Celebrating Flinders Ranges World Heritage Tentative Listing

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Celebrating Flinders Ranges World Heritage Tentative Listing

Posted 08 July 2021.

The geology and fossils of the Flinders Ranges display the remarkable history of our planet and evolution of life on Earth and in late April the Flinders Ranges was added to Australia’s Tentative List for World Heritage.

Tentative listing is a significant milestone which signals a country’s intent to nominate a property for World Heritage listing in the future. It is the first formal step in the World Heritage nomination process.

Work is now underway preparing the full nomination dossier, which is expected to take several years to ensure the nomination has the best chance of success. A target submission date of February 2023 has been set.

As part of the bid seven properties have been identified by experts that demonstrate the technical and scientific evidence required to support the Flinders Ranges World Heritage nomination.

These include three protected areas on public land: Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park and Ediacara Conservation Park; the Arkaroola Protection Area and sections of three pastoral properties: Angorichina, Maynards Well and Puttapa.

These properties present an effectively unbroken record over 350 million years of the wildly fluctuating climate and environment conditions that led to three evolutionary events underpinning the dawn of animal life on Earth.

The major focus over the next few years will be engaging respectfully with Adnyamathanha people, tourism planning for core visitor destinations, as well as landholder and community engagement.

The nomination dossier needs to present the technical elements and express the scientific significance of the Flinders Ranges, as well as demonstrating the shared vision and collaborative effort that has gone into preparing the nomination.

Planning is currently underway to determine how all of the World Heritage sites will be presented, and many sites, particularly those on private land, are not accessible. Public access to pastoral properties is not permitted without explicit permission from the landowner.

There are three ways visitors can experience the World Heritage sites now. You can book a guided fossil tour at Nilpena, a geological tour at Arkaroola or follow the Brachina Gorge Geological Trail in Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.

The State Government has started investing in visitor infrastructure in Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park and at Nilpena in preparation for World Heritage listing.

World Heritage for the Flinders Ranges will ensure its future protection and recognise it as a place like nowhere else.

To keep up to date with the progress of the nomination visit www.flindersrangesworldheritage.sa.gov.au or follow the dedicated Facebook page

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