Upper Catchment of Roaring Meg Creek

The Roaring Meg Creek has one of the most geologically diverse beds of any regional small creek. It starts its journey draining the northern slopes of the Thornton Range. It travels over Thornton Granite, then flows over the Nulbullulu Granite which is white to pale grey, fine to medium grained granite as in the image (continued)*.

Upper Catchment Roaring Meg Creek

The Roaring Meg starts its journey in the very wet tableland areas between Thornton's Peak, Mount Pieter Botte and the Donovan Ranges. These are ancient forests that have been relatively untouched by Europeans apart from a few adventurous miners.

Upper Roaring Meg Creek

The trees in the photo are Daintree Pines (Gymnostoma australianum). They are Australia’s only example of the casuarina-like Gymnostomas which were once wide-spread in Gondwana. The only known Australian populations are in the Daintree.

Tranquil Roaring Meg Creek

*(continued) Just upstream from this photo around Duncan's Flat, the Meg flows over Hodgkinson formation mudstone and silt stones before taking a 90 degree turn over Cooktown Supersuite Granite. Not far from this image, water was extracted by tin miners and sent downstream in pipes under great pressure to be used to blast debris out of the way to extract the tin from the soil.*(continued)

Daintree Pine Roaring Meg Creek

Rhyolite Intrusion Cooktown Granite

Rhyolite intrusions are common in the Cooktown Supersuite granite.

Roaring Meg Upstream.

The Main Roaring Meg Falls

The Wet Tropics embraces many spectacular landscapes and a diverse range of outstanding landforms, including rainforests, coastlines, wild rivers, waterfalls, rugged gorges, mountain peaks and volcanic crater lakes. Here Roaring Meg Creek offers world class scenery from its catchment to its end journey in the Coral sea.

Roaring Meg Tradional Landscape

The participation of Traditional Owners and their cultural knowledge and perspectives of plants, animals and ecological processes creates a special context for conservation management and research of the Area. Activities such as fire management, hunting and gathering, harvesting of materials for shelter, tools, ceremony or art and craft are essential for the maintenance of Aboriginal culture and have always been integral to the ecology of the Wet Tropics.

Roaring Meg Falls from the Air

Although this area looks relatively untouched today, it was a hive of activity between 1898-1924 as miners set up a number of camps and mines to extract tin. The area is very important to aboriginal people who still live in nearby China Camp today.

Roaring Meg Falls

The scale of the falls can be seen from a nearby hill. During the wet season the massive volume of water flowing over the granite rock can be heard from kilometres away. Tragically, the last two decades have seen a number of people lose their lives by tempting fate and entering the water at the top of the falls.

Top of Roaring Meg Falls

*(continued) From the top of Roaring Meg Falls the valley of the Bloomfield River becomes obvious with the confluence of the Roaring Mag and Bloomfield Rivers in the view. The granite here is Roaring Meg Granite and is different to all the other granites mentioned so far. The Bloomfield River flows through some more mud stone and silt stone from the Hodgkinson Formation before going out to sea.

Water Channel Roaring Meg Creek