Great Barrier Reef
The Reef stretches over 2000 km and covers an area of almost 35 million ha on the north-east continental shelf of Australia. It runs from north of Fraser Island to the tip of Cape York and provides habitats for many forms of marine life, as well as providing a major breeding ground for humpback whales and a feeding ground for endangered species such as the dugong and green and loggerhead turtles.
Fraser Island
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world, stretching over 120 kilometres along the southern coast of Queensland and covering 184 000 ha. The islands massive sand deposits provide a continuous record of climatic and sea level changes over the past 700 000 years. Its complex sand dune systems are still evolving and host an enormous number of landscapes, habitats and species. The island has several barrage lakes, formed when moving sand dunes block a watercourse. The island contains 40 perched dune lakes, about half of all such lakes in the world.
The Wet Tropics of Queensland
Located between Townsville and Cooktown on the north-east coast of Queensland, this property covers approximately 894 000 ha of one of the largest rainforest wilderness areas in Australia and is centred on the Daintree River valley. In places, the rainforest coastline is fringed with coral reefs, a rare combination in other parts of the world. The rainforest contains an almost complete record of the major stages in the evolution of plant life on Earth and provides the only habitat for many rare and highly restricted plants and animals. It contains the widest range of animal species in Australia.
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu is located in Australia's tropical north, 120 kilometres east of Darwin and covers almost 2 million ha. Known for its natural beauty and sweeping landscapes, Kakadus focal points are its famous wetlands habitat for migratory birds and spectacular escarpments. Besides being an important site of biodiversity, the rich natural resources of Kakadu have sustained human habitation for at least 25 000 and possibly 60 000 years. It is inscribed on the World Heritage List for both cultural and natural values, since it has many Aboriginal occupation sites and large natural galleries of Aboriginal art. It is co-managed by Parks Australia and the regions traditional Aboriginal owners.
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park covers 132 566 ha close to the centre of Australia and is owned by the Anangu Aboriginal people. It contains a range of remarkable geological and landform features including the spectacular monoliths of Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). The park is co-managed by Parks Australia and the Anangu people. It is an important reserve illustrating the biodiversity of arid ecosystems, particularly of reptiles. It is also an invaluable example of a cultural landscape representing thousands of years of continuing Aboriginal interactions with the natural environment, under traditional Anangu procedures governed by tjukurpa (the law).
Uluru has been the focus of religious, cultural, territorial and economic inter-relations among the Aboriginal peoples of the Western Desert for thousands of years. It is 340 metres high and has a circumference of 9.4 kilometres. Kata Tjuta means many heads. Kata Tjuta covers an area of 3500 ha and Mount Olga, its highest peak, is 500 metres high. The 36 steep-sided domes that make up Kata Tjuta are located near Uluru.
Tasmanian Wilderness
The island state of Tasmania is separated by Bass Strait from mainland Australia. The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area is one of the largest conservation reserves in Australia, covering about 20 per cent (1.38 million ha) of Tasmania. It is one of only three temperate wilderness areas remaining in the Southern Hemisphere.
It contains rocks of every geological period and is a major centre for plant diversity. Its Huon pines, which can be up to 2000 years old, are some of the oldest trees in the world. It is a stronghold for several animals now extinct on mainland Australia. The wilderness also contains the most southerly site yet found bearing evidence of human occupation during the last ice age. It has outstanding universal value for its sites reflecting Aboriginal occupation, its rock art sites (one of the richest and best-preserved collections of ice-age art sites in the world), and for those sites that reflect Australia's convict past and colonialisation by forced transportation.
Shark Bay
Shark Bay, on the most western point of the Australian coast, covers an area of 2.3 million ha and represents a meeting-point of three major climatic regions. It contains an extraordinary number of marine and terrestrial habitats and landscapes. It is an important reserve for many endangered animals and contains diverse and abundant examples of stromatolites-the oldest form of life on Earth.
Australian Fossil Mammal Sites at Riversleigh and Naracoorte
These two sites are outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological evolution. Riversleigh, in north-western Queensland, covers 10 000 ha in the watershed of the Gregory River. It has extensive fossil deposits spanning a record of mammal evolution of at least 20 million years. These include marsupial moles and feather-tailed possums, as well as many other unique and now extinct Australian mammals such as marsupial lions. Naracoorte, in South Australia, covers 300 ha of flat country punctuated by a series of stranded coastal dune ridges that run parallel to the present coastline. The fossils in the Naracoorte Caves illustrate faunal change spanning several ice ages and highlight impacts of both climatic change and humankind on Australia's mammals over the last 350 000 years.
Lord Howe Island Group
Located 700 kilometres north-east of Sydney, the group comprises Lord Howe Island and its surrounding islands and marine environments, a total of about 150 000 ha. Lord Howe Island is an outstanding example of a volcanic landscape that supports a significant range of habitats important for conserving biodiversity. The area contains the most southerly coral reef in the world and illustrates the transition between algae and coral reefs.
Willandra Lakes Region
The region covers some 240 000 ha of semi-arid country in the Murray Basin in far south-western New South Wales. It contains a system of ancient lake basins formed over the last 2 million years. They are an outstanding example of the Earths evolutionary history and also preserve evidence of Aboriginal occupation that stretches back at least 40 000 years. This area also includes what is believed to be the oldest human cremation site in the world, 26 000 years old.
Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves
This property includes over 50 separate areas in south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales, with a total area of 366 455 ha. The reserves include important examples of volcanic landscapes such as Mount Warning. They contain some of the worlds oldest species of animal and plant life, are an important store of biodiversity and include many rare and endangered species.
Aboriginal areas
Australia applies the concept of cooperative management of national parks that are located on traditionally owned land. The declaration of Aboriginal land as national parks and their subsequent listing as World Heritage Areas has greatly increased the significance of Australia's park estate. Title to Uluru-Kata Tjuta and title (part only) to Kakadu national parks in the Northern Territory and Booderee in the Jervis Bay Territory has been granted to Aboriginal land owners. They have leased these areas back to the Director of National Parks and Wildlife (Parks Australia) to be managed as national parks for current and future generations. In conjunction with Parks Australia, management boards with Aboriginal majorities determine policy at Kakadu, Uluru and Booderee and ensure the preparation of management plans which provide direction for nature conservation and visitor management programs, as well as meeting the needs of Aboriginal land owners.
Tourism
Most national parks and World Heritage areas provide facilities for visitors either in the reserves or nearby. The parks are a growing attraction for Australian and international tourists. Authorities estimate that more than four million people visit one or more national parks each year.
