Tasmanian Wilderness

Site information

• Official name: Tasmanian Wilderness
• Location: Tasmania, Australia
• Type: Mixed
• Year of inscription: 1982

The Tasmanian Wilderness is one of the few temperate wilderness areas of the world that have survived into the twenty-first century. In the South West Wilderness area of the site, scientists have discovered evidence of habitation by prehistoric aboriginal people that lived some twenty thousand years ago. It is estimated that the rainforest has survived for sixty million years. Other sections of the Tasmanian Wilderness include Cradle Mountain–Lake St. Clair National Park, Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, Hartz Mountains National Park, Mole Creek Karst National Park, Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Central Plateau Conservation and Protected Areas, and Devils Gullet State Reserve.

The Tasmanian Wilderness is generally accessed by way of Hobart at Lake Sinclair. Much of the 1,584,000 hectares that make up the Tasmanian Wilderness is composed of a glaciated area that includes a million hectares of limestone caves. The total area accounts for one-third of Tasmania, encompassing all of the southwestern portion and a good deal of the central portion. When it was first designated as a World Heritage Site in 1982, the wilderness area was called the Western Tasmanian Wilderness, but the name was changed in 1989 when the area was expanded to include Walls of Jerusalem and Hartz Mountain.

History

The Tasmanian Wilderness was formed over millions of years by continental drift, ice ages, humidity, and earthquakes. Tasmania was the second area of Australia to be discovered by Europeans. It was discovered in 1642 by the Dutch when Commander Abel Janszoon Tasman arrived on the Heemskirk. At that time, the only area of Tasmania not considered wilderness was the area around Bass Strait Islands. By 1916, the wilderness area had shrunk to 57 percent of its original size. At that time, locals recognized the significance of protecting the wilderness and passed the Scenery Preservation Act. Between 1916 and 1992, the area was expanded by 63 percent. In 1937, Colin Pitt was appointed surveyor general, and he became chair of the Scenery Preservation Board. Pitt had a strong commitment to preserving the area, and the wilderness area grew by 30 percent over the next three decades. A surge in environmentalism during the mid-to-late twentieth century led to improved protections and the passage of the National Parks and Wildlife Act.

The growth of Tasmania resulted in displacement of the native people, just as it did in other parts of Australia and in other areas where Europeans settled. The battle for human rights heightened in the 1960s and 1970s, and Tasmanian aboriginals began demanding reparation for the wrongs they had suffered. In 1981, Rhys Jones, a Welsh architect, found evidence of human occupation in Tasmania that was traced back thirty-five thousand years.

One of the first areas of the wilderness to be protected was Gunns Plains Cave Reserve in northwestern Tasmania, which was declared a protected site in 1981. An underground river in the area is rich with freshwater crayfish, eels, and platypuses. The most impressive area of the Mole Creek Karst National Park is usually identified as the Marakoopa Cave because of its spectacular display of glowworms. The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area of the Tasmanian Wildlife Parks and Service is responsible for preservation and conservation of the area.

Throughout its history, the Tasmanian Wilderness has been vulnerable to a number of threats. Local populations have created major problems by cutting down large numbers of trees and destroying others by acts of arson. The threat to the Huon pine is particularly strong. The illegal introduction of trout into the lakes has played havoc with other habitats. Animal and bird habitats have also been negatively impacted by the introduction of intrusive species, such as starlings, goats, rabbits, and wasps. Experts are attempting to rid the area of red foxes that destroy significant wilderness fauna. Illegal removal of mineral specimens is also an ongoing problem.

The animal most closely associated with Tasmania is the Tasmanian devil, and that population has been experiencing an outbreak of devil facial tumor disease since the mid-1990s that has quickly spread as animals fight and bite one another. Plant life has been affected by root rot disease and by the growth of weeds that range from marram grass to gorse to Canadian pond weed. Banks along the rivers are also being eroded by wake waves from large vessels that come too close to the land.

In 2011, state and local officials decided to legalize logging in the Tasmanian wilderness, but public outcry led to the plan being abandoned. The United Nations stepped in to prevent the logging of special timbers in the wilderness. Local environmentalists continue the fight to add another eight hundred thousand hectares to the existing protecting area, bringing in the Tarkine Mountain Field National Park and the Florentine Valley. However, they met with heavy resistance from the Aboriginal people.

The battle over logging in the Tasmanian Wilderness continued into the 2020s. Environmentalists accused Sustainable Timber Tasmania, formerly Forestry Tasmania, a government business enterprise, of cutting down giant forest trees, which can grow to be 100 metres (328 feet) tall and 22 metres (72 feet) in circumference. However, Sustainable Timber denied these claims, stating that it does not log giant trees. In February 2024, Premier Jeremy Rockliff opened 40,000 hectares (98,842 acres) of wilderness to logging. Environmentalists felt this decision would push threatened species closer to extinction. In August 2024, the Supreme Court halted logging in the breeding forests of the swift parrot, which was critically endangered. This affected two areas in the eastern tiers of those that had been opened to logging.

Significance

The Tasmanian Wilderness is significant as a World Heritage Site both as a natural phenomenon and for its cultural heritage. It was inscribed in 1982 after it was deemed to meet Criteria iii, iv, vi, vii, viii, ix, and x. At that time, no other site had met that many World Heritage Site criteria. The Tasmanian Wilderness meets Criterion iii because it is an excellent representation of the cultural tradition of the people who lived there over millions of years. It meets requirements for Criterion iv because it offers a portrait of human history at a particular stage in time. Acceptance under Criterion vi is based on the belief that the Tasmanian Wilderness provides evidence of human events and traditions that are a unique part of the global heritage. Its natural significance has also insured its acceptance into the family of World Heritage Sites. It meets Criterion vii because of its natural beauty and its aesthetic significance. It meets Criteria viii and ix because it demonstrates ongoing geological and biological processes. The range of biodiversity within the wilderness has guaranteed its membership according to Criterion x.

Animals that live in the rainforest of the Tasmanian Wilderness include the Tasmanian long-tailed mouse, the ringtail possum, the pademelon, the spotted-tailed quoll, and the dusky antechinus. The smallest penguin in the world, the little penguin, is also native to the area, and experts have identified from 110,000 to 190,000 breeding pairs. The platypus, a unique mammal that lays eggs, also lives in this wilderness. There are 325 species of birds that are found in the Tasmanian Wilderness, and 200 of them live there all the time. Endemic species include the green rosella, the Tasmanian thornbill, the scrubtit, the yellow wattle bird, the forty-spotted pardalote, and the dusky robbin. Migratory bird species include the short-tailed shearwater and the swift parrot. Invertebrates found in the area include the large land snail, Macleay's swallowtail butterfly, freshwater crayfish, and the violet worm. Threatened species include animals such as the Tasmanian tiger, birds such as the eastern-barred bandicoot, and fish such as the burrowing crayfish.

Many of the plants found in the Tasmanian Wilderness are white alpine plants that are known for their ability to attract insects, and around 70 percent of those plants are endemic to Tasmania. Ferns, mosses, lichens, and various fungi are also common. The sixty-million-year-old rainforest is home to four types of trees: tall callidendrous trees, tangled thammic shrubs, a mixed forest, and species of eucalyptus and rainforest trees. Particular trees include myrtle leatherwood, celery-top pine, sassafras, pencil pine, King Billy pine, the deciduous beach, and the Huon pine.

Bibliography

McGaurr, Lyn, et al. "Wilderness and the Media Politics of Place Branding." Environmental Communication, vol. 9, no. 3, 28 May 2014, pp. 269–87. doi:10.1080/17524032.2014.919947. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

Mendel, Louise. "The Consequences for Wilderness Conservation in the Development of the National Park System in Tasmania, Australia." Australian Geographical Studies, vol. 40, no. 1, 2002, pp. 71–84.

Pye, Ruth, et al. "Demonstration of Immune Responses Against Devil Facial Tumour Disease in Wild Tasmanian Devils" Biology Letter, vol. 12, no. 10, 18 Oct. 2016. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2016.0553. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

Russell, Jim, and Mirjana Jambrecina. "Wilderness and Cultural Landscapes: Shifting Management Emphases in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area." Australian Geographer, vol. 33, no. 2, 2002, pp. 125–39.

"Tasmanian Logging Expansion an Environmental Tragedy." The Australia Institute, 29 Feb. 2024, https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/tasmanian-logging-expansion-an-environmental-tragedy/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.

Taylor, Rebe. "Archaeology and Aboriginal Protest: The Influence of Rhys Jones' Tasmanian Work on Australian Historiography." Australian Historical Studies, vol. 45, no. 3, 2014, 331–49.

Whitley, David. "The Best Ways to Immerse Yourself in Tasmania’s World Heritage Wilderness." The Telegraph, 25 Mar. 2024, www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/plan-your-australian-holiday/tasmania/world-heritage-wilderness-guide/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.