Rugged yet beautiful, Cape Melville National Park (Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal land (CYPAL)) features the rocky headlands of Cape Melville, impressive granite boulders of the Melville Range, sandy beaches of Bathurst Bay, sandstone escarpments and inland dunes.

Cape Melville National Park (CYPAL) is jointly managed by the Cape Melville, Flinders & Howick Islands Aboriginal Corporation and the Queensland Government in accordance with an Indigenous Management Agreement.

This remote park is characterised by the massive, tumbled granite boulders of the Melville Range, the sandstone escarpments of the Altanmoui Range, and inland dunefields. The park features a diversity of plant communities including rainforest, mangroves, heathlands, woodlands and grasslands.

The isolation of Cape Melville National Park (CYPAL) has given rise to a high proportion of endemic plants and animals, which are found nowhere else in the world. Most notable of these is the foxtail palm Wodyetia bifurcata, now a popular garden plant.

Features of the park's landscape are woven into a rich tapestry of Aboriginal traditional stories and significant sites, creating a living cultural landscape. The long Aboriginal occupation of this area, known as Othawa, is evidenced by shell middens, burial and rock art sites, and has contributed to the significant diversity of vegetation in the area.