Part 3.4: Expert Panel meeting outcomes

All Terrestrial Areas

Australian

Forested

Areas

Western Australian Forested Areas

Australian Themes of outstanding universal value

Australian Sub-themes/ Exemplars

Explanatory Sentence

Australian Forest

Sub-themes/ Exemplars

Potential forested places in Western Australia warranting further investigation

Ancient records of life and landforms

Ancient landforms and fossils

Australia has outstanding examples of the earliest known records of life and early physiographic features.

Origin and development of biota and landforms as a result of Gondwanan plate tectonics and more recent stability and long isolation.

Passive continental margins

Marginal swells are characteristic of all passive continental margins. The Australian marginal swells are outstanding and exceptional in having volcanics to allow the process to be dated.

Passive continental margins

Palaeoplains

Australia has outstanding examples of ancient soils, regoliths and landforms in its ancient laterites and duricrusts.

Palaeoplains

Best global expression:

South-west area, WA.

(near Collie and Manjimup in the west).

Palaeo-drainage systems

Australia has outstanding examples of Mesozoic and older river systems extant in its landscapes.

Palaeo-drainage systems

(cont)

Origin and development of biota and landforms as a result of Gondwanan plate tectonics and more recent stability and long isolation

Fossils

Australia has fossil sites that are outstanding and exceptional in providing evidence of the key stages in the evolution of the Australian biota.

Fossils

Refugia, Relicts

Australia has outstanding examples of relict biota reflecting ancient Gondwanan biota.

Refugia, Relicts

Rainforest

Australian rainforests are an outstanding example of ecosystems from which modern biota are derived. These rainforests are exceptionally rich in primitive and relict species, many of which are similar to fossils from Gondwana.

Rainforest

Evolution of landforms, species and ecosystems under conditions of stress.

Scleromorphy

The Australian flora includes outstanding examples of the evolution of a diverse range of scleromorphic characteristics in response to low nutrient soils and a highly variable climate.

Scleromorphy

Arid landscapes and adaptations

Australia, as the most arid, non-polar continent on earth, has outstanding examples of arid landforms and arid-adapted biota in its sandy deserts, including the longest, longitudinal dune systems in the world.

(cont)

Evolution of landforms, species and ecosystems under conditions of stress.

Eucalyptus-dominated vegetation

Eucalyptus-dominated vegetation in Australia is an outstanding example on a continental scale of forest and woodland vegetation dominated by a single genus. This vegetation has evolved under stress, including conditions of high climatic variability, nutrient deficiency, and high fire frequency.

Eucalyptus-dominated vegetation

Best global expression based on a series of areas:

Specified south-west National Parks and associated areas, WA.

Alpine

Australia has outstanding examples of globally unusual vegetation that has developed in response to maritime conditions and poor soils.

Climate change and its impacts

Records of past climates

Australia has outstanding and globally significant records of past climates, including those preserved in the sediments of a number of its lake systems.

Records of past climates

Traditional human settlement and land use

Complex persistence of a hunting- and-gathering society on a single continent

Australia provides the only example of where the hunting-and-gathering way of life has dominated an entire continent up to modern times. This way of life continues to play a significant role in the occupation of the continent, particularly in its northern and central sections.

Complex persistence of a hunting- and-gathering society on a single continent

Artistic expression

Rock art

Australia has Aboriginal art sites that represent a unique artistic achievement, as well as providing an outstanding record of human interaction with the environment over tens of thousands of years.

Rock art

Religious expression

Dreaming sites

Australia provides an outstanding example of where the religious system of hunting-and-gathering societies is embodied in the landscape.

Dreaming sites

Status unknown.

Further work is required on all Aboriginal dreaming sites, including:

Dreaming sites of the Wagyl in the Perth region and south-west region, WA.

Encounter between cultures

Australia provides examples of the encounter between hunting-and-gathering societies and nineteenth century European societies.

European expansion of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Forced migration

- a major way in which the expansion took place

Convict transportation to Australia is an outstanding example of how European powers initiated the colonisation of an entire continent.

Forced migration

- a major way in which the expansion took place

Land barriers as historical frontiers

European expansion into the New World was a process of imaginative, as well as economic, appropriation in which explorers, poets, artists and photographers played a part. The first frontier, or land barrier, assumed special importance as the site of this encounter.

Land barriers as historical frontiers

Integration of an economic system and the resources of a continent into the global economy

The Australian goldrushes are an outstanding example of the global migrations associated with the nineteenth century goldrushes.

Integration of an economic system and the resources of a continent into the global economy

Masterpiece of human creative genius

Outstanding example of a type of building/ technological ensemble of landscape