Australia has 16 properties on the World Heritage List

The World Heritage List includes 830 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. These include 644 cultural, 162 natural and 24 mixed roperties. There are sixteen Australian properties on the World Heritage List.

� Great Barrier Reef (1981)

� Kakadu National Park (1981, 1987, 1992)

� Willandra Lakes Region (1981)

� Lord Howe Island Group (1982)

� Tasmanian Wilderness (1982, 1989)

� Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves (Australia) (1986, 1994) 1

� Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (1987, 1994) 2

� Wet Tropics of Queensland (1988)

� Shark Bay, Western Australia (1991)

� Fraser Island (1992)

� Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh / Naracoorte) (1994)

� Heard and McDonald Islands (1997)

� Macquarie Island (1997)

� Greater Blue Mountains Area (2000)

� Purnululu National Park (2003)

� Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens (2004)

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, with Kakadu National Park, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Willandra Lakes Region and the Tasmanian Wilderness being listed for both natural and cultural criteria.

The Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Naracoorte/Riversleigh), Lord Howe Island Group, Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia, Fraser Island, Macquarie Island, Heard and McDonald Islands, and the Greater Blue Mountains Area are listed under the World Heritage criteria for natural heritage.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

For a property to be included on the World Heritage List as cultural heritage, the World Heritage Committee must find that it meets one or more of the following criteria, the test of authenticity and be adequately protected.

Sites nominated should therefore:

i. represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; or

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; or

iii. bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared; or

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; or

v. be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement or land-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change; or

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 justify inclusion in the List only in exceptional circumstances and in conjunction with other criteria cultural or natural);

NATURAL HERITAGE

For a property to be included on the World Heritage list as natural heritage, the World Heritage Committee must find that it meets one or more of the following criteria and fulfils the conditions of integrity.

Sites nominated should therefore:

i. 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; or

ii. 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

iii. contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance; or

iv. 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.

World Heritage sites are important to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory in which they are located. Sites nominated for World Heritage listing are inscribed on the List only after carefully assessing whether they represent the best examples of the world's cultural and natural heritage.

For more information specific to Shark Bay World Heritage list click here.

For more information regarding Shark Bay click here.