The first time I visited this small waterfall on a long loop through Mt Coot-tha Reserve, it was completely dry. Six months later after a week of solid rain, the waterfall had a small flow with a stream of water cascading over the rocky bed of East Ithaca Creek.
The waterfall was named after James Cameron Slaughter, a town clerk of Brisbane: he was “among the first officials to advocate improving public administration in Queensland through the introduction of appropriate university courses. In August 1950 he initiated the creation of the Queensland division of the Institute of Municipal Administration” (Australian Dictionary of Biography).
Above the waterfall is a wooden viewing platform – but you can’t actually see the waterfall from here. The best vantage spot is reached by an easy scramble down the rocks next to the waterfall.
Getting to J.C. Slaughter Falls
The shortest and easiest way to reach the waterfall is from the J.C. Slaughter Falls Picnic Area, which is at the of J.C. Slaughter Falls Road (off Sir Samuel Griffith Drive). It’s about a 20min drive from the Brisbane CBD. Take the Summit Track, a wide service trail the crosses East Ithaca Creek via a causeway.
There’s a second creek crossing, before a junction with the Hoop Pine Track that follows East Ithaca Creek upstream – this trail was previously been called the Aboriginal Art Trail, as in 1993 pieces of Indigenous Australian Art were placed here as part of the International Year for the World’s Indigenous People in 1993 – they are all gone and the track has been officially re-named (images from the “Doing Something New Each Week blog).
You can follow the Hoop Pine Track until you reach the falls – or look for an informal track that takes you down to the creek, and walk up the creek to the base of the waterfall. It’s about one kilometre return.
Alternately, you can reach the falls from The Summit, walking down the Summit Track before again turning onto the Hoop Pine Track. This is abou 4km return.
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