Spicers Gap

Spicers Gap is a historic mountain pass through the Great Dividing Range in Main Range National Park, on the border of the Southern Downs and Scenic Rim regions in Queensland. Discovered by Allan Cunningham in 1828, it contains the heritage-listed convict-built Spicers Gap Road (1859-1865). The gap is notable for its preserved stone roadwork, rainforest and eucalypt forest setting, and scenic lookouts such as Governors Chair.

Visitors can expect a natural bushland setting within Main Range National Park with a heritage-listed convict-built road, lookouts and walking tracks. The area includes Governors Chair lookout with views over the Fassifern Valley, the historic Spicers Gap Road with stone-pitched sections and culverts, picnic and camping areas at Spicers Gap, and rainforest and open eucalypt forest. Access is via unsealed Spicers Gap Road suitable for high-clearance vehicles and walking tracks of varying grades.

Spicers Gap was identified by explorer and botanist Allan Cunningham in 1828 as a pass through the Main Range. A dray road was constructed between 1859 and 1865 using convict labour to connect the Darling Downs with the Moreton Bay settlement. The surviving 4 km section of hand-built road with stone pitching, culverts and retaining walls is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register as an example of 19th-century road engineering and was the main route over the range until the Cunningham Highway via Cunningham's Gap replaced it.

The gap and road are recognised as a heritage-listed cultural landscape illustrating early colonial transport and settlement of southern Queensland. It is valued for its convict and pioneer construction techniques and remains a significant historic landmark within Main Range National Park, part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area surrounds.