Cilento Park, Nambour, Sunshine Coast, Qld

Historic but near forgotten


Cilento Park is a small and fairly overlooked park in Nambour, Sunshine Coast, QLD. It is situated behind the Nambour Hospital and whilst small is certainly worth a visit if you are in the area.


Cilento Park is located on land formrly owned, then donated by the Cilento family Sir Ralph and Dame Phyllis parents of Diane Cilento, the actress born in Mooloolaba who starred in the British films, Tom Jones and alongside Paul Newman in Hombre, as well as marrying actor Sean Connery, one of three husbands, whom she had a child with.

According to the sign at the entrance, it is also of historical value as a memorial for World War II where it was occupied by the 7th Battery 2/4th field artillery.

Getting to Cilento Park was very easy. Much as the directions say, find your way to Nambour hospital and it's a right down Waterfall Road.

On arrival it looks just like a large park with a children's play ground and toilet block. It has a bushland back drop and on second look we found a small track on either side of the park leading into the bush.


The walking track is clear underfoot, but not paved. Surprisingly after so much rain, it wasn't muddy, if a little damp.

A tall canopy meant it felt light and the kids were happy to find sticks and charge forth in search of adventures untold. However, a couple of minutes down the track we came across some slippery rocks and a small stream and thought this was the end of the path. Turns out it was the top of the waterfall.

The fortunate thing about having children on a walk is they tend to be more curious and with a small leap over the stream to the other side, we found the path that continues on around and down to the waterfall.

There were a variety of different bird calls and the bushland was green and lush. It would be well worthwhile taking a bird book, binoculars and a camera to identify the different species. The track winds down and around the waterfall which has been renamed Robinson Falls by the QLD Department of Environmental Resource Management

The waterhole was brown and muddy , but that could have been from all the rain. In Summer if the waters were clear it would be quite a lovely swimming spot.

The track then winds up and at a very small gradient back into a loop to the park.

Cilento Park is perfect if you are in the area enjoying the hinterland towns of Yandina or Nambour and want to take the kids for a play or get some fresh air.

There's also a free BBQ area, but remember to take some cleaning liquid to give it a wash before hand

Nearby is the Ginger Factory with it's cooking school, rides and tasty food and plant displays, Pioneer Coffee, offering some of the best freshly roasted coffee beans on the Sunshine Coast and boasting Australias #1 Barista (2009) or Nut Works, the delicious Macadamia Factory, which is excellent value at free entry and lots of yummy treats to sample. Further down the road is The Spirit House, one of the 'must do' restaurants and cooking schools on the Coast.

""The walk is easy and would be perfect for any age or fitness level and is really easy access and unlike many parks on the Sunshine Coast we didn't see any signs restricting dogs either.