The Hon. Susan Close, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water (SA), Media Release, 21 August 2022
South Australia is getting closer to finalising its bid for World Heritage status for the iconic Flinders Ranges National Park, with the lead authors of the nomination touring key sites in the region.
Distinguished Professor Mary Droser from the University of California Riverside, Steve Hore from the Geological Survey of SA and Honorary Professor Glenn A. Brock from Macquarie University were joined by Department for Environment and Water (DEW) staff on the visits.
The experts examined the scientific values of proposed World Heritage sites including along the Brachina Geological Trail and in Nilpena Ediacara National Park.
The group met with community members and landholders from Blinman and surrounds to discuss the World Heritage proposition and how the community can benefit from the listing.
The authors plan to reconvene in September to visit more sites further north in Arkaroola and Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park.
Drafting of the full nomination document will occur throughout 2022 and 2023.
To support the bid, upgrades to visitor facilities along the Brachina Geological Trail are underway including a new trail and viewing platform nearing completion at the site of the Golden Spike.
World Heritage listing is coordinated by UNESCO through the World Heritage Centre, with independent evaluations and recommendations to the World Heritage Committee about whether a nomination should be included.
The DEW is aiming to submit the nomination document to UNESCO by their February deadline in 2024. If this submission is achieved, it will be some 18 months until the outcome of the evaluation is known and World Heritage listing awarded.
For more information visit the DEW website.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, Susan Close
World Heritage sites are unique and exceptional places that are considered to have natural and cultural values that are internationally important.
More than 600 million years old, the Flinders Ranges is one of Australia’s magnificent landscapes.
The fossils and geology of the region are particularly fascinating, displaying the history of our planet and the evolution of life on Earth.
Some of this critical evidence includes the world’s finest example of the Ediacaran explosion of life when the earliest forms of complex multicellular animal life evolved.
It is these outstanding geological and palaeontological forms within the Flinders Ranges that make it an important site to pursue for World Heritage status.
