General Description
Cloud capped mountains
Brooklyn is a property of dramatic contrasts where a wall of mountains, at the south-western extremity of the Daintree rainforests, rises dramatically from a broad plain through which the Mitchell River runs a direct course to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Cloud-capped mountains dominate the eastern section of the property, rising to over 1,000 m and trapping moisture which gives life to enshrouding tall rainforest.
In turn, this rainforest feeds moisture to streams which progress by gorges, cataracts and waterfalls to the foot of the ranges. Some of these streams disappear into sediments, while the larger ones of Mary River and Rifle Creek feed a perennial flow to the Mitchell River.
The property is bounded to the north by the foothills of the Great Dividing Range and to the south by the crest of a low but rugged range of lightly wooded hills. A major tributary of the Mitchell, the McLeod River, joins it from the north-east near the western extremity of the property, doubling the flow of the Mitchell River downstream of that point. Rifle Creek, which forms the extreme southern boundary of the property, cradles in its wide bend a low mountain range topped by the prominent granite spire of Lighthouse Peak. Elsewhere, only the bare granite hills of Mount Alto and Little Alto rise above the plain.
Rainforest on the mountain heights gives way to tall wet sclerophyll forest down the western slope, and then as rainfall drops quickly, and lower slopes steepen, open woodlands dominate. Tall open woodlands skirt the foothills at the head of the plain and give way to ever varying low open grassy woodlands to the west.
The Peninsula Development Road traverses the length of the property between the mountain foothills and the Mitchell River, and the property encloses small farms along the Mary River as well as the community of Mt Carbine.