The Tarkine National Heritage Assessment
National Heritage Assessment
Australian Heritage Council
Overview
The Tarkine is a beautiful remote part of Tasmania which supports Australia's largest tract of cool temperate rainforest. The Tarkine landscape ranges from wild windswept beaches through extensive buttongrass plains with stunning vistas to impressive rainforests. These rainforests are important for their flora which has links to the ancient continent of Gondwana, and for their lichens and fossils which help tell the story of Australia's ancient flora and its evolution. The Tarkine also contains an extensive area of high quality wilderness and rare magnesite karst systems. Dotted along the wind-swept coastline are the remains of numerous hut depressions found in Aboriginal middens. These huts and middens are the remnants of an unusual specialised and more sedentary Aboriginal way of life which was based on the hunting of seals and land mammals, and the gathering of shellfish.
What does National Heritage listing mean?
National Heritage listing would provide recognition of those values in The Tarkine of outstanding heritage value to the Australian nation. The heritage assessment of The Tarkine will help ensure that the heritage values are considered in decision-making, so heritage protection is balanced with the social and economic aspirations of the Tasmanian community. Importantly, National Heritage listing does not change land ownership, and management of National Heritage listed places remains with the current land owner or manager.
Should the area, or any part of it, be included in the National Heritage List, this would not affect current lawful use. For example, forestry operations in accordance with the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement would not be affected nor would previously approved mining and exploration activities, or recreation/cultural activities like fishing, camping or hiking. National Heritage listing would provide recognition and protection of any nationally outstanding heritage values in The Tarkine. It is these values, and not the entire listed place, that would be protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. For further information about potential values identified in The Tarkine, please refer to the maps and values information page.
What is the National Heritage List?
The National Heritage List recognises, celebrates and protects our most important natural, Indigenous and historic heritage places.
Places on the National Heritage List reflect our continent's development, from its ancient origins and its first people to its architectural masterpieces, the spirit and ingenuity of our community and our unique, living landscapes.
Over 90 places are now in the National Heritage List. These include Uluru-Kata Tjuta, Bondi Beach, the Great Barrier Reef, the Sydney Opera House, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Fremantle Prison, Port Arthur, Witjara-Dalhousie Springs, the Ningaloo Coast and the Stirling Range.
How to make a comment
The period for public comment closed in August 2011.
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