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World Heritage

TROPICAL RAINFOREST

The Daintree Cape Tribulation section of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area contains the oldest continously surviving rainforest on earth - a living museum showcasing the cradle of the evolution of land plants from ancient ferns, conifers and cycads to the more highly evolved flowering plants.  Daintree rainforest also reveals a living record of the evolutionary history of animals – being home to some species that have changed very little since ancient times, such as the musky rat-kangaroo and the southern cassowary.  Renowned for its scenic panoramas of rainforest-clad mountains, rivers that carve through rugged gorges to cascade into freshwater lagoons, giant trees, ferns from ancient eras and curiosities from the animal kingdom.  As the jewel in the Wet Tropics World Heritage crown, it has Australia’s greatest diversity of animals and plants within an area of just one quarter of a percent of the continent. Many plant and animal species in the Wet Tropics are found nowhere else in the world. The diverse range of vegetation communities are habitat to numerous rare and threatened species.   MORE>>

GREAT BARRIER REEF

Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981, the Great Barrier Reef was one of Australia's first World Heritage Areas and is the world's largest World Heritage Area.  It is also the world's most extensive coral reef system and is one of the world's richest areas in terms of biological diversity.  The Great Barrier Reef is a site of remarkable variety and beauty on the north-east coast of Australia. It contains the world’s largest collection of coral reefs, with 400 types of coral, 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc. It also holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong (‘sea cow’) and the large green turtle, which are threatened with extinction.  MORE>>

MANGROVES

The mangrove communities of the Daintree Coast form the interface bewteen the two contiguous World Heritage areas. Described as a coastal marine environment, they support an extraordinary biodiversity within an estuarine habitat and breeding ground for a rich diversity of fauna ranging from flying foxes and seabirds, to offshore fish and crustaceans.  MORE>>