Australia's World Heritage

Australia’s places of outstanding universal value

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Australia’s World HeritageAustralia’s World HeritageAustralia’s places of outstanding universal value

AUSTRALIA'S WORLD HERITAGE

ISBN 0 642 21431 x

Published by the Australian Government Department

of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2008

Information presented in this document may be

copied for personal use or published for educational

purposes, provided that any extracts are fully

acknowledged.

Heritage Division

Australian Government Department of the

Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

GPO Box 787

Canberra ACT 2601

AUSTRALIA

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 1800 803 772

Cover image: Sydney Opera House

Printed on Monza Gloss recycled paper. Monza Gloss is a FSC certified mixed

source paper with IS0 14011 environmental accreditation.

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ContentsWorld Heritage‑What Does it Mean? Page 6

Australia's World Heritage Properties Page 7

Inscription Timeline Page 8

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte) Page 9

Fraser Island Page 13

Gondwana Rainforests of Australia Page 17

Great Barrier Reef Page 21

Greater Blue Mountains Page 25

Heard and McDonald Islands Page 29

Kakadu National Park Page 33

Lord Howe Island Group Page 37

Macquarie Island Page 41

Purnululu National Park Page 45

Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens Page 49

Shark Bay, Western Australia Page 53

Sydney Opera House Page 57

Tasmanian Wilderness Page 61

Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park Page 65

Wet Tropics of Queensland Page 69

Willandra Lakes Region Page 73

Glossary Page 79

Australia’s Geological Timeline Page 81

The World Heritage Convention Page 82

World Heritage Listing Process Page 84

World Heritage Criteria Page 85

Australian World Heritage Legislation Page 87

Implications of World Heritage Listing Page 89

Further Information Page 95

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Foreword

Across the length and breadth of our vast continent and

offshore, the splendour of Australia’s World Heritage

places enriches our lives and illustrates the diversity

of our country and its inhabitants.

On behalf of the global community, Australia cares

for 17 such places and is committed to ensuring their

safekeeping for future generations.

These special places include the mosaic ecosystems

of the Kakadu landscape; the steep volcanic mountains

that tower above the world’s southern‑most coral reefs

at Lord Howe Island; the stark beauty of the Willandra

Lakes which unveil the mystery of Australia’s human

settlement; and the echoes of the last ice age in the

landscape of the Tasmanian Wilderness.

The richness of our World Heritage is not limited to

our natural and Indigenous cultural icons, but also

extends to one of the great enduring monuments of

the International Exhibition movement in the Royal

Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens and to the

graceful urban sculpture that is our Sydney Opera

House.

To Australians each of these properties is a source of

national pride and inspiration and collectively they

represent some of the most iconic elements of our

historic, natural and Indigenous environments, the

essence of our national identity.

But they are so unique and exceptional that they

transcend our national boundaries and are considered

by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to be of

outstanding universal value.

They are ours to respect and to cherish. And their

disappearance would be an irreparable loss to humanity.

Our World Heritage is the shared heritage of humankind.

Australia’s sites join over 800 places from throughout the world that are

recognised by the World Heritage Convention as reflecting the wealth

and diversity of the earth’s outstanding cultural and natural heritage.

The Convention is an important global agreement to which Australia

was one of the first signatories in 1974.

Australia takes its World Heritage responsibilities seriously and has

long been recognised internationally for taking a leading role in

promoting the World Heritage Convention. We have been awarded

UNESCO’s Picasso Gold Medal for World Heritage for management of

the Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park and the equally prestigious Einstein

Medal and Man and the Biosphere Programme/UNESCO Environmental

Prize for management of the Great Barrier Reef.

Last year our positive role was rewarded by UNESCO with the offer of a

place as the 21st member of the World Heritage Committee. During its

four year term on the Committee (2007‑2011), Australia will be working

hard to protect and enhance the significant investment the global

community makes to World Heritage, to enhance the integrity and

effectiveness of the Convention and to improve, through partnerships

with other nations, the under‑representation of Pacific sites on the

World Heritage List.

I am proud to present this publication to all Australians on behalf of the

Australian Government. This publication is a glimpse into some of the

most outstanding places on earth and an opportunity to understand

and experience Australia’s diverse heritage.

THE HON. PETER GARRETT AM MP

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts

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Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations.

What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application. World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the country in which they are located.

These qualities are expressed in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Australia is a signatory to the Convention. Without the support of this treaty, some properties with recognised cultural or natural value would deteriorate or even disappear, often through lack of funding to preserve them.

Member countries, or “State Parties to the Convention” contribute the necessary financial and intellectual resources to protect World Heritage sites. By November 2007, 185 countries had signed the Convention and 851 properties had been included on the World Heritage List. Seventeen of these are in Australia.

How does a World Heritage property differ from a national heritage site? The key lies in the words 'outstanding universal value'. World Heritage properties transcend national identities.

Properties selected for World Heritage listing are inscribed after careful assessment as to whether they represent the best example of cultural and/or natural heritage.

The World Heritage List includes places many would recognise instantly, as well as less well known places that some may be surprised to find on the list. It includes the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras; Old Town of Ghadamès, Libyan Arab Jamahirya; Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland; Yosemite National Park, United States; the Taj Mahal, India; Kluane National Park, Canada; and Banks of the Seine, Paris, France.

Detailed information about the World Heritage Convention and all the World Heritage properties can be obtained from the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) web site at whc.unesco.org

World Heritage – What Does it Mean?

Lake Mungo Lunette, Willandra Lakes Region Mark Mohell & DEWHA

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ULURU - KATA TJUTANATIONAL PARK

LORD HOWEISLAND GROUPWILLANDRA

LAKES REGION

FRASER ISLAND

THE GREATER BLUEMOUNTAINS AREA

PURNULULUNATIONAL PARK

SHARK BAY

TASMANIANWILDERNESS

KAKADUNATIONALPARK

GREATBARRIER REEF

ALICE SPRINGS

MELBOURNE

BRISBANE

CANBERRAADELAIDE

DARWIN

HOBART

CAIRNS

SYDNEY

PERTH

TO HEARD ANDMCDONALD ISLANDS

TO MACQUARIE ISLAND

WET TROPICSOF QUEENSLAND

AUSTRALIAN FOSSIL MAMMALSITES (RIVERSLEIGH)

GONDWANA RAINFORESTSOF AUSTRALIA

AUSTRALIAN FOSSIL MAMMALSITES (NARACOORTE)

ROYAL EXHIBITION BUILDINGAND CARLTON GARDENS

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

There are currently (July 2008) 17 Australian properties

on the World Heritage List, in order of listing: Great

Barrier Reef, Kakadu National Park, Willandra Lakes

Region, Lord Howe Island Group, Tasmanian Wilderness,

Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, Uluru‑Kata Tjuta

National Park, Wet Tropics of Queensland, Shark Bay,

Fraser Island, Australian Fossil Mammal Sites

(Riversleigh and Naracoorte), Macquarie Island,

Heard and McDonald Islands, Greater Blue Mountains,

Purnululu National Park, the Royal Exhibition Building

and Carlton Gardens, and the Sydney Opera House.

More detailed information on Australia’s World Heritage

properties can be obtained from www.environment.gov.

au/heritage/about/world/index or by contacting each of

the World Heritage properties.

Contact

Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

Heritage Division

GPO Box 787

Canberra ACT 2601

Web: www.environment.gov.au/heritage/about/world/index


Tel: 1800 803 772

Australia’s World Heritage Properties

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Further informationDepartment of the Environment and Heritage

www.deh.gov.au/heritage/worldheritage/sites/fossil

UNESCO World Heritage

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/698

ContactsAustralian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh)

Queensland Environmental Protection Agency Savanna District Office

PO BOX 5597

Townsville Mail Centre QLD 4810

www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/world_heritage_areas/riversleigh

www.mountisa.qld.gov.au/tourism/attractions/lawnhill.html

Email: [email protected] Tel: 07 4796 7777

Outback at Isa

Riversleigh Fossils Interpretive Centre 19 Marian Street

Mount Isa QLD 4825

Web: www.outbackatisa.com.au Email: [email protected]

Tel: 1300 659 660

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Naracoorte)

SA Department of Environment and Heritage Naracoorte Caves National Park PO Box 134 Naracoorte SA 5271

www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/naracoorte


1981 Great Barrier Reef

Kakadu National Park (Stage 2, 1987; Stage 3, 1992)

Willandra Lakes Region

198� Tasmanian Wilderness (Extended in 1989)

Lord Howe Island Group

198� Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (extended in 1994)

198� Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park (extended in 1994)

1988 Wet Tropics of Queensland

1991 Shark Bay, Western Australia

199� Fraser Island

199� Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte)

199� Heard and McDonald Islands

Macquarie Island

�000 Greater Blue Mountains

�00� Purnululu National Park

�00� Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens

�00� Sydney Opera House

Inscription Timeline

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites

8

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte)Australian Fossil

Mammal Sites Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1994

9


Australian Fossil Mammal Sites The Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte) were inscribed on the World Heritage List for their outstanding natural universal values:

• as outstanding examples representing major stages of the earth's evolutionary history

• as outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological evolution.

Over 2,000 kilometres separate the two sites that form this World Heritage area. Riversleigh (100 km2), located in north western Queensland, is confined to the watershed of the Gregory River. The site at Naracoorte, South Australia, covers 3 km2 and comprises limestone caves. It is located in flat country, punctuated by a series of stranded coastal dune ridges that run parallel to the present coastline.

Riversleigh is one of the world's richest Oligo‑Miocene mammal records, linking that period (15‑25 million years ago) to the predominantly modern assemblages of the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. The site provides exceptional examples of middle to late Tertiary mammal groups, in a continent whose mammalian evolutionary history has been the most isolated and most distinctive in the world.

The extensive fossil deposits at Riversleigh are encased in hard, rough limestone, which was formed in lime‑rich freshwater pools. They record at least 20 million years of mammal evolution, providing the first records of many distinctive groups of living mammals including marsupial moles and feather‑tailed possums, as well as other unique and now extinct Australian mammals such as marsupial lions.

The variety of deposits at Riversleigh has led to an understanding of how the environment has changed over time from a rich rainforest community to semi‑arid grassland, and how the animals that lived there have changed too.

The discovery of the fossils at Riversleigh has profoundly altered the understanding of Australia's mid‑Cainozoic vertebrate diversity. The remains of a 15 million‑year‑old monotreme has provided new information about this highly distinctive group of mammals, and several Tertiary thylacines have been identified. Placental mammals are represented by more than 35 bat species and the Riversleigh fossil bat record is the richest in the world.

In stark contrast to the semi‑arid conditions at Riversleigh stand the cool caves at Naracoorte. Here are fossils that document a distinctive group of animals, with the ancestors of modern species alongside the doomed giants of a world that was about to be devastated by climatic changes. These doomed giants were the megafauna – very large animals that once lived in Australia. Lost giants include a marsupial lion (Thylacaleo) and the rhino‑sized, wombat‑like Diprotodon.

The fossils in the Naracoorte Caves illustrate faunal change spanning several ice ages, highlighting the impacts of both climatic change and humankind on Australia's mammals from at least 500,000 years ago.

Further research at the Naracoorte Caves sites is expected to document a series of snapshots of Pleistocene life in south east Australia, including details of climate and vegetation associated with the fauna.

Riversleigh and

Naracoorte are among

the world's greatest fossil

sites. They are a superb

illustration of the key

stages of the evolution

of the unique wildlife of

Australia, a continent

where the evolution

of mammals has been

the most isolated and

distinctive in the world.

Riversleigh shows

Australia’s mammals

evolving during the

period of Earth’s greatest

diversity of plants and

animals.

Naracoorte’s mammal

fossils show Australia’s

extinct giant mammals

shrinking and

disappearing during later

climatic changes and

around the appearance of

humans in Australia over

50,000 years ago.

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte)

10

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites Specimens representing 118 vertebrate species have been discovered, ranging in size from very small frogs to rhino‑sized marsupials. These include exceptionally preserved examples of the Australian Ice Age megafauna, and a host of modern species such as the Tasmanian devil, thylacine and others. The Naracoorte fossils span the probable time of the arrival of humans in Australia, and this is valuable in analysing the complex relationships between humans and their environment. Records of past climates are being elucidated from speleothems and the impacts of climate on faunal change are being revealed.

Both sites provide evidence of key stages in the evolution of the animals of the world's most isolated continent. The history of mammal lineages in modern Australia can be traced through these fossil deposits and, as a consequence, there is a better understanding of the conservation status of living mammals and their communities.

The sites, each highly significant in its own right, are presented as a serial World Heritage listing. While there are other important Australian fossil mammal sites, Riversleigh and Naracoorte are outstanding for the extreme diversity and the quality of their fossils. They also provide links through time that unify the biota of the past with those of today in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia and Kakadu National Park World Heritage properties.

Day‑to‑day management of Riversleigh is the responsibility of the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency; while Naracoorte is the responsibility of the South Australian Department for Environment and Heritage.

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte)Australian Fossil M

amm

al Sites

top strip and title page: Rock outcrops typical of the Riversleigh area Colin Totterdell

top: Thylacoleo carnifex skeleton on display in Victoria Fossil Cave Steven Bourne

above centre: Ossuaries Chamber in Victoria Fossil cave Steven Bourne

above: Near pristine skull of Simosthenurus gilli, the smallest of the short faced

leaf eating kangaroos. Steven Bourne

11

Further informationDepartment of the Environment and Heritage

www.deh.gov.au/heritage/worldheritage/sites/fossil



ContactsAustralian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh)

Queensland Environmental Protection Agency Savanna District Office

PO BOX 5597

Townsville Mail Centre QLD 4810


www.mountisa.qld.gov.au/tourism/attractions/lawnhill.html


Outback at Isa

Riversleigh Fossils Interpretive Centre 19 Marian Street

Mount Isa QLD 4825

Web: www.outbackatisa.com.au Email: [email protected]

Tel: 1300 659 660


SA Department of Environment and Heritage Naracoorte Caves National Park PO Box 134 Naracoorte SA 5271

www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/naracoorte


Further information


www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/

world/fossil



Contacts

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh)

Queensland Environmental Protection Agency

Reef and National Parks Information Centre PO BOX 5391 Townsville QLD 4810



Outback at Isa

Riversleigh Fossils Interpretive Centre 19 Marian Street Mount Isa QLD 4825

Web: www.outbackatisa.com.au


Tel: 1300 659 660


SA Department for Environment and Heritage

Naracoorte Caves National Park PO Box 134 Naracoorte SA 5271

www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/naracoorte Email: [email protected] Tel: 08 8762 2340

Map produced by the Department of the

© Commonwealth of Australia 2008Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites Riversleigh

Naracoorte


© Commonwealth of Australia 2008Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

1�


© Commonwealth of Australia 2008Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Fraser IslandFraser Island

Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992

1�

Fraser Island

Fraser Island

Fraser Island is the largest

sand island in the world

and has immense scientific

importance. Half the

world's perched freshwater

dune lakes are found here

and its coastal dunes are

still evolving.

Nowhere else does sand

support such majestic

remnants of tall rainforest.

Fraser Island contains

an outstanding example

of patterned swampy

fens, and a rich diversity

of plants and animals

adapted to the nutrient-

poor, acidic environment.

The island is also home

to the world’s purest-bred

dingos.

A mosaic of long

windswept ocean beaches,

coloured sand cliffs,

rainforest and both

crystal-clear and dark

lakes, Fraser Island is an

exceptionally beautiful

place.

A surprising variety of vegetation types grow on the island, ranging from coastal heath to subtropical rainforests. It is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes at elevations of over 200 metres.

The low 'wallum' heaths on the island are of particular evolutionary and ecological significance, providing magnificent wildflower displays in spring and summer.

Birds are the most abundant form of animal life on the island, with more than 350 species recorded. It is a particularly important site for migratory wading birds, which use the area as a resting place during their long flight between southern Australia and their breeding grounds in Siberia.

A species of particular interest is the endangered ground parrot, which is found in the wallum heathlands.

Few mammal species are present on the island. The most common are bats, particularly flying foxes. The dingo population on the island is regarded as the most pure strain of dingoes remaining in eastern Australia.

The unique lakes and patterned fens on Fraser Island are poor habitats for fish and other aquatic species because of the purity, acidity and low nutrient levels of the water. Some frog species are adapted to survive in this difficult environment. Appropriately called 'acid frogs', they tolerate the acidic conditions characteristic of the Fraser Island lakes and swamps.

Called K'gari by its Aboriginal inhabitants, the island reveals Aboriginal occupation of at least 5,000 years, although it is possible that further archaeological work may indicate earlier occupation. Early European reports suggested that Fraser Island was heavily populated by Aboriginal people,

Fraser Island (K’gari) was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992 in recognition of its outstanding natural universal values:

• as an outstanding example representing significant ongoing geological processes and biological evolution.

• as an example of superlative natural phenomena.

Stretching over 120 kilometres along the southern coast of Queensland and covering 1,840 km2, it is the largest sand island in the world. A place of exceptional beauty, it is characterised by its long uninterrupted white beaches flanked by strikingly coloured sand cliffs, its majestic tall rainforests and numerous freshwater lakes of crystal clear waters.

The massive sand deposits that make up the island are a continuous record of climatic and sea level changes over the past 700,000 years.

Fraser Island features complex dune systems that are still evolving, and an array of dune lakes that is exceptional in its number, diversity and age.

The highest dunes on the island reach up to 240 metres above sea level. Forty perched dune lakes, half the number of such lakes in the world, can be found on the island. These lakes are formed when organic matter, such as leaves, bark and dead plants, gradually builds up and hardens in depressions created by the wind.

Fraser Island also has several barrage lakes, formed when moving sand dunes block a watercourse, and 'window' lakes, formed when a depression exposes part of the regional water table.

1�

but subsequent research indicates that there was a small permanent population of 400‑600 that swelled seasonally to perhaps 2000‑3000 in the winter months when seafood resources were particularly abundant. Fraser Island contains many sites of archaeological, social and spiritual significance. Middens, artefact scatters, fish traps, scarred trees and campsites bear witness to the lives of the original inhabitants.

European contact, initiated by Matthew Flinders in 1802, was sporadic and limited to explorers, escaped convicts and shipwreck survivors. In 1836 a number of survivors of the wrecked ship Stirling Castle lived for about six weeks on the island before being rescued. One of the survivors was Eliza Fraser, wife of the ship’s captain, after whom Europeans named the island.

Day‑to‑day management of Fraser Island is the responsibility of the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency.

Fraser Island

title page: Fraser Island is a place of exceptional natural beauty Paul Candlin

top strip: Fraser Island features complex dune systems that are

still evolving Paul Candlin

top: Fraser Island’s dingo population is regarded as the most pure strain of

dingoes remaining in eastern Australia DEWHA

above centre: Wangoolba Creek, lined by sub‑tropical rainforest Tourism Queensland

above: Banksia robur, a lowland heath (wallum) species found on

Fraser Island Ian Hutton & DEWHA

Fraser Island

1�

Further information



world/fraser/index



Contact

Fraser Island

Fraser Island World Heritage Area Executive Officer


Southern Region PO Box 64 Bellbowrie QLD 4070

Web: www.env.qld.gov.au/environment/ park Email: [email protected] Tel: 07 3202 0225

Fraser Island

JABIRUSWAMP

LAKEBOOMANJIN

LAKEBIRRABEEN

LAKEMcKENZIE

BOOMERANGLAKES

COOMBOOLAKES

LAKEBOWARRADY

WATHUMBASWAMP

MOODOORALAGOON

Woralie C

reek

Bowarrady Creek

YidneyC

reek

Eli Creek

Boon

BoonC

r eek

Gov

i Cre

ek

Bowal C

reek

Yeerall Creek

Tuan

Eurong

Maaroom

Bingham

Boonooroo

Happy Valley

Kingfisher Bay Resort

Central Forest Station

Cathedral Beach Resort

MARYBOROUGH

HERVEYBAY

MaryboroughCooloolaRoad

World Heritage Area

Built-up Area

Lake

Flat, Swamp

Foreshore Flat

Major River

Major Road

Track

Places

WoodyIsland

Sev

enty

F

ive

M

ile

B

each

HERVEY BAY

CORALSEA

Great

020 10kmTo Noosa

SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN

Map produced by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts© Commonwealth of Australia 2008

Sandy Cape

Rooney Point

Waddy Point

Indian Head

Platypus Bay

InskipPoint

Sandy

Strait

1�

Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986

Gondwana Rainforests of Australia


JABIRUSWAMP

LAKEBOOMANJIN

LAKEBIRRABEEN

LAKEMcKENZIE

BOOMERANGLAKES

COOMBOOLAKES

LAKEBOWARRADY

WATHUMBASWAMP

MOODOORALAGOON

Woralie C

reek

Bowarrady Creek

YidneyC

reek

Eli Creek

Boon

BoonC

r eek

Gov

i Cre

ek

Bowal C

reek

Yeerall Creek

Tuan

Eurong

Maaroom

Bingham

Boonooroo

Happy Valley

Kingfisher Bay Resort

Central Forest Station

Cathedral Beach Resort

MARYBOROUGH

HERVEYBAY

MaryboroughCooloolaRoad

World Heritage Area

Built-up Area

Lake

Flat, Swamp

Foreshore Flat

Major River

Major Road

Track

Places

WoodyIsland

Sev

enty

F

ive

M

ile

B

each

HERVEY BAY

CORALSEA

Great

020 10kmTo Noosa

SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN


Sandy Cape

Rooney Point

Waddy Point

Indian Head

Platypus Bay

InskipPoint

Sandy

Strait

1�

Gondwana Rainforest of Australia


Gondwana Rainforests

of Australia contains

remnants of the great

rainforests that once

covered the entire

continent of Australia.

These reserves feature

striking vertical cliffs, the

world’s best preserved

eroded volcanic craters,

wild rivers and many

impressive high waterfalls.

The area is one of the

best places on earth to

see ancient ferns and

Araucaria such as Hoop

pines.

An outstanding record

of flowering plants, true

songbirds and other rare

or threatened animals of

the most ancient lineages

show that these reserves

have played a significant

role in providing refuge

to species for millions of

years.

Rainforest once covered most of the ancient southern supercontinent Gondwana and remains the most ancient type of vegetation in Australia. The Gondwana Rainforests provide an interesting living link with the evolution of Australia. Few places on earth contain so many plants and animals which remain relatively unchanged from their ancestors in the fossil record. Some of the oldest elements of the world's ferns and conifers are found here and there is a concentration of primitive plant families that are direct links with the birth and spread of flowering plants over 100 million years ago. A range of geological and environmental influences in the Gondwana Rainforests determine where forest communities grow. This process has occurred over millions of years and will continue to change the forest mosaic into the future.

High waterfalls crashing into steep gorges are spectacular examples of an important ongoing natural process ‑ erosion. Erosion by coastal rivers created the Great Escarpment and the steep‑sided caldera of the Tweed Valley surrounding Mount Warning. This towering mountain was once the buried plug of an ancient vast volcano. Today, rainforest grows on the fertile, well watered soils that remain.

The evolution of new species is encouraged by the natural separation and isolation of rainforest stands. Many plants and animals found in the World Heritage property are locally restricted to a few sites or occur in widely separated populations.

In 1986, a number of rainforest reserves located on the Great Escarpment of eastern New South Wales, known as the Australian East Coast Sub‑tropical and Temperate Rainforest Parks, were inscribed on the World Heritage list for their outstanding natural universal values:

• as an outstanding example representing major stages of the earth's evolutionary history

• as an outstanding example representing significant ongoing geological processes and biological evolution

• containing important and significant habitats for the in situ conservation of biological diversity.

Large extensions to the area, including reserves in south‑east Queensland, were listed in 1994 as Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves (Australia). Then in 2007 the name was changed to Gondwana Rainforests of Australia to better reflect the values of the property. The current listing includes approximately 50 separate reserves located between Newcastle and Brisbane. Only areas of reserved Crown land are listed.

Rainforest occurs in New South Wales and south east Queensland as discontinuous patches surrounded by fire‑prone eucalypt forest and agricultural lands. These patches range in size from tiny gully stands to lush forests covering large valleys and ranges. The Gondwana Rainforests include the most extensive areas of subtropical rainforest in the world, large areas of warm temperate rainforest and nearly all of the Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforest.

18

Although rainforests cover only about 0.3 per cent of Australia, they contain about half of all Australian plant families and about a third of Australia's mammal and bird species. The Gondwana Rainforests have an extremely high conservation value and provide habitat for more than 200 rare or threatened plant and animal species. The distributional limits of several species and many centres of species diversity occur in the property. The Border Group is a particularly rich area with the highest concentration of frog, snake, bird and marsupial species in Australia.

Exploring the World Heritage rainforests in the Gondwana Rainforests World Heritage property is easy. Many of the reserves are readily accessible from major towns by sealed or graded gravel roads.

The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia are managed principally by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (part of the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change) and the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency.


title page: Buttress roots in wet sclerophyll forest – Springbrook National

Park, Queensland Paul Candlin

top strip: The wet sclerophyll forest in Lamington National Park Paul Candlin

top: Mt Warning National Park from Blackbutts Picnic Area –

caldera of the 20 million year old Tweed Shield Volcano Paul Candlin

above: Brindle Creek, Border Ranges National Park, DEWHA

below: Mundora Creek, Springbrook National Park Paul Candlin

Gondwana Rainforest of Australia

19

Further information



world/gondwana/index



Contact


Gondwana Rainforests Executive Officer

c/- NSW NPWS

PO Box 1236

Coffs Harbour NSW 2450


Tel: 02 6650 7101


www.epa.qld.gov.au

New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service

www.environment.nsw.gov.au

(

(

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Washpool NP

Gibraltar Range NP

Iluka NR

Mount Hyland NR

Dorrigo NP

New England NPCunnawarra NP

Barrington Tops NP

Mount Royal NP

Willi Willi NP

Mount Seaview NR

Werrikimbe NPOxley Wild Rivers NP

Oxley Wild Rivers NP

Mallanganee NP

Richmond Range NP

Nightcap NP

MountWarning NP

Lamington NPSpringbrook NP

CaptainsCreek NR

Tooloom NP

Toonumbar NP

MountBarney NP

BorderRanges NP

Numinbah NR

LimpinwoodNR

Mount Chinghee NP

Main Range NPGoomburra FR

Spicers Gap FR

Gilbert FR

GambubalState Forest

Koreelah NP

The Castles NR

MountNothofagus

NP

MountClunie NP

Emu Vale FRBurnett Creek FR

PrisonPurposesLand

AmarooFR

Teviot FR

Macintyre

River

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Bar r i n gton River

M ann River

Wollomombi R

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Gold Coast(

(

(

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(

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Washpool NP

Gibraltar Range NP

Iluka NR

Mount Hyland NR

Dorrigo NP


Barrington Tops NP

Mount Royal NP

Willi Willi NP

Mount Seaview NR



Mallanganee NP

Richmond Range NP

Nightcap NP

MountWarning NP


CaptainsCreek NR

Tooloom NP

Toonumbar NP

MountBarney NP

BorderRanges NP

Numinbah NR

LimpinwoodNR

Mount Chinghee NP


Spicers Gap FR

Gilbert FR


Koreelah NP

The Castles NR

MountNothofagus

NP

MountClunie NP


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AmarooFR

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Macintyre

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Queensland

New South Wales

PortMacquarie

Kempsey

0 10 20 30 405km

World Heritage Area

Mainland

Ocean

Major River

Major Road

Minor Road

State Border

( Major Locality

Map produced by the Department of theEnvironment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

© Commonwealth of Australia 2008


�0

Great Barrier ReefGreat Barrier ReefInscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981

(

(

(

(

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(

(

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Washpool NP

Gibraltar Range NP

Iluka NR

Mount Hyland NR

Dorrigo NP


Barrington Tops NP

Mount Royal NP

Willi Willi NP

Mount Seaview NR



Mallanganee NP

Richmond Range NP

Nightcap NP

MountWarning NP


CaptainsCreek NR

Tooloom NP

Toonumbar NP

MountBarney NP

BorderRanges NP

Numinbah NR

LimpinwoodNR

Mount Chinghee NP


Spicers Gap FR

Gilbert FR


Koreelah NP

The Castles NR

MountNothofagus

NP

MountClunie NP


PrisonPurposesLand

AmarooFR

Teviot FR

Macintyre

River

Richmond River

Condami ne River

Seve

rn R i ver

Blicks

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Warwick

Stanthorpe

Gold Coast(

(

(

(

(

(

(

(

(

(

(

(

(

Washpool NP

Gibraltar Range NP

Iluka NR

Mount Hyland NR

Dorrigo NP


Barrington Tops NP

Mount Royal NP

Willi Willi NP

Mount Seaview NR



Mallanganee NP

Richmond Range NP

Nightcap NP

MountWarning NP


CaptainsCreek NR

Tooloom NP

Toonumbar NP

MountBarney NP

BorderRanges NP

Numinbah NR

LimpinwoodNR

Mount Chinghee NP


Spicers Gap FR

Gilbert FR


Koreelah NP

The Castles NR

MountNothofagus

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MountClunie NP


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AmarooFR

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Macintyre

River

Richmond River

Condami ne River

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Glen Innes

Tenterfield

Coffs Harbour

Warwick

Stanthorpe

Gold Coast

Queensland

New South Wales

PortMacquarie

Kempsey

0 10 20 30 405km

World Heritage Area

Mainland

Ocean

Major River

Major Road

Minor Road

State Border

( Major Locality

Map produced by the Department of theEnvironment, Water, Heritage and the Arts

© Commonwealth of Australia 2008

�1

Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef, one of Australia's first World Heritage properties, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981 in recognition of its outstanding natural universal values:

• an outstanding example representing the major stages in the earth's evolutionary history

• an outstanding example representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes

• an example of superlative natural phenomena

• containing important and significant habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity.

It is the world's largest World Heritage property extending over 2,000 kilometres and covering 348,000 km2 on the north‑east continental shelf of Australia. Larger than Italy, it is one of the best known marine protected areas. The Great Barrier Reef's diversity reflects the maturity of the ecosystem which has evolved over many thousands of years. It is the world's most extensive coral reef system and has some of the richest biological diversity found anywhere.

The Great Barrier Reef contains extensive areas of seagrass, mangrove, sandy and muddy seabed communities, inter‑reefal areas, deep oceanic waters and island communities. Contrary to popular belief, the Great Barrier Reef is not a continuous barrier, but a broken maze of around 2,900 individual reefs, of which 760 are fringing reefs along the mainland or around islands. Some have coral cays. The reefs range in size from less than one hectare to over 1,000 km2, and in shape from flat platform reefs to elongated ribbon reefs.

The Great Barrier Reef provides habitat for many diverse forms of marine life. There are an estimated 1,500 species of fish and over 360 species of hard, reef‑building corals. More than 4,000 mollusc species and over 1,500 species of sponges have been identified.

Other well‑represented animal groups include anemones, marine worms, crustaceans and echinoderms.

The extensive seagrass beds are an important feeding ground for the dugong, a mammal species internationally listed as vulnerable. The reef also supports a variety of fleshy algae that are heavily grazed by turtles, fish, sea urchins and molluscs.

The reef contains nesting grounds of world significance for the endangered loggerhead turtle, and for green, hawksbill and flatback turtles, which are all listed as vulnerable. It is also a breeding area for humpback whales that come from the Antarctic to give birth in the warm waters.

The islands and cays support around 215 bird species, many of which have breeding colonies there. Reef herons, osprey, pelicans, frigatebirds, sea eagles and shearwaters are among the seabirds that have been recorded.

The Great Barrier Reef is also of cultural importance, containing many archaeological sites of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, including fish traps, middens, rock quarries, story sites and rock art. Some notable examples occur on Lizard and Hinchinbrook Islands, and on Stanley, Cliff and Clack Islands where there are spectacular galleries of rock paintings. There are over 30 historic shipwrecks in the area, and on the islands are ruins, operating lighthouses and other sites that are of cultural and historical significance.

The Great Barrier Reef is

the largest living organism

in the world and is a site

of remarkable variety and

beauty that stretches for

over 2,000 kilometres.

It contains the world's

largest collection of coral

reefs, with 400 different

coral types, 1,500 species

of fish and an incredible

4,000 types of mollusc.

The reef forms significant

habitat for larger

migratory species such

as the dugong and the

large green turtle, which

are threatened with

extinction.

The 300 coral or sand

cays and 600 continental

islands, supporting 2,195

plant species, contribute

to making this a truly

spectacular landscape,

combining marine and

terrestrial features on an

unparalleled scale.

��

Great Barrier Reef About 99.3 per cent of the World Heritage property is within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, with the remainder in Queensland waters and islands. Because of its status, many people think the entire Great Barrier Reef is a marine sanctuary or national park, and therefore protected equally throughout. However, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is a multiple‑use area in which a wide range of activities and uses are allowed, including extractive industries.

This has been achieved using a comprehensive, multiple‑use zoning system. Impacts and conflicts are minimised by providing high levels of protection for specific areas. A variety of other activities are allowed to continue in a managed way in certain zones (such as shipping, dredging, aquaculture, tourism, boating, diving, research, commercial fishing and recreational fishing).

A new Zoning Plan for the entire Marine Park came into effect on 1 July 2004. The proportion of the Marine Park protected by no‑take zones (known also as green zones) was increased from less than five per cent to over 33 per cent, and now protects representative examples of each of the 70 broad habitat types across the entire Marine Park. In November 2004, Queensland mirrored the new zoning in most of the adjoining State waters, so there is complementary zoning for virtually all the State and Federal waters within the Great Barrier Reef.

The majority of the World Heritage property is still relatively pristine when compared with coral reef ecosystems elsewhere in the world. Guided by the principle of balancing conservation and sustainable use, the regulatory framework significantly enhances the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Australian and Queensland Governments have a cooperative and integrated approach to managing the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is the Australian Government agency responsible for overall management, and the Queensland Government, particularly the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, provides day‑to‑day management of the marine park for the Authority.

Great Barrier Reef

title page: Rachael Carson Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is not a continuous

barrier, but a broken maze of around 2,900 individual reefs A. Elliott, GBRMPA

top strip: One Tree Island Reef in the Capricorn Bunker group features corals

and sandy lagoons in clear blue‑green waters J. Oliver, GBRMPA

top: A Crested Tern. The islands and cays support around 215 bird species,

many of which have breeding colonies there L. Zell, GBRMPA

above: The Great Barrier Reef provides habitat for many diverse forms of

marine life such as this white Biscuit starfish V. Harriott, GBRMPA

��

Great Barrier Reef

Further information



world/great-barrier-reef/index



Contact

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

PO Box 1379

Townsville QLD 4810

Web: www.gbrmpa.gov.au


Tel: 07 4750 0700


www.epa.qld.gov.au


��

Greater Blue MountainsGreater Blue MountainsInscribed on the World Heritage List in 2000


��

Greater Blue Mountains

AUSTRALIA’S WORLD HERITAGE


The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2000 for its outstanding natural universal values under the two following criteria:

• outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals; and

• contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in‑situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

The Greater Blue Mountains consists of over 10,000 km2 of mostly forested landscape on a sandstone plateau 60 to 180 kilometres inland from central Sydney, New South Wales. The property includes very extensive areas of a wide range of eucalypt communities and large tracts of wilderness. The high wilderness quality of much of the Greater Blue Mountains constitutes a vital and highly significant contribution to its World Heritage value and has ensured the integrity of its ecosystems and the retention and protection of its heritage values.

The Greater Blue Mountains is an area of breathtaking views, rugged tablelands, sheer cliffs, deep, inaccessible valleys and swamps teeming with life. The unique plants and animals that live in this outstanding natural place relate an extraordinary story of Australia's antiquity, its diversity of life and its superlative beauty. This is the story of the evolution of Australia's unique eucalypt vegetation and its associated communities, plants and animals.

The property is comprised of eight protected areas in two blocks separated by a transportation and urban development corridor. These protected areas are the Blue Mountains, Wollemi, Yengo, Nattai, Kanangra‑Boyd, Gardens of Stone and Thirlmere Lakes National Parks, and the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve.

The area is a deeply incised sandstone plateau rising from less than 100 metres above sea level to about 1,300 metres at the highest point. There are basalt outcrops on the higher peaks and ridges. This plateau is thought to have enabled the survival of a rich diversity of plant and animal life by providing a refuge from climatic changes during recent geological history. It is particularly noted for its wide and balanced representation of eucalypt communities ranging from wet and dry sclerophyll to mallee heathlands, as well as localised swamps, wetlands, and grassland. One hundred and one species of eucalypts (over 14 per cent of the global total) occur in the Greater Blue Mountains. Twelve of these are believed to occur only in the Sydney sandstone region.

The property has been described as a natural laboratory for studying the evolution of eucalypts. The largest area of high diversity of eucalypts on the continent is located in south‑east Australia and the Greater Blue Mountains includes much of this eucalypt diversity.

As well as supporting a significant proportion of the world's eucalypt species, the property provides examples of the range of structural adaptations of the eucalypts to Australian environments. These vary from tall forests at the margins of rainforest in the deep valleys, through open forests and woodlands, to shrublands of stunted mallees on the exposed tablelands.

Extending over

10,000 km2 of spectacular

sandstone plateaux,

escarpments and gorges,

most of it wilderness, the


is largely dominated by

temperate eucalypt forest.

This area provides an

exceptional example of

how eucalypts evolved,

adapted and diversified

after the break-up of

the supercontinent

Gondwana. It contains

over 100 eucalypt species

and nearly ten per cent of

Australia’s vascular plant

species.

This ecologically diverse

environment provides

habitat for significant

numbers of rare or

threatened plants and

animals. Endemic and

evolutionary relict species,

such as the Wollemi pine

have persisted in highly

restricted and isolated

areas.

��


In addition to its outstanding eucalypts, the Greater Blue Mountains also contains ancient, relict species of global significance. The most famous of these is the recently‑discovered Wollemi pine, Wollemia nobilis, a "living fossil" dating back to the age of the dinosaurs. Thought to have been extinct for millions of years, the few surviving trees of this ancient species are known only from three small populations located in remote, inaccessible gorges within the Greater Blue Mountains. The Wollemi pine is one of the world's rarest species.

More than 400 different kinds of animals live within the rugged gorges and tablelands of the Greater Blue Mountains. These include threatened or rare species of conservation significance, such as the spotted‑tailed quoll, the koala, the yellow‑bellied glider, the long‑nosed potoroo, the green and golden bell frog and the Blue Mountains water skink. Flora and fauna of conservation significance and their habitats are a major component of the World Heritage values of the area.

The area is widely renowned and extensively used for sight‑seeing, bushwalking, rock climbing, canyoning and other outdoor recreational pursuits.

Day‑to‑day management of the Greater Blue Mountains is the responsibility of the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (part of the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change).

title page: Mount Solitary and the upper Kedumba Valley from

Narrow Neck Ian Brown

top strip: The top of Wentworth Falls and the upper Jamison

Valley Mark Mohell & DEWHA

top: The green and golden bell frog, a nationally vulnerable species B. Peters, Olympic Coordination Authority

above: The Wollemi pine, a ‘living fossil’ dating back to the age of the

dinosaurs Botanic Gardens Trust

��

Further information



world/blue-mountains/index



Contacts

New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service

Blue Mountains Heritage CentrePO Box 43

Blackheath NSW 2785

Web: www.environment.nsw.gov.au

Email: bluemountains.heritagecentre@

environment.nsw.gov.au

Tel: 02 4787 8877



�8

Heard and McDonald Islands

Heard and McDonald IslandsInscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997


�9



This is one of the wildest

and remotest places on

earth.

Heard Island is dominated

by Big Ben, Australia’s

highest mountain and an

active volcano, under a

deep mantle of snow and

glaciers. On the horizon,

the volcanic McDonald

Islands rise precipitously

out of the world’s

stormiest waters.

The driving winds

create unique weather

patterns that change

with unbelievable speed

as they hit the enormous

bulk of Big Ben, including

spectacular cloud

formations around its

summit.

It is one of the most

biologically pristine areas

in the world, containing

no introduced species,

making it especially

valuable for scientific

reference.

Heard and McDonald Islands were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997 for their outstanding natural universal values:

• as outstanding examples representing major stages of the earth's history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features

• as outstanding examples representing significant on‑going ecological and biological processes.

The Australian Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands lies in a remote and stormy part of the globe, near the meeting‑point of Antarctic and temperate ocean waters. The islands, which were unknown to humanity until the 19th century, are located in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean at around 53° 05' S and 73° 30' E. They lie about 1,500 kilometres north of Antarctica and over 4,000 kilometres south‑west of Australia.

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands group was formed by the plume type of volcanism, a process that is poorly understood in comparison with the earth's other two main volcanic types ‑ subduction and seafloor spreading. This feature of the group offers an extraordinary view into the earth's deep interior and its interactions with the lithospheric plates that resulted in the formation of the ocean basins and continents. They are the only sub‑Antarctic islands that are volcanically active.

The last recorded major eruption on Big Ben, which soars to an altitude of 2,745 metres, was in 1992. However, continuous activity is evident from other observations of minor steam and smoke emissions.

Permanent snow and ice cover 70 per cent of Heard Island. Its steepness, combined with significant snow fall at high altitudes, makes the glaciers fast‑flowing – in the order of 250 metres a year. As a result, the ice and snow in the glaciers have a relatively short turnover period of around 100 years, and the glaciers respond quickly to changes in climate by advancing or retreating.

McDonald Island lies 43.5 kilometres due west of Heard Island, and is the major island in the McDonald Islands group. Satellite images taken in 2004 give evidence of significant volcanic activity over the last decade, which has seen the island increase in size from 1km2 to 2.5 km2. The previously separate Flat Island and McDonald Island are now joined by a low‑lying isthmus. At its highest point, McDonald Island rises to about 230 metres.

Extraordinary landforms on the islands include the flutes of Cape Pillar on Heard Island and the lonely pinnacle of Meyer Rock; the caves and other lava formations of the northern Heard Island peninsulas; the smoking caldera of Mawson Peak above the older caldera of Big Ben; the shifting sands of the Nullarbor Plain; and the extensive, dynamically changing Elephant Spit.

The Heard Island and McDonald Islands group can be described as the wildest place on earth – a smoking volcano under a mantle of snow and glacial ice rising above the world's stormiest waters. On the horizon to the west, smaller volcanic fragments rise precipitously and defiantly out of huge Southern Ocean swells. Verdant vegetation and multi‑coloured bird colonies contrast in sharp relief against the dazzling white of snow and ice and the grey‑black of volcanic rock. The driving westerly winds above the Southern Ocean in these latitudes create unique weather patterns when they

�0



come up against the enormous bulk of Big Ben, including spectacular cloud formations around the summit and unbelievably rapid changes in winds, cloud cover and precipitation.

It is the only sub‑Antarctic island group believed to contain no known species directly introduced by humans. This makes it invaluable for having within one site an intact set of interrelated ecosystems – terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine – in which the ongoing evolution of plants and animals occurs in a natural state.

The islands host a range of seabirds, and are an excellent location for investigating the effects of geographic isolation and climate on the evolution of species. Active speciation is clearly present. The beetle populations on Heard Island and McDonald Islands group show unique evolutionary adaptations to the environment, and several other invertebrate groups provide opportunities to study evolutionary processes in undisturbed populations at the southern limits of their distribution.

The vast numbers of penguins (including the world’s largest macaroni penguin colony), seals and flying birds that occupy the islands are one of the great wildlife sights of the world. When the wind has died and the skies have cleared, these congregations create an incomparable cacophony of natural sound.

The seal and penguin populations provide excellent opportunities to monitor the health and stability of the larger Southern Ocean ecosystem. The Heard Island and McDonald Island group is one of the best sites in the world to study the ecological and biological processes of recolonisation of the Antarctic fur seal and the king penguin populations. It is also one of the best land‑based sites in the world to study the leopard seal and its role in the sub‑Antarctic ecosystem.

The World Heritage property is contained within the 65,000 km2 HIMI Marine Reserve, declared under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 in 2002. The Reserve is managed by the Antarctic Division of the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

title page: Big Ben rising to 2,745 metres at Mawson Peak is Australia’s only

active volcano Eric Woehler AAD

top strip: Lower slopes of Big Ben G. Budd

top: The population of king penguins on Heard Island has increased dramatically

over the last 50 years AAD

above: Laurens Peninsula and the lower snow‑covered slopes of Anzac Peak AAD

�1

Map produced by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts © Commonwealth of Australia 2008

Further information


www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/heard-mcdonald/index



Contact

Heard and McDonald Islands:

Australian Antarctic Division

Channel Highway

Kingston TAS 7050

Web: www.aad.gov.au

www.heardisland.aq


Tel: 03 6232 3209


��

Kakadu National ParkInscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981 (Stage 1);

1987 (Stage 2); and 1992 (Stage 3)

Kakadu National Park

��



Kakadu National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage

List in three stages over 11 years, starting in 1981. It is one

of the few sites included on the list for both outstanding

cultural and natural universal values:

Natural

• as an outstanding example representing significant ongoing geological and biological processes

• as an example of superlative natural phenomena


Cultural

• representing a unique artistic achievement

• being directly associated with living traditions of outstanding universal significance.

Kakadu is located in the tropical north of Australia, some 130

kilometres east of Darwin, and covers a vast 19,804 square

kilometres.

The park stretches from the mangrove‑fringed tidal plains

in the north, through floodplains and lowland hills to the

high sandstone cliffs of the spectacular Arnhem Land

escarpment, through to the rugged stone country in the

south. It protects almost the entire catchment of a large

tropical river, another three river systems and examples of

most of Australia’s Top End habitats.

Kakadu’s ancient escarpment and stone country spans

more than two billion years of the earth’s geological history.

In contrast the riverine and coastal floodplains are more

recent, dynamic environments, shaped by changing sea

levels and the big floods every wet season.

This is a place of enormous biological diversity. Savannah

woodlands, eucalypt and monsoon forests, rivers and

billabongs, coastal beaches, mudflats and mangroves are

home to a range of rare and endemic plants and animals.

There are 77 species of mammals (nearly a quarter of

Australia’s land mammals), 271 species of birds (more than

one‑third of Australian bird species), 132 reptiles, 27 species

of frogs, 314 fish species, almost 1600 plant species and

over 10,000 species of insects.

Kakadu’s landscapes undergo dramatic seasonal changes.

Wet season rains create a sea of shallow freshwater for

hundreds of square kilometres, and saltwater crocodiles

move swiftly upstream. As the floodplains start to dry,

vast numbers of ducks, geese and wading birds flock to

the rivers and billabongs. These extensive wetlands are

listed under the Convention on Wetlands of International

Importance (the Ramsar Convention).

More than 30 species of waders have been recorded on the

wetlands, many being winter migrants from the sub‑Arctic

region. Kakadu is a major staging point within Australia for

many migrating birds.

The wet also brings spectacular waterfalls to the 500

kilometre long Arnhem Land escarpment and new life to the

rainforests in the ravines and plateau.

The rainforests are dominated by allosyncarpia trees, found

only in this region. Rare birds such as the hooded parrot

and white‑throated grass wren live in the plateau’s spinifex

and woodland, and rare bats shelter in the escarpment

caves. Restricted populations of animals such as the black

wallaroo, the Oenpelli python and the giant cave gecko live

around the isolated massive rock outliers, left behind when

the escarpment eroded eastwards.

Kakadu is a living cultural

landscape, inhabited

continuously by its

Aboriginal traditional

owners for more than

50,000 years.

The region’s cave

paintings, rock carvings

and archaeological sites

record their skills and way

of life, from the hunter-

gatherers of prehistoric

times to the Aboriginal

people – Bininj/Mungguy

- who still live in the park

today..

Kakadu is a unique mosaic

of ecosystems, including

tidal flats, floodplains,

lowlands and plateaux,

which provide habitat

for a wide range of rare

or endemic plants and

animals.

��

Kakadu’s rivers meander to the Van Dieman Gulf, gradually depositing large

quantities of silt to form extensive mudflats. These are inundated with

salt water at high tide, and only salt‑tolerant plants can grow here. Twenty‑

two species of mangroves form extensive mangrove swamps, important

feeding and breeding grounds for many invertebrate species, fish (including

barramundi) and birds.

Generations of Aboriginal people – known as Bininj/Mungguy – have lived

and cared for this country for tens of thousands of years. Their deep spiritual

connection to the land dates back to the Creation or Dreamtime.

Bininj/Mungguy believe that during the creation time ancestral beings known

as the first people or Nayahunggi journeyed across the landscape. They came in

many different forms – such as the Rainbow Serpent, Bula (Jawoyn Ancestor),

Namarrgon (Lightning Man) and Warramurrungundji (Earth Mother). The

ancestors created the landforms, plants, animals and Aboriginal people we

see today, and they left language, ceremonies, kinship, and rules to live by.

The cultural obligations and responsibility for country handed down by the

ancestors are still central to the lives of Bininj/Mungguy, and age‑old skills such

as patch burning are integral to the modern management of the park.

Kakadu’s Aboriginal rock art documents these creation stories. The paintings

constitute one of the longest historical records of any group of people in the

world, an outstanding record of human interaction with the environment over

tens of thousands of years. Some 5,000 art sites have been recorded and a

further 10,000 sites are thought to exist.

Concentrated along the escarpment, in gorges, and on rock outliers, the art

sites display a range of styles including naturalistic paintings of animals and

traditional x‑ray art. Some galleries intriguingly capture the first contacts

with non‑Aboriginal people, from the Macassans in 17th century to the early

European explorers in the 19th century.

Kakadu is jointly managed under the direction of a Board of Management,

which has an Aboriginal majority representing the traditional owners. Day‑to‑

day management is carried out by Parks Australia, a division of the Australian

Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.


title page: Jim Jim Falls in flood

top strip: During the wet season, rivers and creeks flood and spread out over the

broad floodplains to form vast wetlands

top: Mandy Muir runs a family tourism business, with Indigenous art and craft.

above: Rock art, Nourlangie. The Aboriginal art sites of Kakadu National Park

provide an outstanding record of human interaction with the environment over

tens of thousands of years

All images: DEWHA

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Further information


www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/kakadu/index


www.unesco.org/whc/sites/147.htm

Contact


PO Box 71 Jabiru NT 0886

Web: www.environment.gov.au/parks/kakadu/index.html


Tel: 08 8938 1100



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Lord Howe Island GroupLord Howe Island GroupInscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982

��

Lord Howe Island GroupOf volcanic origin, the


has an exceptional

diversity of spectacular

and scenic landscapes

within a small area.

The sheer slopes of its

volcanic mountains

and the dramatic rock

formation Ball’s Pyramid

rise out of an underwater

world that is one of the

most beautiful in the

world. These marine

ecosystems form the

southernmost true coral

reef in the world.

The isolation of this

special place at the

junction of tropical and

temperate latitudes

has led to tremendous

biodiversity. The Lord

Howe Island Group is one

of the major breeding

sites for seabirds in the

southwest Pacific.

The Lord Howe Island Group was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982 for its outstanding natural universal values:



Located 700 kilometres north‑east of Sydney and covering an area of 1,463 km2, the Lord Howe Island Group comprises Lord Howe Island, Admiralty Islands, Mutton Bird Islands, Ball's Pyramid, and associated coral reefs and marine environments.

Nearly seven million years ago geologic movement of the Lord Howe Rise (an underwater plateau) gave birth to a large shield volcano on its western edge. Over time the sea eroded 90 per cent of the original volcano, leaving the islands that today comprise the Lord Howe Island Group.

Lord Howe Island has a spectacular landscape with the volcanic mountains of Mount Gower (875 metres) and Mount Lidgbird (777 metres) towering above the sea. The central low‑lying area provides a marked contrast to the adjacent mountains and northern hills.

There are 241 different species of native plants, of which 105 are endemic to Lord Howe Island. Most of the island is dominated by rainforests and palm forest. Grasslands occur on the more exposed areas of Lord Howe Island and on the offshore islands. Most of the main island and all of the offshore islands are included in the Lord Howe Island Permanent Park Preserve.

The islands support extensive colonies of nesting seabirds, and at least 168 bird species have been recorded either

living on, or visiting, the islands. A number of these are rare or endangered.

The endangered woodhen is one of the world's rarest bird species. During the 20th century the population of woodhens experienced a significant decline in numbers as a result of hunting by humans, habitat loss and disturbance by feral animals. Over the last few years a successful captive breeding program and other conservation measures have increased the numbers of these small flightless birds to around 220.

The islands are one of two known breeding areas for the providence petrel, a species that is also found nesting on Phillip Island, near Norfolk Island. The Lord Howe Island Group contains what is probably the largest breeding concentration in the world of the red‑tailed tropicbird, and the most southerly breeding colony of the masked booby.

The waters surrounding Lord Howe Island provide an unusual mixture of temperate and tropical organisms. The reef is the southern‑most coral reef in the world and provides a rare example of the transition between coral and algal reefs. A marine national park was declared by the State of New South Wales in 1999 to increase protection of the marine environment. A Commonwealth Marine Reserve was declared in 2002, covering most of the World Heritage property and extending around Lord Howe Island and Ball’s Pyramid from three to 12 nautical miles.

It is believed Europeans discovered Lord Howe Island when it was sighted from the British colonial naval vessel HMS Supply in 1788, en route from Sydney to the penal colony on Norfolk Island. The first landing was made two months later on the return voyage to Sydney.


�8


By the 1830s there was a small permanent settlement in the lowland area of the main island. The settlers made a living by hunting and fishing, and by growing vegetables, fruit and meat for trade with passing ships.

Pigs and goats, which were introduced to Lord Howe Island for food, later went wild and caused extensive vegetation and habitat changes, threatening populations of native species. Rats arrived on the island in 1918 from a wrecked ship, and have since been responsible for the extinction of five bird species. Over the last decade there have been intensive efforts to control these feral animals. Wild pigs, cats and goats have been successfully eradicated.

The Lord Howe Island Board has also embarked on an ambitious weed eradication strategy and is in the early stages of planning for a rodent eradication programme subject to necessary licensing approvals and field trials.

Lord Howe Island and its associated islands are under the care, control and management of the Lord Howe Island Board. When carrying out its functions, the Board is required to have particular regard to the World Heritage status of the area and to conserve those values for which the area was inscribed on the list.

title page: Aerial view of Lord Howe Island Group, capturing the spectacular

and scenic volcanic landscape

top strip: The view from Mount Gower

top: Waters around the Island support fascinating marine animals such as

sea slugs or nudibranchs ‑ Spanish dancers

above centre: The Island is the most southerly breeding colony of the

masked booby

above: The Lignum vitae tree, Sophora howinsula, flowers in winter on Lord

Howe IslandAll images : Ian Hutton & DEWHA

�9



Further information



world/lord-howe/index



Contact


Lord Howe Island Board PO Box 5 Lord Howe Island NSW 2898

Web: www.lordhoweisland.info Email: [email protected] Tel: 02 6563 2066

�0

Macquarie IslandMacquarie IslandInscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997

�1

Macquarie Island


Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997 on the basis of its outstanding natural universal values:

• as an outstanding example representing major stages of the earth's evolutionary history, including the record of life, significant on‑going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features

• containing superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.

Macquarie Island is situated about 1,500 km south‑south‑east of Tasmania, half way between Tasmania and Antarctica at around 55 degrees south. The main island is approximately 34 kilometres long and 5.5 kilometres wide at its broadest point.

It provides evidence of the rock types found at great depths in the earth's crust and of plate tectonics and continental drift; the geological processes that have dominated the earth's surface for many millions of years. It is the only island in the world composed entirely of oceanic crust and rocks from the mantle, deep below the earth's surface.

Macquarie Island probably began as a spreading ridge under the sea with the formation of new oceanic crust somewhere between 11 and 30 million years ago.

At some stage the spreading halted and the crust began to compress, squeezing rocks from deep within the mantle upward like toothpaste from a tube. As the ridge grew it eventually became exposed above the ocean's surface about 600,000 years ago. Thus, rocks normally only occurring deep within the earth's mantle have become exposed on the earth's surface.

Since Macquarie Island emerged, it has mainly been carved by marine processes such as wave action, unlike other subantarctic islands, which have been shaped by glaciers.

The geodiversity of Macquarie Island provides the foundation for the landforms, soils, plants and animals occurring there. It is an island of unique natural diversity, a site of major geoconservation significance and one of the truly remarkable places on earth.

Around the shoreline there is a coastal terrace formed from a wave‑cut platform now raised above sea level. Vast waterlogged areas on the coastal platform are heavily vegetated, forming a mire based on deep peat beds and known locally as "featherbed" from the sensation gained when walking over them. Old sea stacks testify to the continual uplifting of the island as they protrude through the peat beds, some of them now being several hundred metres from the existing coastline.

Behind the coastal terrace, steep escarpments rise more than 200 metres to the undulating central plateau which has three peaks over 400 metres; the highest being Mt Hamilton at 433 metres. The slopes from the plateau to the sea are most spectacular at the southern end of the island and along the west coast where the relentless pounding of the Southern Ocean has cut a myriad of rugged bays and coves, fringed with sea stacks and reefs.

The plateau surface is dotted with innumerable lakes, tarns and pools, mainly of structural origin. Fluctuations in sea level and marine erosion have cut away the original escarpments leaving some lakes perched on the edge of the plateau, while others have been partially or totally drained. The continual westerly winds, which increase in force as they

Macquarie Island is a

sub-Antarctic island of

unique natural diversity,

a site of major geological

significance and one of the

truly remarkable places on

earth.

It is the only island in the

world composed entirely

of oceanic crust and rocks

from the earth’s mantle

– a unique example of

active sea-floor spreading.

Macquarie Island’s beauty

lies in its remote and

windswept landscape of

steep escarpments, lakes,

dramatic changes in

vegetation, and the vast

congregations of wildlife

around its dark, dramatic

shores.

The breeding population

of royal penguins on

Macquarie Island is

estimated at over 850,000

pairs - one of the greatest

concentrations of sea birds

in the world.

��

Macquarie Island

rise over the barrier of the island, and changes in the topography on the plateau, result in dramatic changes in the vegetation cover.

Among the most aesthetically appealing sights of the island are the vast congregations of wildlife, particularly penguins during breeding seasons. The breeding population of royal penguins on Macquarie Island is estimated at over 850,000 pairs – one of the greatest concentrations of sea birds in the world.

Four species of albatross nest on steep and rugged cliffs, both on the main island and on nearby Bishop and Clerk Islands. These are majestic birds, easily viewed when nesting.

Elephant seals also form impressive colonies on suitable beaches during the breeding season. These animals can grow to over 4.5 metres in length and to a weight of 3.5 tonnes. Conflicts between the larger bulls are among the more memorable sights that may be witnessed on the island.

Macquarie Island and the Bishop and Clerk Islets, about 37 kilometres to the south, and Judge and Clerk Islets about 11 kilometres to the north, form a Nature Reserve with protection extending out to three nautical miles from the coast. Some of the marine values beyond state waters are also protected by the Macquarie Island Marine Park declared by the Australian Government on 28 October 1999. The primary purpose of the marine park is to protect the conservation values of the region from human disturbance. The marine park contains one of the world's largest highly protected marine zones, covering more than 160,000 km2.

There are no permanent human inhabitants on Macquarie Island although the Australian Antarctic Division station is occupied year round. The only access to the island is by sea.

Day‑to‑day management of the area is the responsibility of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage and the Arts). Specialist advice is provided to the Service by Resource Management and Conservation Division (Department of Primary Industries and Water).

title page: View from North Head to the Southern part of

Macquarie Island Mike Preece

top strip: Rainbow over Brothers Point Mike Preece

top: The breeding population of royal penguins on Macquarie

Island is estimated at over 850,000 pairs ‑ one of the greatest

concentrations of sea birds in the world Noel Carmichael, Tas Parks

and Wildlife Service

above: Although the highest parts of Macquarie Island are only just

above 400m, climatic conditions in such exposed locations are so

harsh that only mosses and cushion forming plants can survive Noel Carmichael, Tas Parks and Wildlife Service

��


Further information



world/macquarie/index



Contact

Macquarie Island

Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service

PO Box 126

Moonah TAS 7009

Web: www.parks.tas.gov.au/macquarie


Tel: 03 6233 7876

Purnululu National Park

Macquarie Island

��


Purnululu National ParkInscribed on the World Heritage List in 2003

��




Purnululu National Park, in the isolated east Kimberley

region of Western Australia, was inscribed on the World

Heritage List in 2003 because of its outstanding universal

natural heritage values:

• as an outstanding example representing the major stages in the earth’s evolutionary history

• contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.

The World Heritage Listed area for Purnululu National Park

is almost 2,400km2. Purnululu National Park is located 300

kilometres by road south of the nearest population centre,

the small regional town of Kununurra.

There is an adjacent buffer zone to the north and west (the

Purnululu Conservation Reserve) of almost 800 km2, which

is not part of the nominated area but which is managed to

help protect the park’s World Heritage values.

Famous for the 450 km2 Bungle Bungle Range, Purnululu

has been listed as an outstanding landscape that is an

incomparable natural phenomenon. It reveals the story of

its formation over hundreds of millions of years, and helps

unlock the story of the earth’s history.

Twenty million years of weathering have produced the

eroded sandstone towers and banded beehive structures

of the Bungle Bungle Range. Dark bands, formed by

cyanobacteria, winding horizontally around the domes,

contrast with the lighter orange sandstone. Cyanobacteria

are single‑celled organisms that represent some of the

oldest life‑forms on earth. These organisms have been

found as fossils in rocks elsewhere in Western Australia in

rocks that are believed to be up to 3500 million years old.

The cyanobacterial bands are up to several metres wide, yet

only a few millimetres thick. The crusts help stabilise and

protect the ancient and fragile sandstone towers.

The dramatically sculptured structures undergo remarkable

seasonal variation in appearance, including striking colour

transition following rain. The intricate maze of towers is

accentuated by sinuous, narrow, sheer‑sided gorges lined

with majestic Livistona fan palms. These, and the soaring

cliffs up to 250 metres high, are cut by seasonal waterfalls

and pools, creating the major tourist attractions in the park.

The sandstone karst of Purnululu is of great scientific

importance in demonstrating so clearly the process of

cone karst formation on sandstone – a phenomenon only

recognised by geomorphologists over the past 25 years and

still not completely understood.

While sandstone towers and cliffs are known from other

parts of the world, including some regions in Australia,

the spectacular features of the Bungle Bungle Range are

unrivalled in their scale, extend, grandeur and diversity of

forms. They owe their existence and uniqueness to several

interacting geological, biological, erosional and climatic

phenomena.

Purnululu (the Bungle

Bungles) is by far

the most outstanding

example of cone karst

in sandstones anywhere

in the world. It owes its

uniqueness to several

interacting geological,

biological, erosive and

climatic phenomena.

These dramatically

sculptured structures,

unrivalled in their

scale, extent, grandeur

and diversity of forms

anywhere in the world,

undergo remarkable

seasonal variation in

appearance, including

striking colour changes

after rain.

The intricate maze of

towers is accentuated by

sinuous, narrow, sheer-

sided gorges lined with

majestic Livistona fan

palms. The soaring cliffs

are sculpted by seasonal

waterfalls and pools.

��



The park’s domes, gorges and wet season waterfalls were

almost unknown to the outside world until 1982 when aerial

pictures of this outback jewel were released.

Purnululu National Park lies in a transition zone between the

arid desert environments of central Australia to the south

and, to the north, the monsoon savannah environments

of northern Australia. The biological features of the park

show adaptations to the aridity of the neighbouring desert

environments and also to the rainfall‑rich zone of the

monsoon region. The Ord River, the major watercourse,

creates a riverine ecosystem that is a vital resource for

plants, animals and people. Mean annual rainfall is around

600 mm but the evaporation rate is very high, and runoff is

rapid. Consequently, there is little permanent surface water.

The diversity of landforms, along with the park’s location

in a transitional climatic zone, supports a range of distinct

vegetation communities, ranging from desert shrubs along

the exposed plateaus of the Bungle Bungle Range, to the

rainforest communities along Osmond Creek valley.

The Western Australian Government Department of

Environment and Conservation is responsible for day‑to‑day

management of the property, through the Purnululu Park

Council in conjunction with local Aboriginal people.

title page: The fan palm Livistona victoriae is commonly seen throughout the

park. The surrounding ridges show geological variations in the rock formation

in the southern end of the Bungle Bungle Range from the domes in the

northern end WA DEC

top strip: The huge amphitheatre of Cathedral Gorge is one of incredible

natural beauty with its almost 360 degrees of vertical sandstone cliffs

showing evidence of waterfalls that cascade down steep rock faces during

the wet season WA DEC

top: The Bungle Bungle Range with its extraordinary array of banded

sandstone domes covering 450 km2 of the park. These dramatically

sculptured natural formations are unrivalled in their scale, grandeur and

diversity of form anywhere in the world John Baker & DEWHA

above: Echidna Chasm’s narrow 200 metre walls join with the sun to yield

striking colour variations of superlative natural phenomena WA DEC

��



Further information



world/purnululu/index



Contact


Department of Environment

and Conservation

PO Box 942

Kununurra WA 6743

Web: www.naturebase.net/national_

parks/previous_parks_month/

purnululu.html


Tel: 08 9168 4200

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Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton

Gardens

Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton GardensInscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004

�9

Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens



The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2004 because of its outstanding universal cultural heritage values:

• exhibits an important interchange of human values over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town planning or landscape design.

The Royal Exhibition Building was built in Melbourne's Carlton Gardens for the Melbourne International Exhibition. It subsequently hosted Melbourne's second international exhibition, the 1888 Centennial International Exhibition. It is one of the great enduring monuments to the International Exhibition movement, which began in the mid‑19th century.

International exhibitions were staged around the world to demonstrate the confidence and achievements of the industrial age. They provided a mechanism for the worldwide exchange of goods, technology, ideas, culture and values, and heralded a new era of trading networks and the modern international economy. The exhibitions were a spectacular shop front for the industrial revolution, which shaped some of the greatest global social and economic transformations.

Around 1.5 million people visited the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition (including repeat visitors). Around 2.2 million visited the 1888 Centennial Exhibition, amounting to about 69 per cent of the population of the Australian colonies.

The Royal Exhibition Building is representative of the international exhibition movement style, based on a Beaux‑Arts axial scheme with the building as a palace, primarily in the German Rundbogenstil and Italian Renaissance style.

The soaring dome was influenced by the Florence cathedral dome designed by Brunellescchi. The building is cruciform in plan, comprising a pair of elongated rectangular wings, extending east and west, with a transept to the north and a truncated transept to the south.

During the 1880 and 1888 international exhibitions, the South Garden was the site for the "pleasure garden" that contained exhibits. The North Garden was used to house temporary exhibition pavilions during the two international exhibitions. It was re‑landscaped as parkland and now also houses the Melbourne Museum.

The scale and grandeur of the building reflects the values and aspirations attached to industrialisation and its international face. The Building boasts many of the important features that made the exhibitions so dramatic and effective, including a dome, a great hall, giant entry portals, versatile display areas, axial planning and complementary gardens and viewing areas.

The Royal Exhibition Building was purpose‑designed to be the Great Hall or "Palace of Industry", the focal point of international exhibitions. Unlike many international exhibitions, Melbourne's Exhibition Building was conceived as a permanent structure that would have a future role in the cultural activities of the growing city of Melbourne.

The Carlton Gardens were designed by the architect who designed the building and still retain the layout of the original Exhibition Gardens. The formal ornamental palace garden, as represented by Carlton Gardens, is substantially intact in form and in its treed avenues.

The South Garden, which is essentially in the Gardenesque style with classical elements, contains parterre garden

The Royal Exhibition

Building was built for

the 1880 Melbourne

International Exhibition

and hosted Melbourne's

second international

exhibition, the 1888

Centennial International

Exhibition. It is one

of the great enduring

monuments to the

International Exhibition

movement, which began

in the mid-nineteenth

century.

The Royal Exhibition

Building, in its original

setting of the Carlton

Gardens, was purpose-

designed to be the

Great Hall or "Palace

of Industry", the focal

point of international

exhibitions. The scale and

grandeur of the building

reflects the values and

aspirations attached to

industrialisation and

represents its international

face.

�0

Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens

beds, significant avenues, including the “Grand Allee” and specimen and clusters of trees. The feature entrance fountain of 1880, the French fountain and a granite drinking fountain are surviving features. The South Garden continues to be used for parkland and exhibition purposes.

The North Garden was designed to be a complementary landscape that would be reinstated after the removal of the temporary exhibits in the northern portion of the site. It was restored after the 1880 exhibition with a main east‑west path and treed avenues of oak and elm.

Despite the great impact of the international exhibition movement worldwide and the impressive nature of the many buildings designed and built to hold these exhibitions, few remain. Even fewer retain their authenticity in terms of original location and condition. The Royal Exhibition Building, in its original setting of the Carlton Gardens, is one of the rare survivors.

It continues to be used as a general exhibition hall, which is unusual for surviving international exhibition buildings in other parts of the world. The authenticity of the building and gardens has ensured its association with the exhibition movement remains substantial.

Museum Victoria is responsible for the day‑to‑day management of the property in conjunction with the City of Melbourne Council which manages the Carlton Gardens. title page: The Royal Exhibition Building is one of the great enduring

monuments to the International Exhibition Movement Mark Mohell & DEWHA

top strip: The scale and grandeur of the building reflects the values and

aspirations attached to industrialisation Mark Mohell & DEWHA

top: The building continues to be used as a general exhibition hall Rodney Start,

Melbourne Museum

above: The building boasts many of the important features that made the

exhibitions so dramatic Mark Mohell & DEWHA

�1



Further information



world/royal-exhibition/index



Contact

Royal Exhibition Centre

9 Nicholson Street

Carlton Victoria 3056

Museum Victoria

GPO Box 666

Melbourne Victoria 3001

Web: www.museum.vic.gov.au/reb/

Tel: 13 11 02

Carlton Gardens

City of Melbourne

Town Hall

90-120 Swanston Street

Melbourne Victoria 3000

Web: www.melbourne.vic.gov.au


Tel: 03 9658 9658

��

Shark Bay, Western Australia

Shark Bay, Western AustraliaInscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991

��

Shark Bay



Shark Bay, Western Australia was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1991, and is one of the few properties listed for all four outstanding natural universal values:

• as an outstanding example representing the major stages in the earth's evolutionary history

• as an outstanding example representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes



Shark Bay is located on the most western point of the coast of Australia and covers 23,000 km2. The area represents a meeting point of three major climatic regions and forms a change‑over between two major groups of plant species – the South West and Eremaean provinces.

The number of species that reach the end of their range is a major feature of the region's flora. Twenty‑five per cent (283 species) of the area’s vascular plants are at the limits of their range in Shark Bay. Many vegetation associations and plant species are found only in the areas between different biological zones.

The area south of Freycinet Estuary contains the unique type of vegetation known as tree heath. There are also at least 51 species endemic to the region and others that are considered new to science.

The Shark Bay region is an area of major zoological importance, primarily due to habitats on peninsulas and islands being isolated from the disturbance that has occurred elsewhere. Of the 26 species of endangered

Australian mammals, five are found on Bernier and Dorre Islands. These are the boodie or burrowing bettong, rufous hare wallaby, banded hare wallaby, the Shark Bay mouse and the western barred bandicoot.

The Shark Bay region has a rich avifauna, and over 230 species or 35 per cent of Australia's bird species have been recorded. A number of birds attain their northern limit at Shark Bay including the regent parrot, western yellow robin, blue‑breasted fairy wren and striated pardalote.

The region is noted for the diversity of its amphibians and reptiles, supporting nearly 100 species. Again, many species are at the northern or southern limit of their range. The area is also significant for the variety of burrowing species, such as the sandhill frog, which apparently needs no surface water. Shark Bay is home to three endemic sand swimming skinks, and 10 of the 30 dragon lizard species found in Australia.

The 12 species of seagrass found in Shark Bay make it one of the most diverse seagrass assemblages in the world. Seagrass covers over 4,000 square kilometres of the bay, and the 1,030 square kilometres Wooramel Seagrass Bank is the largest structure of its type in the world.

Seagrass has contributed significantly to the evolution of Shark Bay. It has modified the physical, chemical and biological environment as well as the geology and has led to the development of major marine features such as Faure Sill. Faure Island is an emergent portion of the ‘Faure Sill’, a sandbar overlaying sandstone that crosses the eastern gulf of Shark Bay from Peron Peninsula to the mainland. Interestingly, it is this sandbar that has created the vast areas of sandy hypersaline shallows that support the famous Stromatolites of Shark Bay.

Shark Bay lies at the

most westerly point of the

Australian continent.

Its vast seagrass meadows

are the largest and richest

in the world, providing

safe haven for one of the

world’s largest dugong

populations.

Shark Bay contains, in one

place, the world’s most

diverse and abundant

examples of Stromatolites,

the oldest life form on

Earth. It is the only

place in the world with

a range of Stromatolites

comparable with fossils in

ancient rocks.

A refuge for many

rare and endangered

species, the Shark

Bay area contains

significant populations of

approximately one fifth

of Australia’s threatened

mammal species.

��


The barrier banks associated with the growth of seagrass over the last 5,000 years – and the low rainfall, high evaporation and low tidal flushing – have produced the hypersaline Hamelin Pool and L’haridon Bight. This hypersaline condition is conducive to the growth of cyanobacteria which trap and bind sediment to produce a variety of mats and structures including Stromatolites.

Stromatolites represent the oldest form of life on earth. They are representative of life‑forms which lived some 3,500 million years ago. Hamelin Pool contains the most diverse and abundant examples of Stromatolite forms in the world.

Shark Bay is renowned for its marine fauna. The population of about 10,000 dugong, for example, is one of the largest in the world, and dolphins abound, particularly at Monkey Mia.

Humpback whales use the Bay as a staging post in their migration along the coast. This species was reduced by past exploitation from an estimated population of 20,000 to around 800 whales in 1962. The population is recovering and is now estimated at up to 3,000.

Green and loggerhead turtles are found in Shark Bay near their southern limits, with loggerhead turtles nesting on the beaches of Dirk Hartog Island and Peron Peninsula. Dirk Hartog Island is the most important nesting site for loggerhead turtles in Western Australia.

Shark Bay is also an important nursery ground for larval stages of crustaceans, fishes and medusae.

The Western Australian Government is responsible for day‑to‑day management of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area.

title page: Shark Bay, Western Australia Lochman Transparencies

top strip: The largest seagrass banks in the world, covering 4,000 km2,

are found in Shark Bay Lochman Transparencies

top: The Greater Bilby has been successfully reintroduced onto the Peron

Peninsula Lochman Transparencies

above centre: Sunset over Shark Bay Lochman Transparencies

above: One of the world’s largest populations of Dugong is found in Shark Bay

where they feed on sea grasses B. Cropp, GBRMPA

��

Further information



world/shark-bay/index



Contact

Shark Bay

Department of Environment

and Conservation

89 Knight Terrace

Denham WA 6537

Web: www.sharkbay.org

Email: [email protected] or

[email protected]

Tel: 08 9948 1208



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Sydney Opera HouseSydney Opera HouseInscribed on the World Heritage List in 2007

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Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera HouseSydney Opera House was inscribed in the World Heritage List in June 2007 because of its outstanding universal cultural heritage values:

• Sydney Opera House is a great architectural work of the 20th century. It represents multiple strands of creativity, both in architectural form and structural design, a great urban sculpture carefully set in a remarkable waterscape and a world famous iconic building.

It is a masterpiece of human creative genius and a daring and visionary experiment that has had an enduring influence on the emergent architecture of the late 20th century. Jørn Utzon’s original design is a great artistic monument and an exceptional building composition responding to the Sydney Harbour setting. It comprises three groups of interlocking vaulted ‘shells’ set upon a vast terraced platform and surrounded by terrace areas that function as pedestrian concourses.

The two main halls are arranged side by side, with their long axes, slightly inclined from each other, generally running north‑south. The auditoria face south, away from the harbour with the stages located between the audience and the city. The Forecourt is a vast open space from which people ascend the stairs to the podium. The Monumental Steps, which lead up from the Forecourt to the two main performance venues, are a great ceremonial stairway nearly 100 metres wide.

The vaulted roof shells were designed by Utzon in collaboration with internationally renowned engineers Ove Arup & Partners with the final shape of the shells derived from the surface of a single imagined sphere. Each shell is composed of pre‑cast rib segments radiating from a concrete pedestal and rising to a ridge beam. The shells are faced in glazed off‑white tiles while the podium is clad in earth‑toned, reconstituted granite panels. The glass walls

are a special feature of the building, constructed according to the modified design by Utzon’s successor architect, Peter Hall.

The history surrounding the design and construction of the building is as controversial as its design. In 1956 the New South Wales Government called an open‑ended international design competition and appointed an independent jury, rather than commissioning a local firm. The competition brief provided broad specifications to attract the best design talent in the world; it did not specify design parameters or set a cost limit. The main requirement of the competition brief was a design for two performance halls, one for opera and one for symphony concerts. Reputedly rescued from a pile of discarded submissions, Jørn Utzon’s winning entry created great community interest and the New South Wales Government’s decision to commission Utzon as the sole architect was unexpected, bold and visionary. There was scepticism as to whether the structure could be built given Utzon’s limited experience, the rudimentary and unique design concept and the absence of engineering advice.

Design and construction were closely intertwined. Utzon’s radical approach to the construction of the building fostered an exceptional collaborative and innovative environment. The design solution and construction of the shell structure took eight years to complete and the development of the special ceramic tiles for the shells took over three years. The project was not helped by the changes to the brief. At the behest of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) the New South Wales Government changed the proposed larger opera hall into the concert hall because at the time, symphony concerts, managed by the ABC, were more popular and drew larger audiences than opera.

Cost overruns contributed to populist criticism and a change of government resulted in 1966 in Utzon’s resignation, street demonstrations and professional

Sydney Opera House is a masterpiece of late modern architecture. It is admired internationally, proudly treasured by the people of Australia and created by a young architect who understood and recognised the potential provided by the site against the stunning backdrop of Sydney Harbour. Denmark’s Jørn Utzon gave to a young nation a challenging, graceful, piece of urban sculpture in patterned tiles, glistening in the sunlight. Functioning as a world class performing arts centre, it is invitingly aglow at night. By day the effect is likened romantically to white, wind filled billowing sails, soaring above and contrasting with the ever changing restlessness of the sea dark harbour.

It is a rare and outstanding architectural and structural engineering achievement, stretching the boundaries of concepts of space and raising the human spirit. Sydney Opera House has become a symbol of both Sydney and the Australian nation.

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title page: Integral to Sydney’s indentity the iconic Sydney Opera House

is the focal point of the city

top strip: Situated at Bennelong Point the Sydney Opera House is adjacent

to Circular Quay at the West and is a brilliant response to its maritime setting

top: The glossy tiles create a surface that responds to changing light

above: An extract of the spherical solution to the shell geometry as drawn

by Rafael Moneo who worked in Utzon’s Hellebaek officeAll images: Sydney Opera House

controversy. Peter Hall supported by Lionel Todd and David Littlemore in conjunction with the then New South Wales Government Architect, Ted Farmer completed the glass walls and interiors including adding three previously unplanned venues underneath the Concert Hall on the western side. Opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973, new works were undertaken between 1986 and 1988 to the land approach and Forecourt under the supervision of the then New South Wales Government Architect, Andrew Andersons, with contributions by Peter Hall.

In 1999, Jørn Utzon was re‑engaged as Sydney Opera House architect to develop a set of design principles to act as a guide for all future changes to the building. These principles reflect his original vision and help to ensure that the building’s architectural integrity is maintained.

Utzon’s first major project was the refurbishment of the Reception Hall into a stunning, light filled space which highlights the original concrete ‘beams’ and a wall‑length tapestry designed by Utzon which hangs opposite the harbour outlook. Noted for its excellent acoustics, it is the only authentic Utzon‑designed space at Sydney Opera House and was renamed the Utzon Room in his honour in 2004.

This project was followed by the first alteration to the exterior of the building with the addition of a new Colonnade along the western side, which shades nine new large glass openings into the previously solid exterior wall. This Utzon‑led project, which was completed in 2006, gave the theatre foyers their first view of Sydney Harbour. The foyers’ interiors are now being renovated to Utzon’s specifications, to become a coherent attractive space for patrons. The design also incorporates the first public lift and interior escalators to assist less mobile patrons.

Utzon has also been working on designs to renovate the ageing and inadequate Opera Theatre. On all projects, he has worked with his architect son Jan, and Sydney‑based architect Richard Johnson of Johnson Pilton Walker.

In 2003 he received the Pritzker Prize, international architecture’s highest honour.

Sydney Opera House

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Port Jackson

Royal Botanic Gardens

SydneyHarbourBridge

THE ROCKS

Circular Quay

KIRRIBILLI

1500 300m


Sydney CBD

Parks and Gardens

World Heritage Area

Water bodies

Sydney Opera House

Further information


www.environment.gov.au/heritage/

places/world/sydney-opera-house/index



Contacts

The World Heritage Centre

United Nations Educational, Scientific

and Cultural Organization

7, place de Fontenoy

75352 Paris 07 SP, France

Tel: +33-(0)1-45 68 15 71 /

+33-(0)1-45 68 18 76

Fax: +33-(0)1-45 68 55 70


Sydney Opera House

GPO Box 4274

Sydney NSW 2001

Tel: 02 9250 7111

Web: www.sydneyoperahouse.com


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Tasmanian WIldernessTasmanian WildernessInscribed on the World Heritage list in 1982;

updated in 1989

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Tasmanian Wilderness


The Tasmanian Wilderness was inscribed on the World

Heritage List for its outstanding natural and cultural

universal values under the following criteria:

Natural• outstanding examples representing the major stages of

the earth's evolutionary history

• outstanding examples representing significant ongoing

geological processes, biological evolution and man’s

interaction with his natural environment; as distinct from

the periods of the Earth’s development, this focuses upon

ongoing processes in the development of communities

of plants and animals, landforms and marine and fresh

water bodies

• contain superlative natural phenomena, formations or

features, for instance outstanding examples of the most

important ecosystems, areas of exceptional natural

beauty or exceptional combination of natural and cultural

elements

• contain the most important and significant natural

habitats where threatened species of animals and plants

of outstanding universal value from the point of view of

science or conservation still survive.

Cultural

• a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a civilisation

which has disappeared

• an outstanding example of a traditional human

settlement which is representative of a culture and which

has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible

change

• directly or tangibly associated with events or with ideas

or beliefs of outstanding universal significance.

Covering approximately 20 per cent of Tasmania, the

Tasmanian Wilderness is one of the largest conservation

reserves in Australia. At 13,800 km2, it is one of the three

largest temperate wilderness areas remaining in the

Southern Hemisphere.

The rugged and spectacular landscapes of the Tasmanian

Wilderness contain rocks from almost every geological

period, the oldest being formed about 1,100 million years

ago during the Precambrian period. Some of the deepest

and longest caves in Australia and other spectacular karst

landscapes are found here.

Due to the diversity of its vegetation the region is recognised

as an International Centre for Plant Diversity by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The

highly varied flora ranging from open and closed forests

through to buttongrass moorland and alpine communities

occurs in a unique mosaic of Antarctic and Australian

elements. The Antarctic element consists of species

descended from those present on the supercontinent

Gondwana.

Some of the longest lived trees in the world such as Huon

pines (Lagarostrobos) and other native conifers grow in the

area. Nothofagus is an ancient plant genus of Gondwanan

ancestry, represented in the area by N. cunninghamii and

Australia’s only winter deciduous tree, N. gunnii. Some of the

tallest flowering plants in the world, Eucalyptus regnans,

grow here. The area contains approximately 255, or 63 per

cent, of Tasmania's endemic vascular plant species.

The fauna is also of global significance because it includes

an unusually high proportion of endemic species and relict

groups of ancient lineage. The diverse topography, geology,

soils and vegetation, in association with harsh and variable

The Tasmanian Wilderness

contains some of the last

remaining expanses of

temperate rainforest in the

southern hemisphere.

With living evidence of

its ancient Gondwanan

heritage, the area is

internationally recognised

as a hotspot for plant

diversity and endemicity.

The landscape is graced

with some of the world’s

longest lived trees and

inhabited by the world’s

largest carnivorous

marsupials.

Rock art and remains in

limestone caves attest to

the human occupation

of the area for at least

30,000 years. This is one

of the richest and best

preserved collections of Ice

Age sites anywhere in the

world.

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Tasmanian W

ilderness

climatic conditions, combine to create a wide array of animal habitats. Many groups of marsupials and burrowing freshwater crayfish have survived as relicts of the Gondwanan fauna.

The insularity of Tasmania, and of the Tasmanian Wilderness in particular, has contributed to its uniqueness. The area remains a stronghold for several animals such as the Tasmanian devil, Tasmanian pademelon, eastern quoll and ground parrot, that are either extinct or threatened on mainland Australia.

Fauna endemic to the region include the moss froglet, Pedra Branca skink, Pedder galaxias and invertebrate groups with a high proportion of species entirely or primarily restricted to the area, such as freshwater crayfish, mountain shrimps, stoneflies, caddisflies, landhoppers and harvestmen.

The area's cultural World Heritage values relate to Aboriginal occupation.

Archaeological surveys have revealed an exceptionally rich and important collection of Aboriginal sites, including Kutikina Cave. These places, along with all of the World Heritage property’s Aboriginal sites, are extremely important to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community for their exceptional cultural, emotional and spiritual value.

Over 40 sites have been located in the south west inland river valleys that indicate human occupation dating to at least 30,000 years ago. When these places were occupied the climate was significantly colder and drier than it is now, and the sites reveal the distinctive ways the Tasmanian Aboriginal community developed to survive climate change and Ice Age conditions.

This group of places, which also includes rock art sites, forms one of the richest and best‑preserved collections of Ice Age sites found anywhere in the world. During the periods of earliest occupation, the Aboriginal people of the region are believed to have been the most southerly people on earth.

Day‑to‑day management of the area is the responsibility of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage and the Arts). Specialist advice is provided to the Service by:

• Resource Management and Conservation Division (Department of Primary Industries and Water)

• Aboriginal Heritage Office (Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage

title page: Gondwanan relict Nothofagus cunninghamii and the world’s

tallest heath Richea pandanifolia

top strip: View across some of the area’s extensive, high quality

temperate wilderness

top: The Marakoopa Cave system is simply spectacular

above: Tarn and Tasmanian endemic Pencil pines, whose stronghold is

the World Heritage AreaAll images: Tasmania Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage and the Arts. Joe Shemesh

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and the Arts).

Further information



world/tasmanian-wilderness/index



Contact


Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service

GPO Box 1751

Hobart TAS 7001

Web: www.parks.tas.gov.au/wha/

whahome.html

Tel: 03 6233 2270



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Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National ParkUluru-Kata Tjuta National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1987 (Stage 1)

and 1994 (Stage 2)

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Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park was inscribed on the World

Heritage List in two stages, initially for its outstanding

universal natural values (1987) and then for its outstanding

universal cultural values (1994).

Natural

• as an example of ongoing geological processes

• as an example of exceptional natural beauty and combination of natural and cultural elements.

Cultural

• as an outstanding example of traditional human land use

• being directly associated with living traditions and beliefs of outstanding universal significance.

The park covers 1,325 km2 of arid ecosystems and is

located close to the centre of Australia in the traditional

lands of Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal people

(locally known as Anangu).

The huge rock formations of Uluru and Kata Tjuta are

remarkable geological and landform features, set in a

contrasting, relatively flat, sand‑plain environment. They are

a part of an important cultural landscape and have special

significance to Anangu.

The features of Uluru, Kata Tjuta and the surrounding

landscape are physical evidence of the actions, artefacts

and bodies of the ancestral heroes (Tjukuritja) who travelled

the earth in creation times. These heroic beings, who

combined the attributes of humans and animals, journeyed

across the landscape creating not only its features, but

also Tjukurpa (the law) – the code of behaviour followed by

Anangu today.

Tjukurpa regulates all aspects of life, from foraging

behaviour and management of the landscape to social

relationships and personal identity. It is expressed in

verbal narratives, through lengthy inma (song cycles and

associated ritual), art and the landscape itself. For Anangu

the landscape is the narratives, songs and art of Tjukurpa.

Anangu learned how to patch burn the country from

Tjukurpa of lungkata, the blue tongued lizard. Now, in

conjunction with modern methods, the cool season practice

of lighting small fires close together leaves burnt and

unburnt areas in a pattern like a mosaic. This traditional

knowledge is adopted as a major ecological management

tool in the park. Tjukurpa also teaches about the location

and care of rock holes and other water sources.

Uluru is a huge, rounded, red sandstone monolith 9.4

kilometres in circumference rising from the plain to a height

of over 340 metres. Rock art in the caves around its base

provides further evidence of the enduring cultural traditions

of Anangu.

About 32 kilometres to the west of Uluru lie the 36 steep‑

sided domes of Kata Tjuta. The domes cover an area of 35

square kilometres, with the highest rising to 500 metres

above the plain. This area is sacred under Anangu men’s law

and detailed knowledge is restricted.

These huge rock formations, their creek lines, waterholes

and the surrounding sand country vegetation is an arid

environment of enormous diversity.

The Uluru-Kata Tjuta

World Heritage Area

features two of the

world’s most spectacular

geological formations.

Uluru, an immense rock

formation, and Kata Tjuta,

the rock domes located

west of Uluru, form a

fundamental part of the

traditional belief system of

one of the oldest human

societies in the world.

The enormous rock

formations dominate

the surrounding vast

red sandy plain of

central Australia, which

provides habitat for an

incredible variety of rare

or threatened plants and

animals.

The traditional owners

of Uluru-Kata Tjuta are

known as Anangu.

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Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park

The landscape is dominated by spinifex and low shrubs, with large

desert oaks dotted on the sand dunes and plains. Sizeable areas

of mulga woodland and other low shrubs also occur on dunes

and swales. The alluvial flow areas at the base of the major rock

formations support large bloodwoods, acacias and native grasses.

Water holes and soaks provide restricted habitats for a number of

rare and unique plant species. Larger stands of mulga and other

acacias dominate the harder, wide, sand plain surrounding Uluru

and Kata Tjuta.

Anangu’s traditional ecological knowledge is critical to the ongoing

scientific management of the species found in these habitats.

The park is home to more than 150 species of birds and

many reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates adapted to arid

environments.

A number of rare mammals are found here, including the hairy‑

footed dunnart, the sandhill dunnart and the mulgara. The mala, a

significant Tjukurpa species, has recently been re‑introduced .

Reptile species are well adapted to this arid environment and are

found in numbers unparalleled anywhere else in the world. Lizard

species include the rare giant desert skink and Australia’s largest

lizard, the perentie, which can grow to a length of 2.5 metres.

The inalienable freehold title to Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park

was handed back to the traditional owners in 1985 and is held

by the Uluru‑Kata Tjuta Aboriginal Land Trust. The park is leased

back to the Director of National Parks and is jointly managed

under the direction of a Board of Management which has an

Aboriginal majority representing the traditional owners. Day‑to‑

day management is carried out by Parks Australia, a division of

the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water,

Heritage and the Arts.

title page: Uluru at sunset, Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park. The huge rock

formations of Uluru and Kata Tjuta are remarkable geological and landform

features, set in a contrasting, relatively flat, sand‑plain environment

Michael Nelson

top strip: Kata Tjuta, Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park ‑ A Living Cultural Landscape.

This area is sacred under Anangu men's law and, as such, detailed knowledge is

restricted. Michael Nelson

top: Anangu artist, Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park Michael Nelson

above: Elsie Wanatjura digging for honey ants. Parks Australia, DEWHA

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Wet Tropics of Queensland

Further information


www.environment.gov.au/heritage/ places/world/uluru/index



Contact


PO Box 119 Yulara NT 0872

Web: www.environment.gov.au/parks/ uluru/index.html Email: [email protected] Tel: 08 8956 1100



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Wet Tropics of QueenslandInscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988


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The Wet Tropics of Queensland was inscribed on the World

Heritage List in 1988 in recognition of its outstanding natural

universal values:

• as an outstanding example representing the major stages

in the earth's evolutionary history

• as an outstanding example representing significant

ongoing ecological and biological processes


• containing important and significant habitats for in situ

conservation of biological diversity.

The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area lies between Townsville

and Cooktown on the north‑east coast of Queensland and

covers an area of approximately 8,940 km2.

It is a region of spectacular scenery and rugged topography

with fast‑flowing rivers, deep gorges and numerous

waterfalls. Mountain summits provide expansive vistas of

undisturbed rainforests. One of the largest rainforest areas

in Australia centres around the Daintree River valley. The

association of fringing coral reefs and rainforest coastline

in the Cape Tribulation region is not found elsewhere in

Australia and is rare in the world.

The Wet Tropics provides the only habitat for numerous rare

species of plants and animals. There are 380 plants and

102 animals in the Wet Tropics that are considered rare or

threatened. These species include 40 rare animal species,

including the northern bettong, the spotted‑tailed quoll, the

yellow‑bellied glider and the southern cassowary.

The vegetation is predominantly rainforest, but includes

mixtures with sclerophyll tree species occurring as

emergent and co‑dominant species in the canopy. Fringing

the rainforests are tall, open forest, and tall, medium and

low woodland. A striking and unique feature is the sharp

demarcation between the rainforest and adjacent sclerophyll

vegetation.

The Wet Tropics rainforests contain an almost complete

record of the major stages in the evolution of plant life on

earth. Many rainforest species originated when Australia was

still part of Gondwana.

These rainforests are floristically and structurally the most

diverse in Australia. They include 13 major structural types,

further classified into 64 broad plant communities. Mangrove

forests cover 136 km2 hectares. Their floristic diversity

is the highest of any mangrove community in Australia

and comparable with that of any in the world; 29 'species

associations' have been defined.

Of particular importance are the primitive flowering plants

in the rainforests. Of 19 families of angiosperms recognised

as primitive, 13 are found in the Wet Tropics. Two of these are

confined to the area. This gives the Wet Tropics the highest

concentration of such families on earth.

The rainforests are important as habitats for the

conservation of the plant family proteaceae, in particular the

more primitive genera of the family. These genera represent

the nearest relatives of the ancestors of the sclerophyll

types, for example, banksias, grevilleas, persoonias, that

form a major part of the Australian flora.

There is a large number of plant species with very restricted

distribution within the Wet Tropics. There are some

curiosities, including one of the largest and one of the

The Wet Tropics is a

hotspot for biodiversity

and has the world’s

highest concentration of

primitive flowering plant

families.

Hundreds of rare and

primitive species are

found here, including

cycads, ferns, the southern

cassowary, several species

of gliders and possums,

the musky rat kangaroo

and tree kangaroos.

Distinctive birdsong, frog

calls and butterflies fill the

forests with vibrant sound

and colour.

This is one of the few

places in the world where

fringing coral reef meets

rainforest that stretches up

precipitous slopes of the

area’s misty mountains.

This breathtaking

landscape of crater lakes

and spectacular waterfalls

and gorges is still cared for

by Rainforest Aboriginal

people.

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smallest cycads in the world. The area has the richest concentration of ferns and fern allies in Australia (65 per cent of Australia's fern species), including 46 species restricted to the area.

The rainforests also contain a number of unique marsupials, including the musky rat kangaroo, which is probably the most primitive surviving kangaroo species.

The Wet Tropics is home to 30 per cent of Australia's marsupial species, 58 per cent of bat species, 29 per cent of frog species, 20 per cent of reptile species, 58 per cent of the butterfly species and 40 per cent of bird species. There are around 85 species of vertebrate animals unique to the area.

Aboriginal occupation of the area probably dates back to the earliest human occupation of Australia (c. 50,000 years BP), and one of the recorded stories appears to describe the volcanic activity that produced some crater lakes (up to 20,000 years ago), when the rainforests were smaller than today.

The district is a rich environment for Aboriginal hunter gatherers. About 18 Rainforest Aboriginal tribal groups occupied the area, and used a range of forest products including several toxic plants that required complex treatment to make them safe to eat. Such intensive use of toxic food plants is not recorded elsewhere.

The Wet Tropics holds great significance for the local Aboriginal communities, which identify as 'rainforest people'.

The management of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area is on three levels. A State and Commonwealth Ministerial Council coordinates policies and funding. The Wet Tropics Management Authority is responsible for general planning and policy development, advised by Rainforest Aboriginal Advisory, Community Consultative and Scientific Advisory Committees. The Queensland Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Natural Resources and Water manage the day‑to‑day aspects of the Wet Tropics.

title page: The spectacular Wallaman Falls near Ingham is Australia's longest

single drop waterfall (305m) Townsville Enterprise Ltd

top strip: The Babinda Boulders, south of Cairns, hold great significance for

local Aboriginal people Tourism Tropical North Queensland

top: The rainforest meets the sea on the Daintree Coast ‑ a rare combination

in Australia and the rest of the world DEWHA Collection

above centrre: The bright colours of fruits from rainforest trees attract birds

and bats Wet Tropics Management Authority

above: The rainforest contains a number of unique marsupials including the

musky rat‑kangaroo, the smallest and most primitive surviving member of

the kangaroo species Mike Trenerry

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Further information



world/wet-tropics/index


http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/486.htm

Contact

Wet Tropics Management Authority

PO Box 2050

Cairns QLD 4870

Web: www.wettropics.gov.au


Tel: 07 4052 0555


www.epa.qld.gov.au/parks_and_forests/

world_heritage_areas/wet_tropics/



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Willandra Lakes RegionWillandra Lakes RegionInscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981

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The region was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981 for both outstanding natural and cultural universal values:

Natural

• as an outstanding example representing the major stages in the earth's evolutionary history

• as an outstanding example representing significant ongoing geological processes.

Cultural

• bearing an exceptional testimony to a past civilisation.

The Willandra Lakes Region covers 2,400 km2 of a semi‑arid landscape mosaic in the Murray Basin area of far south‑western New South Wales. It comprises dried saline lake bed plains vegetated with saltbush communities, fringing sand dunes and woodlands with grassy understoreys.

The region contains a system of Pleistocene lakes, formed over the last two million years. These lakes are now dry. Most are fringed on the eastern shore by a crescent‑shaped dune, referred to as a ‘lunette’, that was formed by the prevailing winds.

Today, the lake beds are flat plains vegetated by salt tolerant low bushes and grasses. Part of the World Heritage property is gazetted as the Mungo National Park, which covers about two‑thirds of Lake Mungo and includes the spectacular parts of the Walls of China lunette. The remaining area comprises pastoral leasehold properties. Joulni Station at the southern end of the Mungo lunette is of cultural significance to the three Traditional Tribal Groups.

There are five large, interconnected, dry lake basins and 14 smaller basins varying in area from 6 to 350 km2. The original

source for the lakes was a creek flowing from the Eastern Highlands to the Murray River. When the Willandra Billabong Creek ceased to replenish the lakes, they dried in series from south to north over a period of several thousand years, each becoming progressively more saline.

The ancient shorelines are stratified into three major layers of sediments that were deposited at different stages in the lakes' history.

The lakes were full of deep, relatively fresh water for a period of 30,000 years that came to an end 19,000 years ago. The earliest sediments are more than 50,000 years old and are orange‑red in colour. Above are clays, clean quartz sand and soil that were deposited along the lakes' edges when the lakes were full. The top layer is composed largely of wind‑blown clay particles heaped up on the lunettes during periods of fluctuating water levels, before the lakes finally dried up.

Indigenous people have lived in the Willandra Lakes Region for at least 50,000 years. Excavations in 1968 uncovered the cremated remains of ‘Mungo Lady’ in the dunes of Lake Mungo. At 40,000 years old, this is believed to be the oldest site of ritual cremation in the world. In 1974, the ochred burial of a male Aborigine was found nearby. The skeleton, known as ‘Mungo Man’, is believed to be 40,000 years old.

In 2003, nearly 460 fossilised human footprints were discovered, the largest collection of its kind in the world. The prints were made by children, adolescents and adults 19,000 to 23,000 years ago in wet clay. The clay, containing calcium carbonate, hardened like concrete, and a layer of clay and sand protected the prints.

A place of stark beauty,

the Willandra Lakes

Region is unique, showing

how climate, wind and

water have shaped the

landscape over the last

2,000,000 years. Human

remains found here are

crucial to improving our

understanding of the

human settlement

of Australia.

The region contains

powerful fossil evidence

of ongoing human

occupation dating back

45-60,000 years.

Once a lush environment

teeming with water and

animal life, the now-dry

lakes and dunes have

yielded well-preserved

fossils of over 55 animal

species, including giant

mammals. The fossil

record also provides

evidence of people

adapting to changes in

climatic conditions.

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During the last Ice Age, when the lakes were full, the Mungo people camped along the lake shore, taking advantage of a wide range of food including freshwater mussels, yabbies, golden perch and Murray cod, large emus and a variety of marsupials, which probably included the now extinct giant kangaroos. They also exploited plant resources, particularly when the lakes began to dry and food was less abundant.

The human history of the region is not restricted just to an ancient episode. Evidence so far points to an extraordinary continuity of occupation over long periods of time. In the top layers of sediments there is abundant evidence of occupation over the last 10,000 years.

The vegetation in the region, sparse though it is, is typical of the semi‑arid zone. It plays an important role in stabilising the landscape and hence maintaining its sediment strata and many species of native fauna.

Small scrubby multi‑stemmed mallee eucalypts are found on the dunes, with an understorey of herbs and grasses. Rosewood‑belah woodland is common on the sand plains. In the lake beds, several species of saltbush are able to thrive in the saline conditions.

The remains of a large number of animals have been found in the Willandra Lakes Region. More than 55 species have been identified, 40 of which are no longer found in the region, and 11 of which are extinct.

Twenty‑two species of mammals are currently recorded. Bats are the most diverse group, and there are some 40 species of reptiles and amphibians.

The bird life of the Willandra Lakes Region is similar to that in many other semi‑arid areas of Australia. Parrots, cockatoos and finches are the most conspicuous of the 137 recorded species.

Policy coordination and funding are joint responsibilities of the State and Commonwealth with advice from the Community Management Council, the Technical and Scientific Advisory Committee and the Elders Council. Day‑to‑day management is the responsibility of the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and the New South Wales Department of Lands. The Elders Council advises on Indigenous cultural matters.

title page: Human footprints made in the last ice age Michael Amendolia,

reproduced with the kind permission of the Willandra Lakes Three Traditional Tribes Elders Council

top strip: The Willandra Lakes Region is a place of stark

beauty Mark Mohell & DEWHA

top: Animal bones in a fossil dune Mark Mohell & DEWHA

above: The Walls of China is a spectacular lunette that encircles

the ancient lakebed’s eastern shore Mark Mohell & DEWHA

��


Further information


www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/willandra/index



Contact

Willandra Lakes Region The Willandra Lakes Executive Officer

C/- New South Wales National Parks & Wildlife Service PO Box 318 Buronga NSW 2739

Web: www.environment.nsw.gov.au Email: [email protected] Tel: 03 5021 8900


��


��

Fraser Island Paul Candlin

�8

Allosyncarpia A large, spreading, shady tree that is found

only in the Kakadu and Arnhem Land region.

Alluvial Flow Landscape features produced by deposits of

mud, clay, silt, gravel or sand; made by a stream.

Angiosperm A name given to flowering plants whose seeds

are found inside a developing ovary (fruit).

Araucaria: A genus of conifers consisting of about 18

species. There are three Australian members of the genus:

A. bidwillii (the bunya pine), A. cunninghamii (the hoop pine

from Queensland and New South Wales) and A. heterophylla

(the Norfolk Island pine).

BP Abbreviation of ‘Before Present’.

Biota Relating to life; living things.

Cay A low island or reef of sand or coral.

Caldera A large crater caused by the violent explosion of a

volcano that collapses into a depression.

Community (Ecology) A group of plants and animals living

and interacting with one another in a specific region under

relatively similar environmental conditions (eg a forest).

Cyanobacteria A grouping of bacteria that obtain their

energy through photosynthesis. They are often referred to

as blue‑green algae. Fossil traces of cyanobacteria have

been found from around 3.5 billion years ago. Cyanobacteria

are one of the largest and most important groups of bacteria

on earth.

Cycads Palmlike woody plants (in the order Cycadales).

They have crowns of large, feathery compound leaves and

cones at the ends of their branches. Some are tall with

unbranched, armourlike trunks; others have partially buried

stems with swollen trunks.

Echinoderms Invertebrate marine animals (eg sea

urchins, sea lilies and starfish) which are usually radially

symmetrical, have a chalky or calcified internal skeleton and

are often covered with spines.

Family A broad grouping of life forms believed to have a

distant common ancestry, and sharing many general traits.

Families are further subdivided into genera, and genera into

species. Family names usually end in ‘‑aceae’ for plants and

‘‑idea’ for animals.

Genus (Plural ‘genera’) A collective term used to incorporate

like‑species into one group. The first part of the Latin name

of any life form refers to the genus.

Gymnosperm Seed‑bearing plants; differ from angiosperms

in having naked seeds not enclosed in an ovary. Examples

are pine, cypress and cycad.

Karst A type of topography, terrain or landscape that is

formed over limestone, dolomite or gypsum by solution

of the rock and is characterised by closed depressions

or sinkholes, caves and underground drainage. Karst

landscapes have complex physical and biological

characteristics that are often unique to each system.

Lunette A broad, low‑lying, typically crescent‑shaped

mound of sandy or loamy matter that is formed by the wind,

especially along the windward side of a lake basin.

Medusae The tentacled, usually bell‑shaped, free‑swimming

sexual stage in the life cycle of a coelenterate, such as a

jellyfish.

Megafauna Comparatively large animals that once lived in

Australia.

Midden (Archaeology): A mound or deposit containing

shells, animal bones, and other refuse that indicates a site

of a human settlement.

Monotreme Monotremes are the world’s only egg‑laying

mammals. The order ‘Monotremata’ includes just three

species ‑‑ the platypus and the short and long‑nosed

echidnas. Home base for monotremes is Australia. They are

also found on some nearby islands except for the long‑

nosed echidna, which is found only on the island of New

Guinea.

Myrtaceae The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family is a family of

flowering plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle,

clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here.

The plants are mostly woody, with essential oils, and most

flower parts in multiples of five.

Order A grouping of one or more families.

Outlier (Geology) A portion of stratified rock separated from

a main formation by erosion.

Plume volcanism A rising hot bubble of material finds its

way into the crust of the Earth from the deep interior, and

erupts material onto the surface. This bubble or ‘plume’ is

called a ‘hot spot’. Lava from the eruption turns to layers

of rock and builds a volcanic ‘cone’. Continual eruptions

eventually build a whole island on the surface.

Persoonia A genus of about 100 species in the plant

family Proteaceae, including plants commonly known as

‘geebungs’ or ‘snottygobbles’. All species are endemic to

Australia, growing in the form of shrubs and small trees.

They are widespread in non‑arid regions and most are

concentrated in the subtropical to temperate parts of south

eastern and south western Australia, including Tasmania.

Glossary

�9

Precambrian The geological period before the Cambrian period, ie before

about 542 million years ago. (See the geological timeline on page 81).

Plume volcanism This term describes the way that some volcanoes are

made. A rising hot bubble of material finds its way into the crust of the

Earth from the deep interior, and erupts material onto the surface. Lava

from the eruption turns to layers of rock and builds a volcanic ‘cone’.

Continual eruptions eventually build a whole island on the surface.

Proteaceae A large family of flowering plants, with about 1500 species

of evergreen trees, shrubs, and herbs. The family is in the order

Proteales and includes the genera Protea, Banksia, Grevillea, Hakea,

Dryandra and Macadamia.

Sclerophyll forest A typically Australian vegetation type consisting

of plants with hard, thick‑skinned leaves that are resistant to drought.

Examples of the plants are many eucalypts, banksias, grevilleas and

wattles.

Simosthenurus gilli Was the smallest of the short faced leaf eating

kangaroos.

Speleothems Commonly called stalagmites and stalactites,

speleothems are formed from secondary deposition of calcite,

aragonite, or other minerals in caves.

Stromatolite Mats of microbes built from cyanobacteria known as blue‑

green algae and other microscopic organisms. The origin of these rock‑

like structures, which were known only as fossils, puzzled geologists

for centuries until living examples were found in Hamelin Pool, Shark

Bay in 1954. Stromatolites – literally ‘layered rocks’ – are the oldest

fossils of life on earth with some examples dating to 3.5 billion years

old. The examples at Shark Bay are relatively modern, being about 3000

years old.

Swales A linear hollow or depression found between dunes. Generally

marshy or swampy, or may contain small lakes.

Thylacine The pouched dog (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also known as

the Tasmanian Tiger, is a large carnivorous marsupial now believed to

be extinct. It was once found across Australia and although the precise

reasons for its extinction from the mainland are unknown, it probably

declined in competition with the then introduction of the dingo. The

thylacine became extinct on the mainland not less than 2000 years

ago and now appears to be extinct in Tasmania as well.

Thylacoleo carnifex Commonly referred to as a ‘Marsupial Lion’, largely

because of the cat‑like nature of its skull and its carnivorous habit.

Vascular plants Plants that have specialised tissues for conducting

water. They include the ferns, clubmosses, horsetails, flowering plants,

conifers and other gymnosperms. The vascular tissues enable the

plants to evolve to a larger size. Non‑vascular plants lack these and

are restricted to relatively small sizes.

Seal, Macquarie Island Mike Preece

80

EON ERA PERIOD/EPOCH SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN AUSTRALIA’S BIOLOGICAL & GEOLOGICAL HISTORY

PHAN

EROZ

OIC

CENO

ZOIC

NEOG

ENE

HOLOCENE 11,�00 years

In Australia climates and biota were more or less as at present. Sea level reached its present level about 6000 years ago so the present day coastline started to form. The present phase of Great Barrier Reef growth commenced about 7000 years ago as the shelf flooded.

PLEISTOCENE 1.81 million years

Aborigines arrive between 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. Extinction of most megafaunal species (e.g. of kind represented at Naracoorte) around 35,000 years ago. Dingos introduced about 4000 years ago. Cool/dry climates and low sea levels alternated with warm/wet climates and high sea levels as polar ice caps expanded and contracted. Sea levels varied by around 120‑130 metres with climate cycles, exposing land bridges to Tasmania and Papua‑New Guinea.

PLIOCENE �.�� million years

Australia drifts into lower latitudes, cools and dries out. Rainforests continue to decline and eucalypts and grasslands spread. First appearance of a variety of modern types of animals including specialised grazers. Many lineages becoming gigantic.

MIOCENE ��.0� million years

Early to middle Miocene characterised by lush forests (e.g. at Riversleigh). Australia crashes into south‑eastern Asia soon after which rodents enter. By late Miocene, rainforests decline and grasslands begin to spread.

PALA

EOGE

NE

OLIGOCENE ��.9 million years

By end of Oligocene, koalas, kangaroos, possums and other modern families present. Fossil deposits in Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland contain diverse vertebrate faunas, most indicative of forest communities. Antarctic Ice Sheet develops.

EOCENE ��.8 million years

Rainforest covers much of southern Australia. Australia’s oldest marsupials, bats, frogs and snakes (Murgon) present. Non‑marine mammals known from Antarctica – where forests still existed but became stunted as the climate cooled and glaciers formed. Australia separates from Antarctica and begins to move rapidly north.

PALEOCENE ��.� million years

World climates mostly cool with a short warm phase. Mammals begin to diversify on all continents following decline of dinosaurs. First horses, primates, carnivores and other groups appear. Marsupials diversify at least in South America.

MES

OZOI

C

CRETACEOUS 1��.� million years

Early in this period, much of Australia is covered by shallow seas. Giant aquatic reptiles abound. Flowering plants appear and spread rapidly; conifers and cycads decline. Dinosaurs and many other groups become extinct by the end of this period. Australia’s oldest known monotreme is a platypus‑like animal. Australia’s oldest birds recorded. Australia and Antarctica separate.

JURASSIC 199.� million years

Australia’s climate is warm and wet. Conifers, cycads and ferns abundant. Large plant‑eating and aquatic reptiles abundant. Ray‑finned fishes present. Earliest birds found in Northern Hemisphere. Mammals diversify but as tiny, mouse‑sized creatures. Gondwana begins to break up and Australia begins to move north.

TRIASSIC ��1.0 million years

Mammal‑like reptiles present on all continents. Australia’s climate warmer and drier. Insects, amphibians and primitive reptiles well‑represented. First mammals known from many continents but not Australia. Many groups became extinct or steeply declined at the end of this period.

PALA

EOZO

IC

PERMIAN �99.0 million years

Glaciers cover parts of Gondwana, including southern and western Australia, in early part. Climate later more temperate with swamp forests. Insects, fish and early amphibians plentiful but, in Australia, no reptiles. Trilobites become extinct. The earth’s biggest extinction occurred at the end of this period.

CARBONIFEROUS ��9.� million years

Warm conditions at first; later, glaciers cover much of Gondwana as it moves towards the South Pole. Club moss forests die out and are replaced by hardier seed ferns. Many kinds of fishes and amphibians. First reptiles appear in Northern Hemisphere.

DEVONIAN �1�.0 million years

Plants spread from water margins into swampy areas forming thick vegetation with tree‑like club mosses and ferns. Fish of many kinds, including lungfish, sharks and armoured fish in sea and freshwaters. First amphibians develop and venture onto the land. Large coral reefs developed.

SILURIAN ��.� million years

Life colonises the land. Land plants evolve from seaweeds. Jawless fish and sea ‘scorpions’ live in freshwaters. First fish with jaws appear in seas. First coral reefs formed.

ORDOVICIAN �88.� million years

Varieties of sea life become extensive including trilobites, brachiopods, bivalves, nautiloids and crinoids. Some nautiloids and trilobites became very large

CAMBRIAN ��.0 million years

No life on land, but seas teeming with life including jellyfish, sea anemones, sponges, trilobites, brachiopods and molluscs. First jawless fish evolve

PROT

EROZ

OIC

��00

mill

ion

year

s

EDIACARAN ��0 million years

Last geological period of the Neoproterozoic Era. Name derives from the Ediacara Hills in South Australia where fossils of this period were first found. The fossils are all soft‑bodied marine organisms, thought to be the earliest multicellular forms of life. Near the end of this period the first shelled invertebrates appeared.

Immediately before the Ediacaran, there were at least three episodes of very extensive glaciation which may have covered the entire planet in ice (‘Snowball Earth’). Earlier in the Proterozoic oxygen became more abundant in the atmosphere. Only single celled organisms such as bacteria and algae existed.

ARCH

AEAN

��

�0 m

illio

n ye

ars

Formation and development of Earth’s crust, atmosphere and oceans. Life evolves from organic compounds at least as early as 3500 million years ago. Later, with the development of photosynthesis, some bacteria produce oxygen which forms ozone layer that shields Earth from lethal UV radiation. Oldest dated mineral on earth is a zircon from Western Australia with an age of 4400 million years. Earth is thought to have formed about 4560 million years ago.

Australia’s Geological Timeline

81

The World Heritage Convention

BackgroundThe Convention Concerning the Protection of the World

Cultural and Natural Heritage (the World Heritage

Convention) was adopted by the UNESCO General

Conference at its 17th session in Paris on 16 November

1972. The Convention came into force in 1975.

In August 1974, Australia became one of the first countries

to ratify the Convention. Since then the number of countries

that have become States Parties to the Convention has

increased to 185 (as at November 2007). The Convention is

considered the most successful global instrument for the

protection of cultural and natural heritage.

AimsThe World Heritage Convention promotes cooperation among

nations, in order to protect heritage that is of outstanding

universal value and ensure its conservation for current and

future generations.

It is intended that, unlike the seven wonders of the

ancient world, properties on the World Heritage List will be

conserved for all time.

States Parties to the Convention commit themselves to

ensure the identification, protection, conservation, and

presentation of World Heritage properties. They recognise

that the identification and safeguarding of heritage located

in their territory is primarily their responsibility. They agree

to do all they can, using their own resources and, at times

with international assistance, to protect their World Heritage

properties. They agree, among other things, to as far as

possible:

• ‘adopt a general policy that aims to give the cultural and natural heritage a function in the life of the community and to integrate the protection of that heritage into comprehensive planning programs’.

• undertake ‘ appropriate legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary for the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and rehabilitation of this heritage’.

• refrain from ‘any deliberate measures which might damage, directly or indirectly, the cultural and natural

heritage’ of other Parties to the Convention, and to help

other Parties in the identification and protection of their

properties.

World Heritage CommitteeThe Convention is administered by a World Heritage

Committee, which consists of 21 members elected from

States that are Parties to the Convention. Elections are

held every two years. Australia has been a member of the

Committee on a number of occasions and was elected to a

four year term in October 2007.

The Committee’s main tasks are to:

• decide on the inscription of new properties on the World

Heritage List

• discuss all matters relating to the implementation of the

Convention

• consider requests for international assistance

• ensure States meet their obligations under the Convention

to protect World Heritage properties

• administer the World Heritage Fund.

The Committee is supported by a small secretariat, the

World Heritage Centre, which is a part of the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation based in

Paris, France.

World Heritage BureauThe executive body of the World Heritage Committee

is the World Heritage Bureau. The Bureau consists of a

Chairperson, five Vice‑Chairpersons and a Rapporteur. The

Bureau is elected by the Committee at its annual meeting

and holds office for one year until the next ordinary meeting

of the Committee. Australia has served on the Bureau on a

number of occasions.

World Heritage ListThe Convention establishes a list of properties that have

outstanding universal value. This is called the World Heritage

List. These properties are part of the cultural and natural

heritage of States that are Parties to the Convention.

At November 2007 there were 851 properties that the World

Heritage Committee has included in the World Heritage

List. The List includes 660 cultural properties, 166 natural

8�

properties and 25 properties that meet both cultural and

natural criteria. Many World Heritage sites in other parts of

the world are well known, such as the Pyramids of Egypt,

the Grand Canyon of the United States, the Taj Mahal of India,

Westminster Abbey in the United Kingdom, Sagarmatha

National Park (containing Mount Everest) in Nepal and the

Great Wall of China.

There are currently 17 Australian properties on the World

Heritage List.

World Heritage in DangerThe World Heritage Committee prepares and publishes a

List of World Heritage in Danger that includes World Heritage

properties threatened by serious and specific dangers, such

as development projects, the outbreak or threat of armed

conflict, or natural disasters. The Convention provides

for State Party consent prior to any ’in danger’ listing,

however, in cases where a site is threatened and State Party

government processes have broken down (that is there

is no effective government) the Committee may reach a

decision on its own. Each time that the Committee makes

a new entry on the List of World Heritage in Danger, it is

required to publicise the entry immediately.

World Heritage FundA trust fund, the World Heritage Fund for the Protection

of World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Outstanding

Universal Value, is established under the Convention. The

Fund is financed by contributions from States Parties and

contributions from private organisations and individuals.

The Fund is used to respond to requests by States Parties for

assistance in support of their efforts to protect their sites

on the World Heritage List, and to meet urgent conservation

needs of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

States Parties can request international assistance from

the Fund for studies, provision of experts and technicians,

training of staff and specialists, and the supply of

equipment. They can also apply for long‑term loans and,

in special cases, non‑repayable grants.

Great Barrier Reef T. Fontes, GBRMPA

8�

World Heritage Listing ProcessOnly the national government of States Parties to the World

Heritage Convention can nominate properties within their

territory for inscription on the World Heritage List. The

World Heritage Committee decides whether the property is

to be inscribed, after considering extensive international

appraisal.

States Parties may submit nominations at any time during

the year, however only complete nominations received on or

before 1 February will be considered for inscription by the

Committee during the following year.

The World Heritage Committee operates under rules of

procedure and operational guidelines. These provide a

firm basis for the assessment process and ensure the

Committee acts in an objective and professional manner.

When nominations are received by the World Heritage

Committee Secretariat, they are referred for assessment

by international non‑government organisations. The

International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)

and the International Centre for the Study of the

Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property

(ICCROM) are the advisory bodies for cultural properties,

while the International Union for Conservation of Nature

(IUCN) advises on natural properties. In addition, these

organisations consult with relevant scientific and technical

experts from around the world.

The World Heritage Committee, at its annual meeting,

considers the evaluations from the non‑government

organisations and makes a decision on the inscription

of the property. The World Heritage Committee can seek

further information from either the non‑government

organisations or the nominating country.

World Heritage nomination and listing processes are

rigorous, and many nominations have been withdrawn or

rejected because they fail the assessment process.

Iceberg off Heard and McDonald Islands Grant Dixon

8�

World Heritage CriteriaTo qualify for inscription on the World Heritage List,

nominated properties must have values that are

outstanding and universal, based on ten World Heritage

criteria. Properties may be nominated for cultural heritage

values, natural heritage values or both.

In Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, the Tasmanian

Wilderness, the Wet Tropics of Queensland and Shark Bay

meet all four World Heritage criteria for natural heritage,

and Kakadu National Park, Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park,

Willandra Lakes Region and the Tasmanian Wilderness are

listed for both natural and cultural heritage. These Australian

sites are among the few properties on the World Heritage

List selected for both natural and cultural criteria, or for all

four natural criteria.

The Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Naracoorte/

Riversleigh), Lord Howe Island Group, Gondwana Rainforests

of Australia, Fraser Island, Macquarie Island, Heard and

McDonald Islands, the Greater Blue Mountains Area and

Purnululu National Park are listed under the World Heritage

criteria for natural heritage.

The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens and the

Sydney Opera House are listed under the World Heritage

criteria for cultural heritage.

Cultural heritageArticle 1 of the World Heritage Convention defines cultural

heritage as:

“MONUMENTS: architectural works, works of monumental

sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an

archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and

combinations of features, which are of outstanding

universal value from the point of view of history, art or

science.

GROUPS OF BUILDINGS: groups of separate or connected

buildings which, because of their architecture, their

homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of

outstanding universal value from the point of view of

history, art or science.

SITES: works of man or the combined works of nature and of

man, and areas including archaeological sites which are of

outstanding universal value from the historical, aesthetic,

ethnological or anthropological points of view.

Cultural Landscapes represent the “combined works of

nature and of man”. They are illustrative of the evolution

of human society and settlement, under the influence of

the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented

by their natural environment and of successive social,

economic and cultural forces. Cultural landscapes include

diverse examples of the interaction between humans and

the natural environment and fall into three main categories:

(i) the clearly defined landscape designed and created

intentionally by man

(ii) the organically evolved landscape

(iii) the associative cultural landscape”.

Natural heritageArticle 2 of the World Heritage Convention, defines natural

heritage:

(i) “natural features consisting of physical and biological

formations or groups of such formations, which are of

outstanding universal value from the aesthetic or scientific

point of view

(ii) geological and physiographical formations and precisely

delineated areas which constitute the habitat of threatened

species of animals and plants of outstanding universal

value from the point of view of science or conservation

(iii) natural sites or precisely delineated natural areas

of outstanding universal value from the point of view of

science, conservation or natural beauty”.

World Heritage CriteriaThe criteria listed below are current as at April 2008.

Criteria are subject to change.

For a property to be included on the World Heritage List the

World Heritage Committee must find that it meets one or

more of the following criteria, pass the test of authenticity

and be adequately protected. Sites nominated should

therefore:

i. represent a masterpiece of human creative genius

ii. exhibit an important interchange of human values, over

a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on

developments in architecture or technology, monumental

arts, town‑planning or landscape design

8�

iii. bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a

cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which

has disappeared

iv. be an outstanding example of a type of building or

architectural or technological ensemble or landscape

which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history

v. be an outstanding example of a traditional human

settlement, land‑use or sea‑use which is representative

of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the

environment especially when it has become vulnerable

under the impact of irreversible change

vi. be directly or tangibly associated with events or living

traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and

literary works of outstanding universal significance (the

Committee considers that this criterion should preferably

be used in conjunction with other criteria)

vii. contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of

exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

viii. be outstanding examples representing major stages

of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant

ongoing geological processes in the development of

landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic

features,

ix. be outstanding examples representing significant

ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution

and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and

marine ecosystems and communities of plants and

animals, or

x. contain the most important and significant natural

habitats for in‑situ conservation of biological diversity,

including those containing threatened species of

outstanding universal value from the point of view of

science or conservation.

The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the

World Heritage Convention provide guidance to the World

Heritage Committee in deciding which nominations should

be included on the List. This document can be found in full

at the World Heritage Centre web site at http://whc.unesco.

org/archive/opguide08‑en.pdf

Purnululu Colin Totterdell

8�

Australian World Heritage Legislation

THE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AND BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION ACT 1999Australia's World Heritage properties are protected under the

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act

1999 (EPBC Act). This Act provides automatic protection for

World Heritage properties by ensuring that an environmental

impact assessment process is undertaken for proposed

actions that will, or are likely to, have a significant impact

on the values of a declared property. This process allows

the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment, Water,

Heritage and the Arts to grant or refuse approval to take an

action, and to impose conditions on the taking of an action.

The EPBC Act imposes substantial civil and criminal

penalties on a person who takes an unlawful action.

Which properties are covered?All Australian properties that have been inscribed on the

World Heritage List are automatically declared World

Heritage properties and are therefore protected. The

EPBC Act also gives the Commonwealth Minister for the

Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts the power to

declare other properties where:

• the property has been nominated for, but not yet

inscribed on the World Heritage list, or

• the property has not been nominated for World Heritage

listing but the Minister believes that the property

contains World Heritage values that are under threat.

A cooperative approachHistorically, the protection and management of many

of Australia's World Heritage properties has involved a

cooperative approach between the Australian Government

and State Governments, while relevant State agencies take

responsibility for on‑ground management. The EPBC Act

creates a mechanism for the Commonwealth and a State to

enter bilateral agreements to achieve the requirements of

the Act and to remove duplication of regulatory processes.

This provides an avenue for formalising existing cooperative

arrangements through Commonwealth accreditation of

State World Heritage management plans and environmental

impact assessment processes. In order to be accredited, the

relevant State plan or process must be consistent with the

Australian World Heritage management principles, which are

regulations made under the EPBC Act.

The EPBC Act continues the existing joint management

arrangements between the Commonwealth and the

traditional owners of the Uluru‑Kata Tjuta and Kakadu World

Heritage Areas.

What is a World Heritage property?Under the EPBC Act, a World Heritage property is either:

• an Australian property on the World Heritage List kept under the World Heritage Convention, or

• a property declared to be a World Heritage property by the Commonwealth Environment Minister.

The Commonwealth Environment Minister will only declare

a property not on the World Heritage List to be a World

Heritage property if he or she believes the property is of

international significance and that its world heritage values

are under threat. A declaration must specify the period for

which it is in force. If the property has been nominated for

World Heritage listing, the Minister may specify the period of

time that he or she thinks the World Heritage Committee will

need to decide whether to include the property in the World

Heritage List.

If the property has not been nominated, the Minister will

specify the period he or she believes the Commonwealth

needs to decide whether the property has World Heritage

values and to submit a nomination to the World Heritage

Committee. This period must not be longer than 12 months.

If after declaring a World Heritage property, the Minister

becomes satisfied it is not of international significance,

or that there is no longer any threat to the property, the

Minister will revoke the declaration.

Protecting World Heritage properties

Assessment and approval provisionsWorld Heritage properties are recognised as a matter of

national environmental significance under the EPBC Act's

assessment and approval provisions.

A person must not take an action that has, will have, or is

likely to have, a significant impact on the world heritage

8�

values of a declared World Heritage property, without

approval from the Commonwealth Environment Minister.

To obtain approval, the action must undergo a rigorous

environmental assessment and approval process.

The World Heritage values of a property are 'the natural

heritage and cultural heritage contained in the property'. The

terms 'natural heritage' and 'cultural heritage' in the Act have

the same meaning as in the World Heritage Convention. Each

World Heritage property has individual World Heritage values.

To find out whether an action is likely to have a significant

impact on the World Heritage values of a World Heritage

property, see the EPBC Act Administrative guidelines on

significance.

Biodiversity conservation provisionsUnder its biodiversity conservation provisions, the Act

establishes an improved framework for managing World

Heritage properties in the form of the Australian World

Heritage management principles. These principles are

intended to promote national standards of management,

planning, environmental impact assessment, community

involvement, and monitoring, for all of Australia's World

Heritage properties in a way that is consistent with

Australia's obligations under the World Heritage Convention.

A management plan for a World Heritage property cannot

be accredited unless it will promote the management of the

property in accordance with these principles.

The EPBC Act requires the Commonwealth Environment

Minister to prepare a written management plan for World

Heritage properties that are entirely within Commonwealth

areas, unless a property is in a Commonwealth reserve, in

which case it will be managed as a Commonwealth reserve.

Slightly different arrangements apply to the Great Barrier

Reef and the Heard Island and McDonald Islands World

Heritage properties. For World Heritage properties

that are wholly or partly within a State or Territory, the

Commonwealth must use its best endeavours to prepare

and implement a management plan in cooperation with the

State or Territory.

Management plans for World Heritage properties must be

consistent with Australia's obligations under the World

Heritage Convention and with the Australian World Heritage

management principles. There are several provisions in

the EPBC Act and Regulations relating to World Heritage

properties, including the following:

• EPBC Act/Chapter 2/Part 3/Division 1/Subdivision A/World Heritage

• EPBC Act/Chapter 5/Part 15/Division 1/Managing World Heritage properties

• EPBC Regulations/Schedule 5/Australian World Heritage management principles

Please note that these provisions are not the only EPBC

provisions relating to World Heritage properties. For a

comprehensive understanding of the provisions relating to

World Heritage properties, you should refer directly to the

EPBC Act and the EPBC Regulations. These can be found at

www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about/index.html.

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Implications of World Heritage Listing

BenefitsInscription of a property on the World Heritage List can

produce many benefits for Australia, and in particular, for

local communities.

Australia's World Heritage properties are a clearly identifiable

part of our heritage. In the case of properties such as

the Tasmanian Wilderness, Kakadu and Uluru‑Kata Tjuta

National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef, World Heritage

listing has featured in promotions which have resulted in

greatly increased tourist visitation from overseas and within

Australia.

In addition to possible increases in employment

opportunities and income, local communities could also

expect benefits from improved planning and management

of the region. A major focus for Australian Government

assistance for World Heritage properties has been the

provision of resources for strengthening management and

improving interpretation and visitor facilities.

World Heritage listing also cultivates local and national

pride in the property and develops feelings of national

responsibility to protect the area.

Ownership and ControlWorld Heritage listing does not affect ownership rights.

Ownership remains as it was prior to nomination, and

State and local laws still apply. Australia's World Heritage

properties comprise a variety of land tenures including

freehold, perpetual lease, pastoral lease, town reserve, State

forest, national park, nature reserve, Aboriginal reserve and

recreational reserve.

Land UsesThe Australian Government has an international obligation to

protect and conserve World Heritage properties, but there is

no impediment to existing land uses unless they threaten

the outstanding universal natural and cultural values of the

property.

Experience in Australia's World Heritage properties shows

that listing does not necessarily limit the range of activities

Willandra Lakes Region Mark Mohell & DEWHA

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that can be carried out on a property. For instance, grazing

occurs in the Willandra Lakes Region, New South Wales, and

Shark Bay, Western Australia, and there is recreational and

commercial fishing in the Great Barrier Reef.

ManagementManagement systems or plans have been produced or are

planned for each Australian property. The Commonwealth

considers such management systems or plans as vital

in implementing Australia's obligations under the World

Heritage Convention.

The primary management objectives for World Heritage

properties are part of Australia's general obligations under

the World Heritage Convention:

• to protect, conserve and present the World Heritage values of the property

• to integrate the protection of the area into a comprehensive planning program

• to give the property a function in the life of the Australian community

• to strengthen appreciation and respect of the property's World Heritage values, particularly through educational and information programs

• to keep the community broadly informed about the condition of the World Heritage values of the property

• to take appropriate scientific, technical, legal, administrative and financial measures necessary for achieving the foregoing objectives.

In achieving these primary objectives due regard is given to:

• ensuring the provision of essential services to communities within and adjacent to a property

• allowing provision for use of the property which does not have a significant impact on the World Heritage values and their integrity

• recognising the role of current management agencies in the protection of a property's values

• the involvement of the local community in the planning and management of a property.

Tasmanian devil, Tasmanian Wilderness Dave Watts

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Australia’s seat on the World Heritage Committee In October 2007 Australia was elected to the World Heritage

Committee for a four year term. This is Australia’s fourth

term as a member of the Committee, having previously

served in 1976‑83, 1985‑89 and 1995‑2000. Australia’s

current membership is for the period November 2007 to

October 2011.

Australia’s experience Australia takes its World Heritage role seriously – both

in Australia and when working in partnership with other

nations to share knowledge and experience to protect

exceptional sites for the global community. Australia is

committed to strengthening the integrity, relevance and

implementation of the World Heritage Convention. Australia

brings to the World Heritage Committee membership a range

of unique skills and experiences. We are:

A proactive State Party to the World Heritage Convention:

Australia has played a prominent role in the World Heritage

Convention since its adoption. Since 1974, when Australia

became the seventh State Party to accede to the World

Heritage Convention, Australia has taken a leadership role

in promoting the World Heritage Convention’s objectives

and set high standards in meeting our commitments. In

previous stints on the World Heritage Committee, Australia

was instrumental in establishing the reserved seat on the

World Heritage Committee for countries without sites on

the World Heritage List. Australia helped drive the World

Heritage Committee’s endorsement of the concept of

cultural landscapes as a complement to natural heritage

and, with a strong interest in quality over quantity, Australia

successfully promoted a limitation on the number of listings

that should be brought before the World Heritage Committee

each year.

A champion of ‘Outstanding Universal Value’: Australia has

long been an active contributor to World Heritage policy

discussions. Australia continues to champion Outstanding

Universal Value as fundamental in implementing the World

Heritage Convention. On issues such as periodic reporting

and reform of the operational guidelines, Australia support

approaches that ensure adherence to the criteria for natural

and cultural heritage as essential to the integrity and

credibility of listings.

A leader in ‘best practice’ management frameworks:

Australia had its first three sites inscribed onto the World

Heritage List in 1981. Our properties cover the range

of types, including properties listed for their cultural (2

properties), natural (11) and mixed (4) values. Australia

has worked energetically to ensure that our sites of

Outstanding Universal Value are well protected and

managed.

Our property management has been internationally

recognised as ‘best practice’ with a series of awards,

including UNESCO’s Picasso Gold Medal for World Heritage

for management of the Uluru‑Kata Tjuta National Park and

the Einstein Medal and MAB/ UNESCO Environmental Prize

for management of the Great Barrier Reef.

A partner in capacity building: Australia has extensive

experience in partnering with government and non‑

government organisations to support heritage managers

worldwide. As the focal point for World Heritage managers

in the Asia‑Pacific, Australia has provided technical support

to protect and manage sites in more than 20 countries in

our region. Australia has also provided significant funding

under a Memorandum of Understanding with the World

Heritage Centre and through the World Heritage Fund to

protect sites in developing countries

Australia’s World Heritage Committee membersAustralia’s representation on the World Heritage Committee

comprises experts who have extensive strategic, policy and

practical experience in cultural and natural heritage:

– Dr Greg Terrill leads Australia’s team. Dr Terrill has a doctorate in history and has worked on climate change issues for over a decade when employed by the United Nations and the Australian Government. He is currently Assistant Secretary, Heritage Division, Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

91

– Dr Anita Smith is an archaeologist with 20 years of research experience in Indigenous and historic heritage in Australia and the Pacific Islands. Dr Smith was the Convenor of the Australia ICOMOS World Heritage Reference Group, co‑author of the 2008 ICOMOS Thematic Study on Pacific Island Cultural Landscapes and has advised the Australian Government on the UNESCO Convention for Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention.

– Mr Jon Day has over 30 years of experience as a natural area manager, including 20 years in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and four years in Kakadu National Park. He is a memeber of the World Heritage Centre’s expert working group revising the World Heritage periodic reporting process.

Objectives for Australia’s membership of the World Heritage Committee

1. To create a positive legacy Australia strongly supports the objectives of the World

Heritage Convention to identify, protect and conserve

properties of Outstanding Universal Value. World Heritage

needs to be managed for the long term. Ensuring that

future generations can enjoy World Heritage properties is a

State Party obligation under the World Heritage Convention

and a pillar of Australia’s policy approach. Australia

recognises that the development of the frameworks to do

this important work have been built incrementally and with

the contribution of heritage experts from each of the State

Parties.

World Heritage sites face a myriad of threats and

challenges. These challenges include but are not limited to

development pressures, sustainable financial management,

increasing tourism, fire, pest incursion, impacts of climate

change and issues outside formal property boundaries.

Australia has developed methodologies for managing many

of these threats which we can share with the World Heritage

community. Australia has developed a range of tools to

help tourism operators, heritage managers and policy

makers ensure that tourism at World Heritage properties is

sustainable.

�. To strengthen the integrity of the Convention Australia will seek to contribute to efforts to improve the

governance of the World Heritage Convention. Australia has

a history, in this as in many other international conventions,

of promoting good governance. Australia can work with

other State Parties to develop strategies to strengthen

the integrity of the World Heritage Convention through

consistent management, cohesive policies, streamlined

processes and addressing strategic issues. The World

Heritage Committee is working to achieve a more balanced

and representative World Heritage List, and Australia has

been one of the champions of a more sustainable process.

Australia will continue to be a strong supporter of making

the World Heritage Convention more inclusive and relevant.

�. To continue to build world heritage capacity in our region Australia intends to continue and consolidate directions

set by New Zealand during its most recent term on the

World Heritage Committee. Australia has several aims

for the region. First, Australia will work to maintain the

current momentum towards Pacific nominations to the

World Heritage List. Second, Australia will work with the

Pacific countries to draw more resources into the region for

World Heritage. Third, Australia will ensure that the Pacific

has a strong voice on important emerging issues for the

Convention.

Australia’s role in supporting World Heritage in the Asia-Pacific The World Heritage Committee has recognised that the

Pacific is the least represented area in the World Heritage

List, and that action needs to be taken to address this.

The UNESCO State of World Heritage in the Asia Pacific

Region 2003 report found that only the Solomon Islands

had a property inscribed on the World Heritage List from the

Pacific. Eleven Pacific islands countries out of thirteen have

now ratified the World Heritage Convention (as compared

with two in 2000).

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Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of

Micronesia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and

Vanuatu are in the process of preparing Tentative Lists and

their first nominations.

Australia was asked to function as the Asia Pacific Focal

Point (APFP) for World Heritage managers, to encourage

implementation of the Convention and improve regional

World Heritage management. The APFP is implemented

under a Memorandum of Understanding on World Heritage

with UNESCO.

It is a regional network for World Heritage managers to

assist countries in the Asia‑Pacific region in adopting and

implementing the World Heritage Convention. The focus is

to encourage and support the countries of South‑East Asia

and the South Pacific to nominate properties for the World

Heritage List and to encourage and support best practice

management of their World Heritage properties.

It does this by working with countries and World Heritage

managers to:

• Share information and experience and further develop networks;

• Exchange views on management issues;

• Respond to specific requests;

• Help promote best practice in heritage management; and

• Help to identify and secure funding for World Heritage activities.

The objectives of the APFP are to:

• enhance implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Asia‑Pacific region;

• assist regional State Parties to identify and nominate places for World Heritage listing; and

• assist regional State Parties with improving the management of World Heritage properties.

Australia has supported projects in the Asia‑Pacific region

to protect and manage the biodiversity of the region,

and to raise community awareness of natural heritage

conservation issues.

Since the MOU with UNESCO was signed in 2002, Australia

has supported a number of activities within the Asia‑Pacific

region, including workshops, training, staff exchanges,

website development, development of awareness raising

materials and advice on preparation of nominations.

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Since 2000 Australia’s heritage support in the Asia‑Pacific

has included:

• CHINA: The China Principles Project involved more than a decade of collaboration between Australia, China and the Getty Conservation Insitute to develop guidelines for conservation of heritage sites in China.

• INDONESIA: We engaged in a project to enhance local government planning and mangement capacity at Lorentz National Park World Heritage Area, Irian Jaya (now West Papua).

• CAMBODIA: The Living with Heritage project created a monitoring system to assist site management of the Greater Angkor World Heritage property.

• POLYNESIA & MICRONESIA: Australia has contributed over $10 million to projects to assist prepartion of nominations and management of World Heritage and protected areas in the region.

• FIJI: We supported ongoing community‑based marine conservation efforts, including educational workshops on marine resource planning and bringing technical assistance to village‑based conservation and management planning.

• COOK ISLANDS & KIRIBATI: We assisted preparation of a case for World Heritage listing of a cluster of islands amoung the Cook, Kirbati and Line Islands.

Australia took a leadership role in the first cycle of periodic

reporting for the region, hosting UNESCO’s Periodic

Reporting Workshop in Asia and the Pacific. Australia, along

with New Zealand and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre,

will continue to host a series of Pacific World Heritage

Workshops, focusing on capacity building in preparing

nominations and management plans. These forums and

activities provide useful opportunities to listen to the

World Heritage interests of the Pacific islands States, which

Australia can then take to the World Heritage Committee.

Rock outcrops typical of the Riversleigh area Colin Totterdell

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Further information

Can World Heritage properties be assessed for other values?Yes. World Heritage properties may contain values other

than those of 'outstanding universal significance' which

have led to them being inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Under the new heritage system, any person may nominate

an existing World Heritage property for additional values

of national heritage significance. Such a nomination would

then be assessed in the normal way by the Australian

Heritage Council with the Minister making the final listing

decision. However, existing World Heritage values will

not be re‑assessed or reconsidered as a result of these

legislative amendments – provisions already exist under the

Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World

Heritage Convention for that purpose.

In future, if any new World Heritage values are identified for

an existing World Heritage property, then the Minister can

also have these included in the National Heritage List under

these provisions.

Are the criteria the same?No. The World Heritage criteria are established by the World

Heritage Committee and are included in the Operational

Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage

Convention. They are used to determine 'outstanding

universal significance'. The criteria for the National Heritage

List are different and are included in regulations under the

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation

Act 1999

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