Ovens Head from Douglas Street
Access verdict · Lawful, with caveats · weakest evidence in the chain: statutory inference
A lawful approach from Douglas Street, with caveats.
The chain below runs entirely across land the public has an established right to be on. It is a legal line, not a path: nothing here has been surveyed on the ground.
On-ground signage and temporary closures override this page. Always.
Getting to the start The trailhead coordinate, not the feature
The start is at -27.51281, 153.01166
That is Douglas Street, where the walk below begins — 4.8 km of it. Every link here goes to that coordinate and never to the feature itself, because a driving route to a waterfall is a driving route into the country above one.
- Google Maps one link for a desktop browser, Android or iPhone
- Apple Maps the default on iPhone and Mac
- Your own map app hands the coordinate to an installed app, offline ones included
-27.51281, 153.01166
An ordinary car reaches the start The roads layer marks the road reaching this point as trafficable by an ordinary vehicle.
The coordinate is where the recorded way begins, read off the same layers as the walk. What the record says about a vehicle is above, and it describes this point rather than the drive to it. Whether the road is sealed, gated, or open today, and where a car may lawfully be left, are none of them things these records say — so treat the last few kilometres as unresearched, and the mapping service's route to them as its own work, not ours.
The chain, leg by leg Computed from cadastral geometry; never walked
| # | Runs along | Parcel / reference | Mapped along it | Distance | Bearing | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Road reserve | 2714650 | nothing mapped | 162.0 m | 196.6° SSW | Official spatial — evidence class |
| 2 | Road reserve | 2711306 | nothing mapped | 22.0 m | 180.5° S | Official spatial — evidence class |
| 3 | Road reserve | 2714726 | nothing mapped | 80.5 m | 151.7° SSE | Official spatial — evidence class |
| 4 | Road reserve | 2713434 | nothing mapped | 154.4 m | 216.3° SW | Official spatial — evidence class |
| 5 | Road reserve | 2713814 | nothing mapped | 50.1 m | 210.1° SSW | Official spatial — evidence class |
| 6 | Watercourse bed | 2713396 | nothing mapped | 61.4 m | 253.7° WSW | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 7 | Watercourse bed | 2711154 | nothing mapped | 113.3 m | 294.8° WNW | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 8 | Watercourse bed | 2709596 | nothing mapped | 269.0 m | 277.7° W | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 9 | Watercourse bed | 2705454 | nothing mapped | 324.0 m | 275.2° W | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 10 | Watercourse bed | 2704770 | nothing mapped | 445.4 m | 308.6° NW | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 11 | Watercourse bed | 2677334 | nothing mapped | 386.4 m | 19.0° NNE | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 12 | Watercourse bed | 2675434 | nothing mapped | 179.2 m | 52.2° NE | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 13 | Road reserve | 2675472 | nothing mapped | 17.1 m | 21.2° NNE | Official spatial — evidence class |
| 14 | Watercourse bed | 2669354 | nothing mapped | 410.6 m | 46.0° NE | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 15 | Road reserve | 2668442 | nothing mapped | 18.4 m | 78.8° E | Official spatial — evidence class |
| 16 | Watercourse bed | 2668480 | nothing mapped | 264.2 m | 66.1° ENE | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 17 | Watercourse bed | 2660348 | nothing mapped | 720.3 m | 79.1° E | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 18 | Watercourse bed | 2553036 | nothing mapped | 243.3 m | 64.4° ENE | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 19 | Watercourse bed | 1445113 | nothing mapped | 165.3 m | 79.0° E | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 20 | Watercourse bed | 1445075 | nothing mapped | 373.3 m | 54.0° NE | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 21 | Watercourse bed | 1400002 | nothing mapped | 158.0 m | 72.1° ENE | Statutory inference — evidence class |
| 22 | Road reserve | 1399736 | nothing mapped | 133.1 m | 339.5° NNW | Official spatial — evidence class |
| Total | no way mapped | 4751.3 m | Chain confidence Statutory inference — evidence class | |||
Every leg above is computed from cadastral geometry. Nobody has walked it, and no part of it is a path on the ground: it is the line along which the public record establishes a right to be. Where a leg names a way, that is what a managing authority has mapped down the same ground — it says nothing more about your right to be there, which the parcel already settled.
Caveats — what has to be said before walking this
- Corner-point junction. Two parcels in the chain meet at a single survey point. They are legally continuous public land, but the junction has no width on the ground.
- Watercourse crossing. The chain crosses a watercourse bed. The bed is State land by statutory inference, there is no structure, and the crossing is off in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2713814 and 2711154 is 38.25 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2713396 and 2709596 is 109.83 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2711154 and 2705454 is 253.09 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2709596 and 2704770 is 305.20 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2705454 and 2677334 is 402.08 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2704770 and 2675434 is 365.84 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2677334 and 2675472 is 156.02 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2675472 and 2668442 is 393.13 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2668442 and 2660348 is 228.62 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2668480 and 2553036 is 706.44 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2660348 and 1445113 is 223.22 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 2553036 and 1445075 is 142.06 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 1445113 and 1400002 is 279.18 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
- Measured crossing. The narrowest gap between 1445075 and 1399736 is 107.73 m. There is no structure. Do not cross in high flow.
Following it on the ground No published way to follow
at least 2 hours out and back
at least 1 hour there at least 1 hour back
0 m up and 20 m down on the way out — so the return leg climbs 20 m.
Walking only — nothing is counted for rest, water, photographs, navigation, or the state of the track.
No directions are published for this approach. The chain above is a statement about permission, not a path, and turning a run of parcels into "walk north-east for 380 m" would tell you where to walk on evidence nobody holds — including where a way is mapped along it, because what was measured is the chain and not the way. Steps appear here only for a route that follows a surveyed way end to end.
How much climbing Read off the published contour layer
- Total climb
- 0.0 m
- Total descent
- 20.0 m
- Steepest sustained
- 10.9% over 92.0 m
- Contour interval
- 5.0 m
Every height the contours record along this route
| Distance along | Height |
|---|---|
| 118.0 m | 25.0 m |
| 146.2 m | 25.0 m |
| 146.7 m | 25.0 m |
| 153.2 m | 25.0 m |
| 287.6 m | 20.0 m |
| 340.2 m | 15.0 m |
| 379.6 m | 10.0 m |
| 452.1 m | 5.0 m |
| 1428.0 m | 5.0 m |
| 1432.0 m | 5.0 m |
| 1453.2 m | 5.0 m |
| 1485.3 m | 5.0 m |
| 2237.4 m | 5.0 m |
| 2262.0 m | 5.0 m |
| 2274.3 m | 5.0 m |
| 2283.3 m | 5.0 m |
| 2287.1 m | 5.0 m |
| 2301.6 m | 5.0 m |
| 2314.8 m | 5.0 m |
| 2626.7 m | 5.0 m |
| 4613.6 m | 5.0 m |
The profile is the height the contour layer already records, read along the same line the legs above describe. It is not a survey of a path: nothing here says the ground between two contours is even, and a layer of 5.0 m contours cannot evidence a step smaller than the gap between them.
The line on the ground
Map
Route map: 22 legs from Douglas Street, 4751.3 m in total.
What the colours mean
- Land — the council area the region is published under
- Water beyond the council boundary
- Freehold or leasehold — no public access
- National park / protected estate — public land
- Road reserve
- Watercourse
- Track recorded by the managing authority
- Contour, every 10 m of height — nothing is implied about the ground between two of them
- Tenure unresolved — treated as no access
- Where your device says you are, shown only if you press the locate button — read as a rough fix, not a position, and never sent anywhere
- A place with a published approach — the pin is a link to it
- A place with none — every one is listed under the map with its verdict in words
- Where a published approach starts — each one has a page of its own below
- The walk — the line the legs below describe, not a surveyed path
- The parcels it crosses — the evidence the walk is lawful
- Watercourse crossing — no structure, off in high flow
Names on the map come from the same official records as the rest of the page — road and track names from the cadastre and the access layer, watercourses and estates from their own layers. A feature the record does not name is left unlabelled rather than guessed at.
Sources, licences and dataset versions for everything this map draws.
Every figure the map would draw — parcel references, distances, bearings and the crossing gap — is written out in full on this page, so nothing is only visible on the map. If the map does not load, nothing has been lost.
What this verdict rests on Grades compose to the weakest link
-
The destination sits on the parcel below Official spatial — evidence class
Parcel 5SP202639, recorded tenure "Reserve". Being at the destination and reaching it are separate questions, and this page answers only the second.
Cadastre and protected-area estate layers Attribution licensed
-
Leg 1: 2714650 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class
162.0 m at 196.6°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.
Leg reference 2714650 Grade official_spatial
-
Leg 2: 2711306 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class
22.0 m at 180.5°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.
Leg reference 2711306 Grade official_spatial
-
Leg 3: 2714726 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class
80.5 m at 151.7°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.
Leg reference 2714726 Grade official_spatial
-
Leg 4: 2713434 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class
154.4 m at 216.3°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.
Leg reference 2713434 Grade official_spatial
-
Leg 5: 2713814 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class
50.1 m at 210.1°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.
Leg reference 2713814 Grade official_spatial
-
Leg 6: 2713396 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
61.4 m at 253.7°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2713396 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 7: 2711154 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
113.3 m at 294.8°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2711154 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 8: 2709596 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
269.0 m at 277.7°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2709596 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 9: 2705454 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
324.0 m at 275.2°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2705454 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 10: 2704770 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
445.4 m at 308.6°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2704770 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 11: 2677334 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
386.4 m at 19.0°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2677334 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 12: 2675434 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
179.2 m at 52.2°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2675434 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 13: 2675472 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class
17.1 m at 21.2°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.
Leg reference 2675472 Grade official_spatial
-
Leg 14: 2669354 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
410.6 m at 46.0°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2669354 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 15: 2668442 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class
18.4 m at 78.8°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.
Leg reference 2668442 Grade official_spatial
-
Leg 16: 2668480 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
264.2 m at 66.1°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2668480 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 17: 2660348 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
720.3 m at 79.1°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2660348 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 18: 2553036 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
243.3 m at 64.4°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 2553036 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 19: 1445113 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
165.3 m at 79.0°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 1445113 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 20: 1445075 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
373.3 m at 54.0°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 1445075 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 21: 1400002 carries a right of passage Statutory inference — evidence class
158.0 m at 72.1°. The bed is State land by statutory inference from the Water Act 2000 (Qld) s.21 — law applied to a mapped parcel, not a finding by any authority.
Leg reference 1400002 Grade statutory_inference
-
Leg 22: 1399736 carries a right of passage Official spatial — evidence class
133.1 m at 339.5°. Read from the mapped parcel geometry in the official layer, with no inference beyond what the record states.
Leg reference 1399736 Grade official_spatial
-
The chain is only as strong as its weakest link Statutory inference — evidence class
Confidence is not an average. It is the weakest class in the chain above, which is why a single inferred leg holds the whole route at statutory inference.
Composition rule: weakest grade wins Applied at build time
If something goes wrong
Emergency reference — read this to 000
- Location
- Ovens Head
- Lot on plan
- 5SP202639
- Coordinates
- -27.49917, 153.02278 (WGS84 / GDA2020)
- Feature
- cape
What this approach was read from
- Cadastral data Queensland (DCDB), incl. easement layer — © State of Queensland (Department of Resources) CC-BY-4.0 · snapshot 2026-08-22
- Queensland LiDAR-derived contours (5 m) — © State of Queensland CC-BY-4.0 · snapshot 2026-08-22
- Queensland local government area boundaries — © State of Queensland CC-BY-4.0 · snapshot 2026-08-27
- Queensland place names gazetteer — © State of Queensland CC-BY-4.0 · snapshot 2026-08-16