Minyon Falls Lookout in Nightcap National Park — LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA

NewScape Design has won a 2022 AILA Regional Achievement Award for Northern New South Wales with its Minyon Falls Lookout project in Nightcap National Park.

Minyon Falls is located in the area of the Widjabul peoples, who are part of the Bundjalung Nation. They have lived in the area for thousands of years, and the land and water that flows through it are deeply sacred.

NewScape Design’s development is part of the Tweed-Bryon Hinterland Trails Project, a state government initiative that aims to provide nature-based visitor experiences for the Tweed, Byron and Lismore regions to boost visitor economies and improve community wellbeing.

It will develop partnerships between industry, community and government stakeholders, including Traditional Owners, to provide economic and social benefits to the regions.

Research was conducted by Southern Cross University following a downturn in tourism to the area after the Wollumbin summit track was closed by storm damage. It focused on potential alternative visitor opportunities that would draw tourists away from the summit walk, reducing degradation of the sacred site.

Minyon Falls is located in the area of the Widjabul peoples, who are part of the Bundjalung Nation.

Research revealed a preference for immersive nature experiences, and that views and swimming opportunities at the base of a waterfall were as attractive to tourists as the summit club.

Nestled within the ancient Gondwana Rainforest, the Minyon Falls Precinct offered a platform for an experience that would redistribute visitor pressure away from Wollumbin, and encourage coastal visitation to a broader area, in particular away from the Byron Bay area.

The precinct upgrade includes a new lookout, improved amenities, a parking and picnic area, and connectivity within the site and to the waterfall pools below. Universal access principles have been observed to ensure visitors of all levels of mobility can enjoy the site, with an all-access walkway from the carpark to the lookout.

The lookout included the retention of several large and significant trees.

This cantilevered lookout offers a vantage point of the rainforest and valley below, with views back towards Minyon Falls and its descent of more than 100-metres over the rhyolite cliffs which were once part of the Tweed Volcano.

In recent years, there has been a spike in number of suicides at the falls. The pools and waterfall are a sacred women’s place to the Widjabul peoples, and they perceive that Country has been wounded by these deaths.

NewScape Design’s brief required the implementation of suicide prevention best practices, and weaving suicide prevention messaging into the site to decrease its appeal as a ‘suicide destination’, to begin to heal Country.

NewScape Design’s development is part of the Tweed-Bryon Hinterland Trails Project.

In order to ensure upgrades supported the natural environment, eucalyptus trees removed due to safety concerns were repurposed to create toilets, shelters and seating within the precinct. The lookout included the retention of several large and significant trees. Some sections of the boardwalk were retained and improved in order to reduce cost and material wastage, and the car park upgrade allowed for the retention of existing hard stand, and additional parking spaces in already disturbed areas to require minimal earthworks and environmental disturbance.

“The successful completion of this project not only provides improved visitor experiences on site,” say NewScape Design, “it also acknowledges the significance of the Wollumbin National Park to the Traditional Owners and the value of preserving this significant landscape for current and future generations.”