Restoration of forest ecosystems is a global imperative, yet there are relatively few studies assessing the success of old forest restoration efforts in the tropics. We assessed the vegetation structure, species diversity and composition of a 25-year-old wildlife corridor restoration site linking two patches of mature rainforest in the uplands of the Wet Tropics of Australia. Our results show that the vegetation structure of the restored rainforest was similar to that of mature reference rainforest in profile, in the overall stem size class distribution, in plot level means of stem basal areas and in the number of individuals. Reference mature rainforest had significantly higher plot-level mean biomass than was found in restored rainforest. Species richness and diversity indices of the two forest types also showed differences, and these were significant in terms of species composition, with the mature rainforest having a higher percentage of wind or mechanically dispersed species, and restored rainforest having more animal dispersed species. Although the restored rainforest is not compositionally similar to mature rainforest, the habitat it provides for wildlife and the presence of many mature rainforest species recruiting in the restored rainforest are positive restoration outcomes. Future monitoring and comparisons with other revegetated sites or naturally regenerating forest will provide deeper insights into the processes of recovery in restored forests.