- Wet Tropics Management
- Legislative framework
- Management partnerships
- Sustainable Tourism Plan
- Threats to the Area
- Research and a Learning Landscape
- How can I help?
Australia's national heritage comprises exceptional natural and cultural places which help give Australia its national identity. Such places are a living and accessible record of the nation's evolving landscapes and experiences.
National Heritage defines the critical moments in Australia's development as a nation and reflects achievements, joys and sorrows in the lives of Australians. It also encompasses those places that reveal the richness of Australia's extraordinarily diverse natural heritage.
Each place on the List is assessed by the Australian Heritage Council as having national heritage values which can be protected and managed under a range of Commonwealth powers.
In May 2007, the Wet Tropics of Queensland was added to the National Heritage List alongside other World Heritage Areas. The National Heritage criteria that the Wet Tropics of Queensland was listed for in 2007 correspond to its World Heritage criteria, for natural values.
On 9 November 2012, the Wet Tropics' National Heritage listing was expanded to include Indigenous heritage values. The listing recognises that Rainforest Aboriginal heritage is unique to the Wet Tropics and is a remarkable and continuous Indigenous connection with a tropical rainforest environment. To quote the Australian Government website:
The Aboriginal Rainforest People of the Wet Tropics of Queensland have lived continuously in the rainforest environment for at least 5,000 years and this is the only place in Australia where Aboriginal people have permanently inhabited a tropical rainforest environment.
Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples developed a distinctive cultural heritage determined by their dreamtime and creation stories and their traditional food gathering, processing and land management techniques. Reliance on their traditions helped Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples to survive in this at times inhospitable environment. The distinctiveness of the traditions and technical innovation and expertise needed to process and prepare toxic plants as food and the use of fire is of outstanding heritage value to the nation and are now protected for future generations under national environmental law.
For a full listing of Australia's National Heritage places, visit the Department of the Environment and Energy website.
