Public Trails Computed from official land records

Gold Coast Official spatial — evidence class · Gold Coast · QLD

Chiminya Falls

Lawful route land the public may cross — no track, you navigate it

Gazetted name -28.20442, 153.19695 Lamington National Park · National Park waterfall

Access verdict · Lawful, nothing to flag · weakest evidence in the chain: official spatial record

Public land — inside Lamington National Park. No published track reaches it — the lawful ground to it is a chain of parcels.

Being at this point is lawful on the records below. Getting there is a separate question, answered route by route — and each route carries its own verdict and its own caveats.

What this verdict means · what the evidence grades mean

On-ground signage and temporary closures override this page. Always.

What this place is A definition, then the record

A waterfall — a step in a watercourse steep enough that the water falls clear of the bed rather than running down it. The step is usually a band of harder rock the creek has been unable to cut through as fast as the softer rock below, so the drop moves slowly upstream over time and leaves a gorge behind it.

Chiminya Falls sits on Chiminya Creek. The surveyed centreline of that watercourse runs 6.8 m from the recorded point, which is the whole evidence for saying it is this one. Official spatial — evidence class

The point falls inside Lamington National Park, designated National Park. Official spatial — evidence class

The point falls inside Gondwana Rainforests of Australia , a property inscribed on the World Heritage List. That is where the ground is, and it is not a statement about who may walk there — access is the tenure question above. Official spatial — evidence class

The rock at the surface is felsic volcanic rock, mapped as Binnaburra Rhyolite/5 (Tlr/5) , oligocene - miocene in age. The survey describes it as: Rhyolite flow Official spatial — evidence class

The register maps one ecosystem over this ground, each with the share of it the register states.

  • 100% — Complex notophyll vine forest on Cainozoic igneous rocks, usually at altitude less than 600m 12.8.3 · Least concern Official spatial — evidence class

No register records how far the water falls. What the contours record is this: the terrain rule fired here because the bed loses 15.0 m within 30.1 m along the watercourse — the test the rule applies, not the height of the fall. Its steepest single stretch drops 5.0 m over 8.9 m of ground — 1 m down for every 1.8 m along the bed. That is a floor and not a total: the contour interval is the smallest drop this layer can show, so the face is at least this steep and may be far more. Statutory inference — evidence class

On the record — what the registers actually say Sources, licences and dataset versions

What each register holds about this place
Claim What the record says Evidence
Name "Chiminya Falls" is a gazetted register entry. Gazetted — evidence class
Tenure Resolved to Protected estate, recorded as "National Park". Official spatial — evidence class
Parcel 496AP22466 Official spatial — evidence class
Council area This place sits inside Gold Coast, tested against the boundary that council area publishes. Official spatial — evidence class
Estate Lamington National Park , designated National Park. Declared under the Nature Conservation Act 1992; IUCN category II; 21,388 ha as gazetted; current gazettal 2 Dec 2022; first gazetted 31 Jul 1915; no encumbrance recorded. Official spatial — evidence class
Watercourse Chiminya Creek, whose surveyed centreline runs 6.8 m away. Official spatial — evidence class
Feature Found by the terrain rule falls-rule/1, which fired because the bed loses 15.0 m within 30.1 m — the threshold it tests, not the height of the fall. Steepest stretch measured: 5.0 m over 8.9 m. A rule fired — nobody surveyed it. Statutory inference — evidence class

Where it is

Map — covers Gold Coast

Map of Chiminya Falls and the starts of the 3 published approaches to it, over the parcels, corridors, estate and tracks around them.

Panning stops just outside Gold Coast, because the map archive is published one council area at a time. Every other council area Public Trails covers has a map of its own.

Every figure the map would draw — parcel references, distances, bearings and the crossing gap — is written out in full on this page, so nothing is only visible on the map. If the map does not load, nothing has been lost.

Is there a track to it Measured in plan and in section

The way reaches somewhere to see it from Official spatial — evidence class

Koolanbilba Lookout passes 97 m from the recorded point. There is 60 m of climb or drop between the two, read at a 5.0 m contour interval. The contours give the height between them and never which way round it is, so this is a separation and not a descent to plan.

The register signs this way for this place, and it comes within reach of it and stops above or below it — so it is where the walk is meant to end, and what it ends at is a view rather than the feature itself. No approach to it is published from here, though: that is a separate question about who may lawfully cross the ground in between, and the approaches below are where it is answered.

Approaches — one page each 3 published of 30 computed

30 ways in were computed and 3 are published here. The rest either reach the same ground from a few hundred metres away — the same drive and the same walk — or reach no lawful chain at all, which is only worth saying when nothing else does.

Chiminya Falls from Cave Circuit

Official spatial · Lawful, with caveats — evidence class chiminya-falls-2--from-cave-circuit
Verdict
Lawful, with caveats
One way
1759.6 m
Caveats
Corner-point junction

A lawful chain was established from this entry. Open the route page for the legs, the crossings and what each one rests on.

Chiminya Falls from Rankins Paddock

Official spatial · Lawful, nothing to flag — evidence class chiminya-falls-2--from-rankins-paddock
Verdict
Lawful, nothing to flag
One way
1867.3 m
Caveats
none

A lawful chain was established from this entry. Open the route page for the legs, the crossings and what each one rests on.

Chiminya Falls from vehicle barrier track off Binna Burra Road

Official spatial · Lawful, with caveats — evidence class chiminya-falls-2--from-vehicle-barrier-track-off-binna-burra-road-3
Verdict
Lawful, with caveats
One way
1130.5 m
Caveats
Corner-point junction

A lawful chain was established from this entry. Open the route page for the legs, the crossings and what each one rests on.

Before you go Published alerts as at the snapshot date

park_alert · Lamington National Park

Planned burns Lamington National Park: Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) will be conducting planned burns (weather permitting) from 5 August 2026, as part of the fire management program for Lamington National Park.

Published by the managing authority. Follow the link for the current wording; this page carries only what the snapshot held.

park_alert · Lamington National Park

Severe Weather Damage - Lamington National Park (update 14 May): As a result of damage from Tropical Cyclone Alfred, some areas in Lamington National Park are closed until declared safe.

Published by the managing authority. Follow the link for the current wording; this page carries only what the snapshot held.

park_alert · Lamington National Park

Unplanned works - Woonoongoora Walkers' Camp (update 9 Jul): The Woonoongoora Walkers’ Camp is closed to new bookings from May to September 2026, due to works in the area. As a result, a temporary closure is in place from May to 30 September 2026, inclusive, weather permitting. Visitors can bypass the camping area and still complete the Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk.

Published by the managing authority. Follow the link for the current wording; this page carries only what the snapshot held.

On Country

Registered Aboriginal cultural heritage party: Danggan Balun (Five Rivers) People — this point falls inside the registered party boundary. Official spatial — evidence class

A cultural heritage party boundary and a native title claim are different legal things. This page never conflates them, and it publishes neither as a permission.

All land and waters in Queensland carry a duty of care under s.23 of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 (Qld) — including here. Cultural heritage site locations are restricted by law (ss.38–46), deliberately, for site protection. This site holds party boundaries only and will never republish site locations. Check the public register and, where in doubt, seek guidance from the Aboriginal party for the area.

Searching a register does not of itself satisfy the duty of care.

Rules here — derived from tenure National Park · statutory inference

This point sits on protected estate. In Queensland that ordinarily means no dogs or pets, no open fires outside provided facilities, no camping outside designated areas, no drones without authority, and nothing taken. These follow from the tenure and the legislation that governs it — they are statutory inference, not a copy of a sign.

Statutes relied on: Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Qld) and its regulations for protected estate; Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 for watercourse beds; Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 (Qld) ss.23 and 38–46 for the duty of care and for why site locations are never republished here.

If something goes wrong

Emergency reference — read this to 000

Location
Chiminya Falls, Lamington National Park
Lot on plan
496AP22466
Coordinates
-28.20442, 153.19695 (WGS84 / GDA2020)
Feature
waterfall

What this place was read from