A rare carving depicting the Indigenous legend of the Yalanji Lizard Man from the Daintree in far north Queensland can now be seen by everyone, thanks to modern science and Queensland Museum palaeontologists.

The story of the Yalanji Lizard Man was carved high on a 40-metre yellow walnut tree in a section of the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest, presumably by a man from the Eastern Yalanji tribe of far north Queensland perhaps 150 years ago.

The 40-metre yellow walnut tree in the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest fell in such a way that the rare indigenous carving telling of the Yalanji Lizard Man was accessible.

According to Indigenous lore, an "outsider" from the Western Yalanji people had moved to Eastern Yalanji territory to find a female partner.

That was forbidden, and after being warned by brothers and cousins, he was speared beside a tree on the Mount Windsor Plateau in the western part of the Wet Tropics forests.