Razorback Falls

Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair National ParkGPS Coords: -41.7576, 145.9990
Land Tenure: National Park

Updated on 10 Jul 2024

Razorback Falls
© 2015 - 2024 Photography: Caedence Kuepper
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Grade 5 Hike
Suitable for very experienced hikers only.

13km's6 Hours (from OLT) returnRough unformed track No directional signage

No Modification of the natural environment.

Dogs are not allowed
Drones are not allowed
Unknown if accessible with a caravan
Unknown if accessible with a campervan or RV
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About Razorback Falls

Razorback Falls is an impressive two tiered, 25 metre waterfal that is clearly the main waterfall attraction of Commonwealth Creek. Like Myra Falls upstream, the actual location of the falls is confused by photos labelled incorrectly and mapping errorrs, however we believe the real Razorback Falls as named by early explorer Stephen Spurling III is located at the blue line downstream of Myra Falls. 

Accessing Razorback and Myra Falls is a pretty serious off track mission, but it is possible to combine the two falls with a visit to the Hydrographers Hut as a full day detour from the Overland Track. On our trip, we left the OLT at Lake Holmes, and headed towards the waterfalls in as close to a straight line as possible. The early section of the hike is pretty straightforward as far as off track hiking goes, through mostly open buttongrass plains. The route passes the northern side of Lake Agnew atop some impressive cliffs, then crosses the inlet stream in its north-eastern corner, before gently climbing out of the drainage to a narrow, rocky ridge. There are sections of challenging scrub in this section of this hike, so it's best to stick to the ridge until it ends, before descending to the Hydrographers Hut. There is a rough miners trail marked with ribbons that leads to the base of Razorback Falls beginning from near the hut, initially a rough and scrubby route before opening up once it enters the rainforest, though the descent is a steep and sketchy one. 

Naming Confusion

There is some confusion regarding the naming of the falls either side of the Overland Track on Commonwealth Creek and the Bluff River, due to some mapping errors as well as possibly miscaptioned Spurling photos that were the only images available of these waterfalls on the internet before we made a trip in 2022. The waterfall we believe to be Razorback Falls was photographed by Spurling and captioned Tumbledown Falls, however maps mark Tumbledown Falls in the Bluff River drainage and having visited them on the same trip they are clearly a different waterfall.

We did not find the waterfall captioned as Razorback Falls by Spurling however the most likely scenario is this waterfall lies further downstream on Commonwealth Creek since it is part of the same set of photos with the two falls known to be on the creek. Given the "Razorback" was the historic name for the steep ridge climbed by the old Barn Bluff Track that climbed from the River Forth alongside Commonwealth Creek, it is logical that the name would be applied to the most significant waterfall on the creek. Therefore, we believe this to be the real Razorback Falls, with a mistake made by Listmaps in putting the name at the incorrect waterfall, and by whoever wrote the captions for Spurling's photos.   

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Previous and Next Waterfall (Alphabetical order)

Rawlinson Falls

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Waterfalls near Razorback Falls

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