Gondwana Rainforests of Australia; Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves; Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (new name from 2007); North East Rainforests World Heritage Area
Type
State heritage (landscape)
Designated
2 April 1999
Reference no.
1002
Type
Wilderness
Category
Landscape – Natural
The Gondwana RainforestsofAustralia, formerly known as the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, are the most extensive area of subtropical rainforest in the world.[1] Collectively, the rainforests are a World Heritage Site with fifty separate reserves totalling 366,500 hectares (906,000 acres) from NewcastletoBrisbane.[2]
The Gondwana Rainforests are so-named because the fossil record indicates that when Gondwana existed it was covered by rainforests containing the same kinds of species that are living today. Not all Gondwanan rainforests in Australia are located in the New South Wales – Queensland region; the largest Gondwanan rainforest in Australia is located in Tasmania'sTarkine wilderness. The number of visitors to the Gondwana rainforest reserves in New South Wales and Queensland is about 2 million per year.[1]
The World Heritage status of the region was created and negotiated initially in 1986, with the area extended in 1994, following a nomination which was prepared in 1992 by the Rainforest Conservation Society.[3] The World Heritage listing carries the following inscription:[1]
The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia is a serial property comprising the major remaining areas of rainforest in southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales. It represents outstanding examples of major stages of the Earth’s evolutionary history, ongoing geological and biological processes, and exceptional biological diversity. A wide range of plant and animal lineages and communities with ancient origins in Gondwana, many of which are restricted largely or entirely to the Gondwana Rainforests, survive in this collection of reserves. The Gondwana Rainforests also provides the principal habitat for many threatened species of plants and animals.
— Brief synthesis of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia as inscribed on the UNESCOWorld Heritage List.
The forests were inscribed to the World Heritage list in 1986, covering only the New South Wales sites of approximately 310,800 hectares (768,000 acres) and extended in 1994 to cover the Queensland sites of approximately 59,200 hectares (146,000 acres) which is a total of approximately 370,000 hectares (910,000 acres). The rainforest reserves have an extremely high conservation value, with more than 200 rare or threatened plant and animal species.[2]
Eight separate areas have been identified as having outstanding heritage significance to Australia and are included on the Australian National Heritage List.[4] The altitude of the reserves ranges from sea level to almost 1,600 m (5,200 ft).[7]
The region was historically logged extremely heavily, to such an extent that only 1% of the original range of the Gondwana rainforest remains in Australia. Most of the logged regions have been taken over by eucalyptus forest. [10]
During the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season, many regions of the Gondwana rainforest were devastated by bushfires for the first time, with some preliminary reports indicating that up to 53% of the forests may have burned as of January 2020. Among the devastated habitats are several locations that are significant for some critically imperiled species, such as the nightcap oak and the giant barred frog. The presence of these devastating blazes in areas that have never burned before has been linked to the encroachment of the flammable eucalyptus trees into the logged areas adjoining the forests.[10][11] The general claim of "never burned before" has been challenged by several commentators, based on an article in The Cairns Post on 25 October 1951 that reported a "fire has burnt out about 2000 acres of thick rainforest country" in the Lamington National Park.[12]
^ abReid, Greg (2004). Australia's National and Marine Parks: Queensland. South Yarra, Victoria: Macmillan Education Australia. p. 11. ISBN0-7329-9053-X.
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Text is licensed by State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) under CC-BY 4.0 licence.
This Wikipedia article contains material from Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, entry number 01002 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales (Department of Planning and Environment) 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.
