ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how national parks and reserves were utilised in Australia to protect rainforests. While settlers cleared the rainforests, there was a parallel movement to protect rainforests and foster tourism through the establishment of national parks and scenic reserves. The new national park contained a wide variety of vegetation types, including woodlands, heath, swamp and rainforest. The latter was the northernmost extension of the Illawarra rainforests and consisted of small patches in sheltered locations. While some of the new national parks contained areas of rainforests, it was in Victoria – the most densely populated state – that the step was taken of creating national parks specifically based on rainforests. The rainforest gullies were protected to provide recreational opportunities, and these could encompass a wide variety of pursuits. The rainforest reserves were typically written about in strongly feminine language. The most common of these was the association with fairies, emphasising that fern gullies were delicate, magical and other-worldly.
