Australia, World Heritage Areas

There are currently nineteen (19) Australian properties inscribed on the World Heritage List.

A single Australian World Heritage Areas database has been created by combining data which was historically stored as a separate data for each property. World Heritage Area buffer zones are also included in this dataset where they exist for some properties and are distinguished from the Declared Property boundary in the data.

Four properties (Kakadu National Park, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Willandra Lakes Region and the Tasmanian Wilderness) are inscribed for both natural and cultural criteria.

The Great Barrier Reef, the Tasmanian Wilderness, the Wet Tropics of Queensland and Shark Bay meet all four World Heritage criteria for natural heritage (see http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria or http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/about/world/world-heritage-criteria).

16 properties are listed under the World Heritage criteria for natural heritage: 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, Shark Bay and the Ningaloo Coast.

7 properties are inscribed for cultural values: Kakadu National Park, Tasmanian Wilderness, Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park, Willandra Lakes Region, Australian Convict Sites, Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens and the Sydney Opera House.

3 properties are considered serial listing where the properties comprise more than one distinct geographical areas. There are 11 sites that constitute the Australian Convict Sites. The Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Naracoorte/Riversleigh) and the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia comprise multiple parts.