The objective of this study was to identify, as completely as possible, the rainge of rainforest types to be found on Cape York Peninsula and their distribution.

Following field work and research since 1992, the resulting classification of forest types from 140 research sites is presented based on the evidence of canopy features from aerial photographs, floristic and structural information at each site. The sites examined were placed into groups that were judged to have a significant correlation of structural and floristic features, as well as fitting within a range of soil features. The more salient features of sites within each group were then combined to give a description of a rainforest type.

Download file is a PDF document that is designed to be printed using the duplex feature on your printer (i.e. double-sided). For ease of download, sections of this report have been extracted and may be downloaded separately:

Download Preliminary Pages (includes Preface and Contents)
Download Colour Plates (76.4 Mb)
Download Maps
Download Chapters 1-3 (Introduction; The Rainforest Resource and Its Setting; The Rainforest Types and Their Determination)

Individual Descriptions of Forest Types:

• Vine Forests and Thickets of Streams and Swamps (all soil types)
  • Types 1-15
• Vine Forests and Thickets of Well Drained Soils (of soils developed from detrital material)
  • Types 16-24 (a) sand dunes and sand plains
  • Types 25-33 (b) alluvial fans and plains (other than sand plains), colluvial footslopes and deposits of mixed colluvial/alluvial origin
• Vine Forests and Thickets of Well Drained Soils (of soils developed from erosional surfaces, including ranges, undulating hills and residual plains
  • Types 34-67 (a) sandstones, metamorphics and granites
  • Types 68-72 (b) volcanics