fully enclosed building contains a large kitchen and cooking facilities, plus a general communal area.  Outside there is a fire pit covered by a high mounted large circular galvanised tin roof with a central circular opening; this appears to provide good ventilation and good weather protection for 20 to 25 people. 

MOBILE and RADIO COVERAGE

There is a Telstra booster in the building so phone and internet are available, however non-Telstra customers will need to take a 10 minutes hike (or perhaps longer) to a lookout.  A high-powered UHF radio base station is in the building; UHF 16 is the main channel used.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The club gets to enjoy the property free of charge, other than about $100 for a trailer-load of firewood. There will not be other campers on the property, and the club has been given a standing offer of free access. Council members will arrange the firewood, and a nominal contribution of $5 per person will be collected to cover the cost of firewood.  

The property contains 350 acres with good native vegetation.  It is generally non-weedy, but along the creek lines there is some lantana.  There are ribbons of rainforest following the deeper gullies with most of the area being dry sclerophyll, Eucalypt woodland.  Some of the understory has been recently subjected to a cool burn.  We will be mostly walking around the property, not driving.

Over the years there have been surveys of the property, and copies of these will be available during the weekend. If you go to iNaturalist and enter the location as “Mt Barney Wilderness Camping”, then draw a generous size square round this, you will notice that Greg Tasney has 300 observations and 200 species (over 2 days in September 2023), and 60 observations of 50 species have been added by others.  

For many years Ben Barton had the property open for campers and 4WD enthusiasts. He is shifting away from that and is now focussing on the property’s conservation values and usages, even with an associated loss in revenue.  Ben is interested in identifying and monitoring the mammals on the property, and there has been little done in the way of mammal and reptile surveys.  Trained dogs have been used to look for Quolls, with no positive result. In addition to the natural bird population, King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas are in higher numbers due to a practice of bird feeding at the site.