Malanda Falls

Malanda Falls is a small cascade waterfall on the North Johnstone River in Malanda Falls Conservation Park at Malanda on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland. Formed over basalt lava flows, the 4-metre falls drop into a popular swimming pool surrounded by rainforest. The site includes a visitor centre, walking tracks and picnic facilities and is known for its accessible rainforest setting, cultural interpretation and year-round swimming.

Visitors can expect a compact rainforest-fringed waterfall dropping about 4 metres into a large, clear swimming pool on the North Johnstone River. The site has a sealed viewing platform above the falls, short walking tracks through tropical rainforest, a designated swimming area at the base of the falls, picnic and barbecue areas, and the Malanda Falls Visitor Centre with interpretive displays about geology, rainforest ecology and Ngadjon-Jii culture.

The falls were formed by basalt lava flows from volcanic activity on the Atherton Tablelands that diverted the North Johnstone River. The area has long been used by the Ngadjon-Jii people. Since early European settlement in the early 1900s, the falls have been a local swimming and picnic site and was later gazetted as Malanda Falls Conservation Park to protect its geological and rainforest values.

The area is part of the traditional lands of the Ngadjon-Jii people, the Traditional Owners of the Malanda area. The Malanda Falls Visitor Centre presents Ngadjon-Jii cultural heritage, stories and connection to Country, as well as the rainforest environment of the Atherton Tablelands.