The 58,678-hectare (145,000-acre) park is situated approximately 520 kilometres (320 mi) north of Sydney, inland from Grafton.

It was established in 1983 to preserve the significant plant and animal populations found in the Washpool and Gibraltar Range forests.

[1] In 1999 the park was expanded to include areas that had previously been threatened with logging, which a court injunction put to a stop to in 1990.

[2] The Park is part of the Washpool and Gibraltar Range area of the World Heritage Site Gondwana Rainforests of Australia inscribed in 1986 and added to the Australian National Heritage List in 2007.

This natural habitat is full of diversity of plants, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds.