Alton National Park, Nature reserve in Balonne Shire, Australia

Alton National Park covers 558 hectares across subtropical landscape in South West Queensland, featuring elevated terrain at 225 meters. The protected area includes forest and scrubland vegetation spread across rolling hills and flat sections that form different habitats.

Alton National Park was declared in 1973 to protect vegetation of limited occurrence, interesting plant species and wildflowers. A German-language source gives 21 October 1980 as the opening date, so the two records disagree. The park lies in the Brigalow Belt South bioregion, divided by the Moonie Highway and surrounded by grazing properties.

The park protects a key part of the Brigalow Belt South bioregion, preserving plant communities that define this corner of Queensland. Walking through the vegetation here gives you a sense of what this landscape has supported for centuries.

Alton National Park lies 371 km west of Brisbane and 75 km east of St George, straddling the Moonie Highway, which divides the park in two. There are no facilities and no camping areas, so visitors must be self-reliant and carry their own water and food. The surrounding land is private grazing property.

Alton National Park is home to 191 animal species, and four rare or threatened species have been identified within its boundaries. The park was preserved precisely because of its limited-occurrence vegetation, interesting plant species and wildflowers, so the wildlife count is modest but the plant interest is the reason the reserve exists.