bit
of history
The Nightcap Cafe was a welcome stop for many tourists and locals
alike over the years, and recently has changed ownership and name
(The Wren’s Rest). The previous owner Graeme Rayner bought the
property approximately 30 years ago as a banana farm and converted
the packing shed into the Nightcap Cafe.
The Cafe is situated 2km from Minyon Falls on the edge of the Nightcap
National Park.
The Nightcap ranges form the southern rim of the massive Tweed volcano
caldera, one of the largest and best preserved of its type in the
world. Mt Warning (Wollumbin) is the plug from this extinct shield
volcano which once had a diameter of over 100km.
The first humans to inhabit the area were the Widjabul people from
the Bunjalung nation. They lived with and protected the land until
white settlement. During the past 150 years the trees were logged
and land cleared and used for cattle and sub-tropical farming, such
as bananas. That was until 1979 when a determined group of people
refused to let this significant ecosystem be logged any longer. They
engaged in the first environmental direct action that acted as a template
that also stopped the Franklin dam and the logging of the Daintree.
As a result we now have Nightcap National Park – two thirds of
which have been declared a World Heritage area. Whian Whian State
Conservation Area which is adjacent to Nightcap offers has an important
role which protects the catchment area of Rocky Creek Dam, provides
an extended protection zone for Nightcap and protects threatened species.
All this natural and human history is on the doorstep of Byron Bay,
Ballina and Lismore.
