World Heritage Areas are established under UNESCO's World Heritage Convention. (UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.)
Tasmania's World Heritage Area covers 1.38 million hectares - almost a fifth of the total area of the Island. It covers coast, islands, rivers, peaks and valleys and buttongrass plains of almost indescribable beauty and remoteness. It is also the world's largest tract of temperate rainforest set aside from 'modern life' where an escape from all forms of communication is possible within a few kilometres of your embarkation point.
It should be noted that this is terrain in its raw state - unforgiving for the ill prepared and where enormous changes in weather conditions are the norm. For experienced hikers and those who have prepared well, this landscape offers some of the most rewarding vistas and solitude on the earth. Mark Webber has been quoted as saying "It is Planet amazing!" He is not wrong.
It includes the Southwest National Park, the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, the Walls of Jerusalem National Park, the Hartz Mountain National Park, Mole Creek Karst National Park, the eastern end of Macquarie Harbour on the west coast and the Central Plateau Conservation Area.
The World Heritage Area also includes historic sites, such as Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour - which has now been recognised under another category 'World Heritage Convict Sites' of which Tasmania has five of the eleven sites accepted for listing in July 2010.
Macquarie Island joined our other World Heritage Areas in 1997. A number of Antarctic expedition companies stop at the island on their journey south.
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