1.
Cradle Mountain
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The Cradle Mountain is a mountain in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The mountain is situated in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, at 1,545 metres above sea level, it is the fifth highest mountain in Tasmania, and is one of the principal tourist sites in Tasmania, owing to its natural beauty. The Cradle Mountain is composed of columns, similar to many of the other mountains in the area. The area around the mountain has a number of day walks. The Overland Track winds through a variety of landscapes to its opposite end –80.8 kilometres to the south – at Lake St Clair, the mountain is climbed by walkers virtually year round. It is a strenuous return hike from the Dove Lake car park with an allotted time of 6.5 hours. The climb up the part of the mountain involves scrambling over large boulders for several hundred meters. From the summit, there is a view, encompassing Dove Lake, Barn Bluff. The mountain rises above the glacially formed Dove Lake, Lake Wilks, the mountain has four named summits. In order of height they are Cradle Mountain, Smithies Peak, Weindorfers Tower, the mountain itself is named after its resemblance to a gold mining cradle. The area is covered in a variety of alpine and sub-alpine vegetation, including the colourful deciduous beech. Alpine coral fern and button grass dominate the alpine wet sedgelands near the mountain summit, stands of Tasmanian snow gum can be found at slightly lower elevations alongside Tasmanian eyebright, scoparia heath, mountain rocket, waratah, Cheshunt pine and pencil pine. Within the valleys surrounding the mountain, species such as beech, pandani, sassafras, King Billy pine and celery top pine form thick temperate rainforest with dense. Wombats are a common sight throughout the area, while pademelons, Tasmanian devils, numerous bird species can be found, including green rosellas, black currawongs, pink robins and Tasmanian scrubwrens, while peregrine falcons and wedge-tailed eagles nest on the mountains cliffs. Tiger snakes are a highly venomous snake species known to be found in the area, fungi are also a part of the Parks biodiversity. In fact, most fungi perform positive rather than negative roles, even parasitic fungi – often regarded only negatively – are a vital part of healthy ecosystems, regulating ecosystem functions. As primary recyclers of organic matter, saprobic fungi break down fallen branches and leaf litter, other fungi form symbiotic relationships with other organisms. Although rarely acknowledged, the majority of plants in Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park form mutually beneficial mycorrhizal relationships with fungi
2.
Tasmania
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Tasmania is an island state of the Commonwealth of Australia. It is located 240 km to the south of the Australian mainland, the state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands. The state has a population of around 519,100, just over forty percent of which resides in the Greater Hobart precinct, Tasmanias area is 68,401 km2, of which the main island covers 64,519 km2. Though an island state, due to an error the state shares a land border with Victoria at its northernmost terrestrial point, Boundary Islet. The Bishop and Clerk Islets, about 37 km south of Macquarie Island, are the southernmost terrestrial point of the state of Tasmania, the island is believed to have been occupied by Aboriginals for 40,000 years before British colonisation. It is thought Tasmanian Aboriginals were separated from the mainland Aboriginal groups about 10,000 years ago when the sea rose to form Bass Strait. The conflict, which peaked between 1825 and 1831 and led to more than three years of law, cost the lives of almost 1100 Aboriginals and settlers. The near-destruction of Tasmanias Aboriginal population has been described by historians as an act of genocide by the British. The island was part of the Colony of New South Wales. In 1854 the present Constitution of Tasmania was passed and the year the state received permission to change its name to Tasmania. In 1901 it became a state through the process of the Federation of Australia, the state is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November 1642. Tasman named the island Anthony van Diemens Land after his sponsor Anthony van Diemen, the name was later shortened to Van Diemens Land by the British. It was officially renamed Tasmania in honour of its first European discoverer on 1 January 1856, Tasmania was sometimes referred to as Dervon, as mentioned in the Jerilderie Letter written by the notorious Australian bushranger Ned Kelly in 1879. The colloquial expression for the state is Tassie, Tasmania is also colloquially shortened to Tas, especially when used in business names and website addresses. TAS is also the Australia Post abbreviation for the state, the reconstructed Palawa kani language name for Tasmania is Lutriwita. The island was adjoined to the mainland of Australia until the end of the last glacial period about 10,000 years ago, much of the island is composed of Jurassic dolerite intrusions through other rock types, sometimes forming large columnar joints. Tasmania has the worlds largest areas of dolerite, with many distinctive mountains, the central plateau and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerite. Mount Wellington above Hobart is an example, showing distinct columns known as the Organ Pipes
3.
World Heritage Site
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A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
6.
Wilderness
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Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. Some governments establish them by law or administrative acts, usually in land tracts that have not been modified by human action in great measure, the main feature of them is that human activity is restricted significantly. These actions seek not only to preserve what already exists, but also to promote and advance a natural expression, Wilderness areas can be found in preserves, conservation preserves, National Forests, National Parks and even in urban areas along rivers, gulches or otherwise undeveloped areas. These areas are considered important for the survival of species, biodiversity, ecological studies, conservation, solitude. Wilderness is deeply valued for cultural, spiritual, moral, some nature writers believe wilderness areas are vital for the human spirit and creativity. They may also preserve historic genetic traits and provide habitat for flora and fauna that may be difficult to recreate in zoos. The word wilderness derives from the notion of other words. The mere presence or activity of people does not disqualify an area from being wilderness, many ecosystems that are, or have been, inhabited or influenced by activities of people may still be considered wild. This way of looking at wilderness includes areas within which natural processes operate without human interference, the WILD Foundation states that wilderness areas have two dimensions, they must be biologically intact and legally protected. The World Conservation Union classifies wilderness at two levels, Ia and Ib, activities on the margins of specific wilderness areas, such as fire suppression and the interruption of animal migration also affect the interior of wildernesses. Especially in wealthier, industrialized nations, it has a legal meaning as well. Many nations have designated wilderness, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, looked at through the lens of the visual arts, nature and wildness have been important subjects in various epochs of world history. An early tradition of landscape art occurred in the Tang Dynasty, the tradition of representing nature as it is became one of the aims of Chinese painting and was a significant influence in Asian art. In the 13th century, Shih Erh Chi recommended avoiding painting scenes lacking any places made inaccessible by nature, for most of human history, the greater part of the Earths terrain was wilderness, and human attention was concentrated in settled areas. The first known laws to protect parts of nature date back to the Babylonian Empire, Ashoka, the Great Mauryan King, defined the first laws in the world to protect flora and fauna in Edicts of Ashoka around 3rd Century B. C. In the Middle Ages, the Kings of England initiated one of the world’s first conscious efforts to natural areas. They were motivated by a desire to be able to hunt wild animals in private hunting preserves rather than a desire to protect wilderness, nevertheless, in order to have animals to hunt they would have to protect wildlife from subsistence hunting and the land from villagers gathering firewood. Similar measures were introduced in other European countries, the idea of wilderness having intrinsic value emerged in the Western world in the 19th century
7.
South West Wilderness
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Parts of the wilderness are more than 50 km from the nearest road, so the only access to the area is by foot, air or sea. It has been known by a variety of names over the last century, for some the term The Southwest has been the usual term, while recent maps and tourism promotion material have identified it variously including the Southwest Wilderness and South-West Wilderness. Evidence has been found of human habitation in the South West Wilderness area going back at least 25,000 years, the coastal area was shared by four Tasmanian Aboriginal tribes for at least the last 3,000 years. The coast of the area was mapped by Captain James Cook in 1777 as part of his voyage of discovery aboard HMS Resolution. It was undoubtedly sighted by earlier European voyagers, but little appears to have been made to land. During the 19th century, as Europeans colonised other parts of Australia and Tasmania, limited numbers of sealers, whalers, miners and timber-getters based themselves in the area. In 1955 Lake Pedder National Park was proclaimed, over the following 35 years the park was gradually extended, and was renamed the Southwest National Park, finally reaching its present size in 1990. As detailed below, the Southwest National Park forms the bulk of the South West Wilderness, the South West Wilderness is largely composed of the Southwest National Park, Tasmania’s largest National Park, which at 6,052.13 km² is larger than many small countries. Together these five parks cover almost a quarter of Tasmanias land mass and, along with a few smaller parks and areas. Sections of some of these other National Parks can also be considered part of the South West Wilderness, the South West Wilderness has a preponderance of dolerite and quartzite rock, with very little soil coverage over much of its area. This largely contributes to the features of the landscape. The remoteness, ruggedness and infertility is largely led to its being unsuitable for settlement. It displays extensive mountain ridges and steep valleys, with deep mountain lakes, much of its landscape has been sculpted by relatively recent glaciation events. The wilderness area contains the immense Port Davey and Bathurst Harbour. Its current permanent population is just two, some key geographic features include the Arthur Range, South Picton Range, Frankland Range and Ray Range. Notable peaks include Mount Rugby on Bathurst Harbour, Mount Melaleuca, Mount Anne, Precipitous Bluff, Rivers in, or that have their headwaters in the South West Wilderness, include the Davey River, the famous Franklin and Gordon Rivers, and the Huon River. In the more fertile areas dense forests of eucalyptus, southern sassafras and myrtle beech, acacia, in sheltered wet patches, stands of temperate rainforest still exist. The exposed and more areas, particularly around the extreme south-west, consist largely of low growing native grasses such as the unusual buttongrass, heaths
8.
Abbott Government
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The Abbott Government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The Government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition, the Leader of the Nationals, Warren Truss, served as Deputy Prime Minister. Following the 2013 Australian federal election on 7 September, the Coalition defeated the second Rudd Government, the Abbott Government was sworn into office on 18 September 2013. Less than two years later on 14 September 2015, Malcolm Turnbull defeated Abbott in a ballot,54 votes to 44. In economic policy, the Abbott Government aimed to rein in a deficit that reached A$48.5 billion by June 2014. It concluded free trade agreements with China, Japan and South Korea and it removed the Rudd-Gillard era Resource Super Profits Tax and carbon pricing. Treasurer Joe Hockey delivered two Budgets, the first focused on expenditure reduction measures, but faced a hostile reception in the Senate, partial deregulation of universities, and a $7 contribution to doctor visits were proposed, but blocked by the Senate. The second Budget emphasised stimulus for the business sector. Abbott campaigned in Opposition and in Office to halt the smuggling trade. In foreign policy, Australia continued its military engagement in the Mid-East, in 2015, The Abbott Government agreed to resettle an additional 12,000 refugees from the region. Abbott and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop challenged Russia at the United Nations over the shooting down of Malaysian Flight MH17 in Ukraine, the Government launched the New Colombo Plan to encourage educational exchange with the Indo-Pacific region. Domestically, Abbott campaigned for recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Australian Constitution, flagging a referendum for 2017, air and road infrastructure was prioritised. Abbott had to negotiate a hostile Senate, the Palmer United Party had emerged at the 2013 Election, but fractured soon after. The Liberal Party faced Cabinet leaks and early leadership instability, after a poorly received first Budget, Abbott became the shortest-serving Australian Prime Minister since William McMahon, when his government was succeeded by the Turnbull Government. The Liberal–National coalition, led by Abbott, won the 2013 Australian federal election, Rudd did not complete his first term in office, having been replaced by Julia Gillard following an internal Labor party leadership vote in June 2010. Leadership instability in the ALP continued, and Gillard was replaced by Rudd following a Labor ballot conducted shortly before the 2013 election. He offered support to the Gillard governments National Disability Insurance Scheme and he took a proposal for an expanded paid parental leave scheme, part funded by a levy on big business, to the 2010 and 2013 elections. In his 2013 election campaign, Abbott told the media that the Coalition wanted to build a stronger economy so that everyone can get ahead, well scrap the carbon tax, end the waste, stop the boats and build the infrastructure and the roads of the 21st century
9.
Doha
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Doha is the capital city and most populous city of the State of Qatar. Doha has a population of 1,351,000 in a city proper with the close to 1.5 million. The city is located on the coast of the Persian Gulf in the east of the country and it is Qatars fastest growing city, with over 50% of the nations population living in Doha or its surrounding suburbs, and it is also the economic center of the country. Doha was founded in the 1820s as an offshoot of Al Bidda and it was officially declared as the countrys capital in 1971, when Qatar gained independence. As the commercial capital of Qatar and one of the emergent financial centers in the Middle East, Doha is considered a city by the Globalization. Doha accommodates Education City, a devoted to research and education. The city was host to the first ministerial-level meeting of the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization negotiations. It was also selected as host city of a number of sporting events, including the 2006 Asian Games, in December 2011, the World Petroleum Council held the 20th World Petroleum Conference in Doha. Additionally, the city hosted the 2012 UNFCCC Climate Negotiations and is set to host a number of the venues for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In May 2015, Doha was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, La Paz, Durban, Havana, Beirut, the name Doha may have originated from the Arabic Ad-Dawḥa, the big tree. The reference might be to a prominent tree that stood at the site where the fishing village arose. Alternatively, it may have derived from dohat — Arabic for bay or gulf — referring to the Doha Bay area surrounding the Corniche. The city of Doha was formed after seceding from another local settlement known as Al Bidda, the earliest documented mention of Al Bidda was made in 1681, by the Carmelite Convent, in an account which chronicles several settlements in Qatar. In the record, the ruler and a fort in the confines of Al Bidda are alluded to, carsten Niebuhr, a European explorer who visited the Arabian Peninsula, created one of the first maps to depict the settlement in 1765 in which he labelled it as Guttur. David Seaton, a British political resident in Muscat, wrote the first English record of Al Bidda in 1801 and he refers to the town as Bedih and describes the geography and defensive structures in the area. He stated that the town had recently settled by the Sudan tribe. Seaton attempted to bombard the town with his warship, but returned to Muscat upon finding that the waters were too shallow to position his warship within striking distance. In 1820, British surveyor R. H. Colebrook, who visited Al Bidda and he wrote, The same year, an agreement known as the General Maritime Treaty was signed between the East India Company and the sheikhs of several Persian Gulf settlements
10.
Great Barrier Reef
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The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from space and is the worlds biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms and it supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981. CNN labelled it one of the seven wonders of the world. The Queensland National Trust named it a icon of Queensland. A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, other environmental pressures on the reef and its ecosystem include runoff, climate change accompanied by mass coral bleaching, and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish. According to a study published in October 2012 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Great Barrier Reef has long been known to and used by the Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is an important part of local groups cultures and spirituality. The reef is a popular destination for tourists, especially in the Whitsunday Islands. Tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over AUD$3 billion per year, in November 2014, Google launched Google Underwater Street View in 3D of the Great Barrier Reef. A March 2016 report stated that coral bleaching was more widespread than previously thought, in October 2016, Outside published an obituary for the reef, the article was criticized for being premature and hindering efforts to bolster the resilience of the reef. The Great Barrier Reef is a feature of the East Australian Cordillera division. It includes the smaller Murray Islands and it reaches from Torres Strait in the north to the unnamed passage between Lady Elliot Island and Fraser Island in the south. Lady Elliot Island is located 1,915 km southeast of Bramble Cay as the crow flies, the Plate tectonic theory indicates Australia has moved northwards at a rate of 7 cm per year, starting during the Cenozoic. Eastern Australia experienced a period of uplift, which moved the drainage divide in Queensland 400 km inland. Also during this time, Queensland experienced volcanic eruptions leading to central and shield volcanoes, some of these became high islands. The Great Barrier Reefs development history is complex, after Queensland drifted into tropical waters, it was influenced by reef growth. 10 million years ago, the sea level lowered, which further enabled sedimentation. The reefs substrate may have needed to build up from the sediment until its edge was too far away for suspended sediments to inhibit coral growth
11.
Gros Morne National Park
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Gros Morne National Park is a world heritage site located on the west coast of Newfoundland. At 1,805 km2, it is the second largest national park in Atlantic Canada, it is surpassed by Torngat Mountains National Park, the park takes its name from Newfoundlands second-highest mountain peak located within the park. Its French meaning is large mountain standing alone, or more literally great sombre, Gros Morne is a member of the Long Range Mountains, an outlying range of the Appalachian Mountains, stretching the length of the islands west coast. It is the remnants of a mountain range formed 1.2 billion years ago. The park provides an example of the process of continental drift, where deep ocean crust. The Gros Morne National Park Reserve was established in 1973, and was made a park on October 1,2005. The park was the subject of a film in 2011s National Parks Project, directed by Sturla Gunnarsson and scored by Melissa Auf der Maur, Sam Shalabi. The park is located in the Great Northern Peninsula of Western Newfoundland and this peninsula is referred to as the Humber Zone, a Miogeocline, the Highlands of which contain the largest external basement massif of the Grenville Orogeny in the Appalachian Orogen. This Precambrian basement is known as the Long Range Inlier, Long Range Complex or Basement Gneiss Complex, big Level lie within this Inlier. Finally, a Pleistocene ice cap flowed radially across the island, the Tablelands, found between the towns of Trout River and Woody Point in south west of Gros Morne National Park, look more like a barren desert than traditional Newfoundland. This is due to the ultramafic rock – peridotite – which makes up the Tablelands and it is thought to originate in the Earths mantle and was forced up from the depths during a plate collision several hundred million years ago. Peridotite lacks the usual nutrients required to sustain most plant life, the rock is very low in calcium, very high in magnesium, and has toxic amounts of heavy metals. Peridotite is also high in iron, which accounts for its brownish colour, underneath this weathered zone, the rock is really a dark green colour. The many soil associations mapped in the park reflect the variety of bedrock. The Silver Mountain soil association, dominant in the area, is a very stony sandy loam developed on glacial till overlying granite, granitic gneiss. Similar rocks underlie the St. Pauls Inlet association farther west, sedimentary rocks in the southeastern sector support the North Lake association of stony sandy loam. An association of mostly-shallow loam, the Coxs Cove, occupies a band over shale, slate. The coastal strip north of Bonne Bay is mostly underlain by the peaty Gulls Marsh association, the stony infertile soils of the ultramafic tablelands south of Bonne Bay belong to the Serpentine Range association
12.
National park
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A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns, although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea, the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although Yellowstone was not officially termed a national park in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use national park in its legislation was the USs Mackinac Island. Australias Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park, as a result, Australias Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence. The largest national park in the meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park. According to the IUCN,6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006, IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park. National parks are almost always open to visitors, in 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a sort of property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive. It was known as Hot Springs Reservation, but no authority was established. Federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877, John Muir is today referred to as the Father of the National Parks due to his work in Yosemite. He published two articles in The Century Magazine, which formed the base for the subsequent legislation. President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on July 1,1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley, according to this bill, private ownership of the land in this area was no longer possible. The state of California was designated to manage the park for use, resort. Leases were permitted for up to ten years and the proceeds were to be used for conservation, a public discussion followed this first legislation of its kind and there was a heated debate over whether the government had the right to create parks. The perceived mismanagement of Yosemite by the Californian state was the reason why Yellowstone at its establishment six years later was put under national control, in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the United States first national park, being also the worlds first national park. In some European countries, however, national protection and nature reserves already existed, such as Drachenfels, Yellowstone was part of a federally governed territory
13.
Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
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Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is located in the Central Highlands area of Tasmania,165 km northwest of Hobart. The park contains walking trails, and is where hikes along the well-known Overland Track usually begin. The park is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, access from the south is usually from Derwent Bridge on the Lyell Highway. Northern access is usually via Sheffield, Wilmot or Mole Creek, a less frequently used entrance is via the Arm River Track, from the east. In 2005, the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service introduced a booking system, initially the fee was $100, but this was raised to $150 in 2007, and as at August 2011 is $180. The Tasmanian Government has moved to development in national parks. An In principle permit has been granted for the establishment of a resort at Pumphouse Point at Lake St Clair. The Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is a significant location of Tasmanias endemic species — 40–55% of the parks documented alpine flora is endemic, furthermore, 68% of the higher rainforest species recorded in alpine areas in Tasmania are present in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. The parks alpine vegetation is very diverse and has largely escaped forest fires that have caused neighbouring regions to suffer, animals present in the park include, pademelons, Bennetts wallabies, quolls, Tasmanian devils, echidnas, platypuses, wombats, possums, ravens and currawongs. The park has been identified as an Important Bird Area because it provides habitat for 11 of Tasmanias endemic bird species, as well as for the flame and pink robins, the IBA is important as a representative protected area in north-central Tasmania for those species. Fungi are also a part of the Parks biodiversity, in fact, most fungi perform positive rather than negative roles. Even parasitic fungi – often regarded only negatively – are a part of healthy ecosystems. As primary recyclers of organic matter, saprobic fungi break down fallen branches and leaf litter, other fungi form symbiotic relationships with other organisms. Although rarely acknowledged, the majority of plants in Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park form mutually beneficial mycorrhizal relationships with fungi. Given the great diversity of plants, specialist habitats and micro-climates in the park, several hundred species have already been recorded by field naturalists and interested individuals and can be found in the Atlas of Living Australia. Despite their essential roles in underpinning terrestrial ecosystems, fungi are barely recognised as a part of Australias biodiversity. One of the more a conspicuous species found in the parts of the park is the strawberry bracket fungus. It is a Gondwanan species that grows on beech and snow gums
14.
Devils Gullet State Reserve
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Devils Gullet is a state reserve in Tasmania, Australia. It is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness, from the reserve, visitors unable or unwilling to hike the challenging Walls of Jerusalem National Park can catch a glimpse of the stunning landscape. The viewing platform is located near Mole Creek Karst National Park
15.
Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park
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Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers is a national park in Tasmania,117 km west of Hobart. It is named after the two river systems lying within the bounds of the park - the Franklin River and the Gordon River. The Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park lies between the Central Highlands and West Coast Range of Tasmania in the heart of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and it is dissected by the only road to pass through this area - the Lyell Highway. The genesis of the Wild Rivers National Park was in the earlier Frenchmans Cap National Park which had the Franklin River as its boundary on the northern and western borders. Frenchmans Cap is a dominant feature in the region, and can be seen on the skyline from the west, the Gordon and Franklin Rivers were the subject of one of Australias largest conservation efforts. The Franklin Dam was part of a proposed hydro-electric power scheme that had been in the plans of The Hydro for some time, the enthusiastic endorsement by Robin Grays Liberal Government would have seen the river flooded. It became an issue for the Tasmanian Wilderness Society, led by its director at the time. Despite being given heritage status, the catchments and rivers remain at risk, the Lyell Highway winds for 56 kilometres through the heart of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. Commonwealth v Tasmania Protected areas of Tasmania Position in World Heritage Area
16.
Hartz Mountains National Park
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Hartz Mountains National Park is located in the south of Tasmania, Australia. It is one of 19 Tasmanian National Parks, and in 1989 it was included in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, the Hartz Mountains were named after the Harz mountain range in Germany. Most of the park is over 600 metres above sea level, the relief has been modified over time by several ice ages, forming cirques, horn peaks, aretes and glacial troughs. The varied vegetation includes wet eucalypt forests, mixed forests dominated by stringybark, rainforests, the rainforest communities are dominated by myrtle, sassafras, leatherwood and native laurel. The sub-alpine forests are dominated by three types, snow gum, varnished gum, Australias smallest eucalypt, and yellow gum. Much of the understorey is made of plants, including the Tasmanian waratah. Most mammals in the park are nocturnal, and include Bennetts wallabies, Tasmanian pademelons, brushtail possums, echidnas, among amphibians outstanding is the moss froglet which was discovered at Hartz Mountains in 1992. Some of the birds in the park include the eastern spinebill, green rosella, forest raven. The area of the park was inhabited by the Mellukerdee aboriginal people. The first Europeans came to the area in the 19th century in search of Huon pine timber, in the 1840s early settlers including the Geeves family founded the township of Geeveston, and laid the first track to the Hartz Mountains. As a result, the area one of Tasmanias earliest popular bushwalking destinations. The increasing popularity of the area for recreation led to it being declared a reserve in 1939. In 1951 it was proclaimed to a park, and in 1989 it was included in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. List of national parks of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania
17.
Mole Creek Karst National Park
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It is the only national park in Tasmania created specifically to protect karst landforms. It is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site, the Mole Creek Karst National Park is characterised by its numerous and spectacular cave networks, which attract many tourists each year. Two of these caves, King Solomons cave, which features an extensive network of sediment and bone deposit, as well as shawls. Many of the caves within the National Park remain underdeveloped and are not promoted, many other caves are located on private land, and therefore pose an issue in regards to management and conservation. The national park was declared in 1996 to provide protection for a system of over 300 known caves and sinkholes, including Marakoopa. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature classifies the Mole Creek Karst National Park as a Category II protected area, the Mole Creek Karst National Park features a wide range of flora and fauna, of varying conservation status. These species are contained both in the caves, and in the forests within the National Park. Many of the present, especially in the caves, are endemic to the area. There are many species present in the Mole Creek Karst National Park that are both unique to the Karst system, and listed as protected cave species. The glow worms Arachnocampus tasmaniensis inhabit many of the present in the Mole Creek Karst National Park. The Marakoopa Cave houses one of the most spectacular displays in the entire system. Three species present in the system, listed on the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995, are endemic to the area and confined to the cave systems. Tasmanotrechus cockerilli, a present in the cave systems is a rare and highly cave modified beetle, having evolved to live in a dark cave environment. T. cockerilli belongs to the Tribe Trechinae and is listed as vulnerable on the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. Pseudotyrannochthonius typhlus, is known as the Mole Creek Cave Pseudoscorpion and it is known from only about a dozen specimens, and is very rarely sighted. It is listed as rare on the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and this species is also listed as rare by the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. There’s a variety of bacteria, algae and fungi associated with the caves which are believed to be involved in crystalline and amorphous speleothem germination and growth. The following is a list of some of the species within the Mole Creek Karst National Park, the following species are considered endangered, vulnerable and rare by the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995
18.
South East Mutton Bird Islet
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South East Mutton Bird Islet is a steep unpopulated islet located close to the south-western coast of Tasmania, Australia. Situated some 2 kilometres south of where the mouth of Port Davey meets the Southern Ocean, the South East Mutton Bird Islet is part of the Southwest National Park and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site. The islet is part of the Port Davey Islands Important Bird Area, recorded breeding seabird species are the short-tailed shearwater, fairy prion, black-faced cormorant and silver gull
19.
Southwest National Park
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The Southwest National Park is a 6,182. 67-square-kilometre national park located in the south-west of Tasmania, Australia. The park is Tasmanias largest and forms part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, the eastern boundary is 93 kilometres west of Hobart and the park stretches to the west and south coasts. This park comprises the bulk of Tasmanias South West Wilderness, the park is well known for its pristine wilderness and remoteness. Weather in the park is highly changeable, and can be severe, the area is largely unaffected by humans. Within the area there is one road, to the hydroelectricity township of Strathgordon. The southern and western reaches of the park are far removed from any vehicular access, the only access is by foot, boat, or light aircraft. The tiny locality of Melaleuca in the extreme south-west provides an airstrip and some basic facilities. The core of the park was created in 1955 and was originally called Lake Pedder National Park, over the following 35 years the park was gradually extended and renamed, finally reaching its present size in 1990. The Southwest National Park was a reserve under the United Nations Biosphere Program from 1977 until its withdrawal from the program in 2002. Its designation as a reserve was due to the important world heritage values. This was followed by a World Heritage listing in 1982 which was then expanded finally to its current size, the climate of the Southwest National Park is renowned for its adverse, often inhospitable conditions across all seasons of the year. This is not so more evident than with the flora that inhabits the national park, of these, as noted by Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, approximately 118 are endemic to Tasmania alone, with six of them listed as rare or endangered. This includes the King’s lomatia which has listed as endangered while others such as the blown grass, Spring peppercress. To date up to 128 species have been recorded which again represents 20 percent of the total population in Tasmania. Of these six are endemic to the park, and as noted by Parks and Wildlife Tasmania. The hygiene checks were designed to prevent root rot from becoming a significant threat to these flora species, at an international level the species has also been listed as Critically Endangered under International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List. What makes the area unique is that this National Park, or more specifically within 10 kilometres of Melaleuca Lagoon, remains the only known significant breeding ground of this parrot. This occurs primarily between November and March with the birds migrating back to the coast of South-East Australia over winter following a route along the west coast of Tasmania and King Island
20.
Walls of Jerusalem National Park
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The Walls of Jerusalem National Park is a national park located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The park is located approximately 144 km northwest of Hobart, east of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and it is south of Mole Creek, Tasmania, and Rowallan Lake. The national park forms part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, the park takes its name from the geological features of the park which are thought to resemble the walls of the city of Jerusalem. As a result, many places and features within the park also have Biblical references for names, such as Herods Gate, Lake Salome, Solomons Jewels, Damascus Gate, the Pool of Bethesda. The most prominent feature of the park is King Davids Peak with an elevation of 1,509 metres above sea level, much of the walking track consists of raised boards, from Wild Dog Creek through to Dixons Kingdom, with the purpose of protecting the fragile alpine vegetation. Walking tracks elsewhere in the park consist of rock, rocky earth, grassland, protected areas of Tasmania Savage River National Park
21.
Mount Field National Park
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Mount Field National Park is a national park in Tasmania, Australia,64 km northwest of Hobart. The landscape ranges from eucalyptus temperate rainforest to alpine moorland, rising to 1,434 metres at the summit of Mount Field West, Mount Field National Park was founded in 1916, making it, along with Freycinet National Park, Tasmanias oldest national park. The area around Russell Falls has been protected for its natural beauty since 1885, the last known wild thylacine was captured in the region in 1933. The reserve was called National Park before 1946, but was renamed to its present name in 1947. During the Pleistocene period a snowfield covered the top of the Mount Field plateau which fed glaciers in the surrounding valleys, a large,12 km long glacier formed the broad river valley and the cirque walls above Lake Seal. Twisted Tarn, Twilight Tarn and the tarns on the tarn shelf were formed by glacial scouring, a glacier flowed south from the Rodway Range, forming lakes Belcher and Nelton, and north to form the Hayes Valley and Lake Hayes. In alpine areas podzolic, humus and leached soil is most common, the podzols often occur on deep periglacial solifluction deposits down to 450 m. Alluvial floodplains have developed in the park on deposits of quaternary alluvium. The park has good representation of much of native Tasmanian fauna including Wombats, Platypuses, eastern barred bandicoots, echidnas, Mount Field National Park is also home to an enormous diversity of fungi. Fungi are ecologically important and megadiverse, yet their significance in underpinning the terrestrial ecology of the Park is little recognised. While the Management Plan for Mt Field National Park only mentions fungi in the context of their destructive effects, in fact, most fungi perform positive rather than negative roles. Even parasitic fungi – often regarded only negatively – are a part of healthy ecosystems. As primary recyclers of organic matter, saprobic fungi break down fallen branches and leaf litter, other fungi form symbiotic relationships with other organisms. Although rarely acknowledged, the majority of plants in Mount Field National Park form mutually beneficial mycorrhizal relationships with fungi. Given the great diversity of plants, specialist habitats and micro-climates in the park, two hundred and eighty-nine species have already been recorded by field naturalists and interested individuals and a list can be found in the Atlas of Living Australia. The Green Elfcup is found growing on wood in wetter parts of the park. Even when its fruitbodies are not conspicuous, its presence can often be detected by the staining of the wood it inhabits. The Australian citizen-science organisation, Fungimap is documenting and mapping the distribution of fungi including those that occur in National Parks, despite their essential roles in supporting ecosystems, fungi are barely recognised as a vital part of Australias biodiversity
22.
Bathurst Harbour, Tasmania
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Bathurst Harbour is a shallow bay located in the south west region of Tasmania, Australia. Bathurst Harbour is contained within the Port Davey/Bathurst Harbour Marine Nature Reserve, the harbour is connected by the narrow 12-kilometre -long Bathurst Channel to Port Davey, and then water flows into the Southern Ocean. Like most estuarine systems in southwest Tasmania, the water is stained a deep red-brown due to tannin leached from buttongrass, Bathurst Harbour is a large, rectangular, almost landlocked body of water located in the southwest corner of Tasmania. The harbour is surrounded by low-lying alluvial plains with mountain ranges running along the western and eastern shores. The North River, Old River, Ray River and Melaleuca Creek all drain into the harbour either directly or into one of the many offshoot bays and inlets connected to the harbour. Almost all of the harbour is navigable by sailing vessels with no submerged rocks or navigational hazards except for an area around Black Swan Island at Old Bay in the harbours north. With the exception of the waters around the entrance, most of the harbour has a relatively flat seabed with an average depth of 7 metres.1 metres near Dixon Island. Waters within a 2–3-kilometre radius of the harbour entrance vary greatly in depth with three deep channels branching out from the entrance leaving deep shoals in between at a depth of 5 metres. The true deepest point in the harbour is where the three channels meet between Platypus Point and Nixon Point which reaches 29 metres due to the action of the tide. Bathurst Harbour, like the rest of the Bathurst Channel, is a ria formation caused by the inundation of a large valley, Bathurst Harbour is one of only two places in the world where the Maugean Skate, endemic to Tasmania, has been reported from. The main population is found in habitats in Macquarie Harbour to the north. The land around the harbour is unpopulated with little infrastructure, at present the region has no permanent population, but has in time had a number reclusive inhabitants. Bathurst Harbour has no access of any kind. Access is instead provided by boat, air or walking. The only marine access to the harbour is via the Bathurst Channel from Port Davey, two walking tracks, South Coast Track and the Port Davey Track, provide land access via either Cockle Creek or Scotts Peak Dam. An airstrip at Melaleuca gives the only access to the region and is in turn connected to the main walking tracks. Macquarie Harbour Australian Conservation Foundation, Gee, Helen, Fenton, Janet, the South West Book, a Tasmanian wilderness, Australian Conservation Foundation, ISBN 978-0-85802-056-6 South West Tasmania Resources Survey. Parks & Wildlife Service, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water, Bathurst Harbour – Old River catchment
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South West Tasmania
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South West Tasmania is a region in Tasmania that has evoked curiosity as to its resources over the duration of European presence on the island. The more recent is the consideration as an area of resources for development. The most notable occurring in the region in the late twentieth century was the flooding of Lake Pedder. Most early walks through the region were for discovery, or in the case of Thomas Bather Moore was to establish tracks for access, members were Sir George B Cartland, G. J. Foot and A. G. Ogilvie. Submissions were received on its subject area It made a report in May 1976. The South West Book - A Tasmanian Wilderness, special Issue - The Wonderful South-West. Lines, William J. Patriots, defending Australias natural heritage, South West Tasmania - A land of the Wild
24.
Lake Pedder
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Lake Pedder, once a natural lake, is a man-made impoundment and diversion lake located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia. As a result, the flooded Lake Pedder now has an area of approximately 242 square kilometres. In early 20th century the lake was named after Sir John Pedder. The name of the lake was officially transferred to the new man-made impoundment. Although the new Lake Pedder incorporates the lake, it does not resemble it in size. The new lake consists of an impoundment contained by three dams, Serpentine Dam – a 38-metre high rockfill dam with an upstream face on the Serpentine River. Scotts Peak Dam – a 43-metre high rockfill dam with an upstream face on the upper reaches of the Huon River near Scotts Peak. Edgar Dam – a 17-metre high rockfill dam at Lake Edgar near Scotts Peak, the dams were designed and constructed by Tasmanias Hydro Electric Commission as part of the Upper Gordon River hydro-electric generation scheme. The new Huon Serpentine impoundment, which filled after the dams were completed in 1972, together, the lakes form the biggest water catchment and storage system in Australia. There were protests in Tasmania and mainland Australia at the flooding of the lake, before during. Protests began when in 1967 the Tasmanian Government revoked the status of the Lake Pedder National Park that had protected the lake since 1955. The role of the HEC as a wing of the Tasmanian government was perceived when the political or wider social dissent against the HEC power over the Tasmanian environment seemed impregnable. Reece was well known for his support of the HEC and its power development schemes on the Gordon River. In 1972, he approved the flooding of Lake Pedder, which proceeded despite a determined protest movement, reece refused Whitlams offer, stating that he would not have the Federal Government interfering with the sovereign rights of Tasmania. Reece was quoted as saying, There was a National Park out there, at least, it wasnt of substantial significance in the scheme of things. The thing that was significant was that we had to double the output of power in state in ten years in order supply the demands of industry. And this was the scheme that looked as though it could do a part of job for us. A series of photographs in the 1976 Tasmanian Year book illustrated the process of flooding of the Lake Pedder area, opposition to the flooding of Lake Pedder extended well beyond Tasmania and spread throughout Australia and internationally
25.
Tasmanian Wilderness Society
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The Wilderness Society is an Australian, community-based, not-for-profit non-governmental environmental advocacy organisation. Its vision is to transform Australia into a society that protects, respects and connects with the world that sustains us. It is an organisation with a philosophy of non-violence and consensus decision-making. While the Wilderness Society is an unaligned group, it actively engages the community to lobby politicians. The Wilderness Society comprises a number of separately incorporated organisations and has Campaign Centres located in all Australian capital cities, the Wilderness Society was formed initially as the Tasmanian Wilderness Society and was basically a name change from the South West Tasmania Action Committee. Included in these were campaigns against the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Commission s plans to build dams in many locations around Tasmania. The HEC had appeared to exert an influence over politicians and the community, justifying this stance as being in the best interest of Tasmania, specially regarding the fate of Lake Pedder. To the TWS and many Australians, the Gordon and Franklin Rivers were seen as part of the South West Wilderness, the group was originally established in 1976 from the members of the Lake Pedder Action Committee and the Southwest Tasmania Action Committee. Along with the United Tasmania Group, they had protested against the flooding of Lake Pedder. The group already had established interstate branches as the South West Tasmania Action Committee, significantly, all but four of the twenty-three people attending the inaugural meeting of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society in 1976 were members of the United Tasmania Group. Following the success of the campaign against the Franklin Dam, Gunns claimed $3.5 million from the Wilderness Society, but in March 2009, Gunns was ordered to pay the Wilderness Society $350,000 in damages and to cease the action. The political response in most states of Australia is that there are now wilderness inventories, the concert featured performances from The John Butler Trio, Clare Bowditch and Missy Higgins, and a speech by former leader of the Australian Greens and former TWS director, Dr Bob Brown. In November 2013 the Wilderness Society unveiled their Game Changer proposal, Game Changer acknowledged the changed role of the Wilderness Societys to protect nature across the country. Game Changer saw the Wilderness Society expand their work to include proactive and inclusive ways of defending and protecting nature, traditionally fundraising was performed through The Wilderness Society Shops. He was Australias first parliamentarian to be elected on an environmental platform, Bob Brown was later elected to represent Tasmania and the Greens in the Senate in the Federal parliament. In November 2009 a group of members of the committee of the society held an AGM which has proved controversial. Advance notice of the AGM was given in a low circulation newspaper, the Tasmanian Supreme Court disallowed the election at the AGM in a ruling on 22 April 2010. On 30 June 2010, the 2009 AGM was finally re-held in Adelaide, members attending in person and by phone voted overwhelmingly to remove the previous Management Committee and appoint a new one
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The Guardian
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The Guardian is a British daily newspaper, known from 1821 until 1959 as the Manchester Guardian. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, the Scott Trust became a limited company in 2008, with a constitution to maintain the same protections for The Guardian. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than to the benefit of an owner or shareholders, the Guardian is edited by Katharine Viner, who succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. In 2016, The Guardians print edition had a daily circulation of roughly 162,000 copies in the country, behind The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper has an online UK edition as well as two international websites, Guardian Australia and Guardian US, the newspapers online edition was the fifth most widely read in the world in October 2014, with over 42.6 million readers. Its combined print and online editions reach nearly 9 million British readers, notable scoops include the 2011 News International phone hacking scandal, in particular the hacking of murdered English teenager Milly Dowlers phone. The investigation led to the closure of the UKs biggest selling Sunday newspaper, and one of the highest circulation newspapers in the world, in 2016, it led the investigation into the Panama Papers, exposing the then British Prime Minister David Camerons links to offshore bank accounts. The Guardian has been named Newspaper of the Year four times at the annual British Press Awards, the paper is still occasionally referred to by its nickname of The Grauniad, given originally for the purported frequency of its typographical errors. The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in 1821 by cotton merchant John Edward Taylor with backing from the Little Circle and they launched their paper after the police closure of the more radical Manchester Observer, a paper that had championed the cause of the Peterloo Massacre protesters. They do not toil, neither do they spin, but they better than those that do. When the government closed down the Manchester Observer, the champions had the upper hand. The influential journalist Jeremiah Garnett joined Taylor during the establishment of the paper, the prospectus announcing the new publication proclaimed that it would zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty. Warmly advocate the cause of Reform, endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy and. Support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, in 1825 the paper merged with the British Volunteer and was known as The Manchester Guardian and British Volunteer until 1828. The working-class Manchester and Salford Advertiser called the Manchester Guardian the foul prostitute, the Manchester Guardian was generally hostile to labours claims. The Manchester Guardian dismissed strikes as the work of outside agitators –, if an accommodation can be effected, the occupation of the agents of the Union is gone. CP Scott made the newspaper nationally recognised and he was editor for 57 years from 1872, and became its owner when he bought the paper from the estate of Taylors son in 1907. Under Scott, the moderate editorial line became more radical, supporting William Gladstone when the Liberals split in 1886
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
28.
Gondwana Rainforests
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The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, formerly known as the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, are the most extensive area of subtropical rainforest in the world. Collectively, the rainforests are a World Heritage Site with fifty separate reserves totalling 366,500 hectares from Newcastle to Brisbane. The Gondwana Rainforests are so-named because the record indicates that when Gondwana existed it was covered by rainforests containing the same kinds of species that are living today. Not all Gondwanan rainforests in Australia are located in the New South Wales – Queensland region, the number of visitors to the Gondwana rainforest reserves in New South Wales and Queensland is about 2 million per year. The rainforest reserves have a high conservation value, with more than 200 rare or threatened plant. Eight separate areas have been identified as having outstanding heritage significance to Australia and are included on the Australian National Heritage List, the altitude of the reserves ranges from sea level to almost 1,600 m. The Queensland areas include the Main Range, at its most northern point, and extending south, the most heavily visited parts are Dorrigo National Park and the Natural Bridge section of Springbrook National Park. World Heritage and Associative Natural Values of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia, NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service
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Greater Blue Mountains Area
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The Greater Blue Mountains Area is a World Heritage Site in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The rare plants and animals live in this natural place relate an extraordinary story of Australias antiquity. This is the story of the evolution of Australias unique eucalypt vegetation and its communities, plants. The Greater Blue Mountains Area consists of 10,300 square kilometres of mostly forested landscape on a sandstone plateau 60 to 180 kilometres inland from the Sydney central business district. The area includes vast expanses of wilderness and is equivalent in area to almost one third of Belgium, therefore, the reflected landscape from mountains seems bluish by human eyes. There are basalt outcrops on the higher ridges and this plateau is thought to have enabled the survival of a rich diversity of plant and animal life by providing a refuge from climatic changes during recent geological history. It is particularly noted for its wide and balanced representation of eucalypt habitats from wet and dry sclerophyll, mallee heathlands, as well as localised swamps, wetlands, ninety-one species of eucalypts occur in the Greater Blue Mountains Area. Twelve of these are believed to only in the Sydney sandstone region. The area has been described as a laboratory for studying the evolution of the eucalypts. The largest area of diversity of eucalypts on the continent is located in south-east Australia. The Greater Blue Mountains Area includes much of this eucalypt diversity, as well as supporting such a significant proportion of the worlds eucalypt species, the area provides examples of the range of structural adaptations of the eucalypts to Australian environments. These vary from tall forests at the margins or rainforest in the valleys, through open forests and woodlands. In addition to its outstanding eucalypts, the Greater Blue Mountains Area also contains ancient, the most famous of these is the recently discovered Wollemi pine, a living fossil dating back to the age of the dinosaurs. Thought to have been extinct for millions of years, the few surviving trees of this ancient species are only from three small populations located in remote, inaccessible gorges within the area. The Wollemi pine is one of the worlds rarest species, more than 400 different kinds of animals live within the rugged gorges and tablelands of the Greater Blue Mountains Area. The largest predator of the area is the dingo and these wild dogs hunt for grey kangaroos and other prey. The endangered regent honeyeater is seen there regularly and it is also a migration bottleneck for yellow-faced honeyeaters. The Greater Blue Mountains Area was unanimously listed as a World Heritage Area by UNESCO on 29 November 2000 and it thus became the fourth area in New South Wales to be listed
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Lord Howe Island
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It is about 10 km long and between 0.3 and 2.0 km wide with an area of 14.55 km2, though just 3.98 km2 of that comprises the low-lying developed part of the island. Along the west coast there is a sandy semi-enclosed sheltered coral reef lagoon, most of the population lives in the north, while the south is dominated by forested hills rising to the highest point on the island, Mount Gower. The Lord Howe Island Group comprises 28 islands, islets and rocks, apart from Lord Howe Island itself the most notable of these is the volcanic and uninhabited Balls Pyramid about 23 km to the southeast of Howe. To the north lies the Admiralty Group, a cluster of seven uninhabited islands. On the return journey Ball sent a party ashore on Lord Howe Island to claim it as a British possession and it subsequently became a provisioning port for the whaling industry, and was permanently settled in June 1834. When whaling declined, the 1880s saw the beginning of the export of the endemic kentia palms. The other continuing industry, tourism, began after World War II ended in 1945, the islands standard time zone is UTC+10,30, or UTC+11 when daylight saving time applies. The currency is the Australian dollar, commuter airlines provide flights to Sydney, Brisbane, and Port Macquarie. UNESCO records the Lord Howe Island Group as a World Heritage Site of global natural significance, most of the island is virtually untouched forest, with many of the plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. The Lord Howe Island Act 1981 established a Permanent Park Preserve, the surrounding waters are a protected region designated the Lord Howe Island Marine Park. It appears that, prior to European discovery and settlement, Lord Howe Island was uninhabited, on the return journey of 13 March 1788 Ball observed Balls Pyramid and sent a party ashore on Lord Howe Island to claim it as a British possession. Numerous turtles and tame birds were captured and returned to Sydney, Ball named Mount Lidgbird and Balls Pyramid after himself and the main island after Richard Howe, First Earl Howe, who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. Watercolour sketches of native birds including the Lord Howe woodhen, white gallinule, as the latter two birds were soon hunted to extinction these paintings are their only remaining pictorial record. Over the next three years the Supply returned to the several times in search of turtles and the island was also visited by ships of the Second. The American fleet numbered 675 ships and Lord Howe was located in a known as the Middle Ground noted for sperm whales. Between July and October 1791 the Third Fleet ships arrived at Sydney, whale oil was to become Australias most profitable export until the 1830s, and it was the whaling industry that shaped Lord Howe Islands early history. They left three men, George Ashdown, James Bishop and Chapman, who were employed by a Sydney whaling firm to establish a supply station, the men were initially to provide meat by fishing and by raising pigs and goats from feral stock. They landed with their Māori wives and two Māori boys, huts were built in an area now known as Old Settlement which had a supply of fresh water, and a garden was established west of Blinky Beach
31.
Sydney Opera House
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The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, Australia. It is one of the 20th centurys most famous and distinctive buildings, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the building was formally opened on 20 October 1973 after a gestation beginning with Utzons 1957 selection as winner of an international design competition. The government of New South Wales, led by the premier, Joseph Cahill, performances are presented by numerous performing artists, including four resident companies, Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As one of the most popular attractions in Australia, more than eight million people visit the site annually. The building is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust, an agency of the New South Wales State Government, on 28 June 2007, the Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The building covers 1.8 hectares of land and is 183 m long and 120 m wide at its widest point and it is supported on 588 concrete piers sunk as much as 25 m below sea level. Although the roof structures are referred to as shells, they are precast concrete panels supported by precast concrete ribs. Though the shells appear uniformly white from a distance, they feature a subtle chevron pattern composed of 1,056,006 tiles in two colours, glossy white and matte cream. The tiles were manufactured by the Swedish company Höganäs AB which generally produced stoneware tiles for the paper-mill industry. Apart from the tile of the shells and the curtain walls of the foyer spaces. Significant interior surface treatments also include off-form concrete, Australian white birch plywood supplied from Wauchope in northern New South Wales, of the two larger spaces, the Concert Hall is in the western group of shells, the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the eastern group. The scale of the shells was chosen to reflect the internal requirements, with low entrance spaces. The smaller venues are within the podium, beneath the Concert Hall, a smaller group of shells set to the western side of the Monumental Steps houses the Bennelong Restaurant. The podium is surrounded by substantial open spaces, and the large stone-paved forecourt area with the adjacent monumental steps is regularly used as a performance space. The Sydney Opera House includes a number of venues, Concert Hall, With 2,679 seats. It contains the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ, the largest mechanical action organ in the world. Joan Sutherland Theatre, A proscenium theatre with 1,507 seats, until 16 October 2012 it was known as the Opera Theatre. Drama Theatre, A proscenium theatre with 544 seats, used by the Sydney Theatre Company and other dance, Playhouse, An end-stage theatre with 398 seats
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Willandra Lakes Region
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The Willandra Lakes Region is a World Heritage Site in the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia. The Willandra Lakes Region is the meeting place of the Muthi Muthi, Nyiampaar. A small section of the region is protected by the Mungo National Park, the World Heritage status of the region was created and negotiated in 1981. The site was gazetted on the Australian National Heritage List on 21 May 2007 under the Environment,2003 - Journey of Man World heritage listing for Willandra Lakes at the Department of the Environment
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Kakadu National Park
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Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia,171 km southeast of Darwin. The park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory and it covers an area of 19,804 km2, extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres from east to west. It is the size of Slovenia, about one-third the size of Tasmania, the Ranger Uranium Mine, one of the most productive uranium mines in the world, is surrounded by the park. The name Kakadu may come from the mispronunciation of Gaagudju, which is the name of an Aboriginal language formerly spoken in the part of the park. This name may derive from the Indonesian word kakatuwah, subsequently Anglicised as cockatoo, Kakadu is ecologically and biologically diverse. Some 117 species of reptiles Aboriginal people have occupied the Kakadu area continuously for at least 40,000 years, Kakadu National Park is renowned for the richness of its Aboriginal cultural sites. There are more than 5,000 recorded art sites illustrating Aboriginal culture over thousands of years, the archaeological sites demonstrate Aboriginal occupation for at least 20,000 and possibly up to 40,000 years. The cultural and natural values of Kakadu National Park were recognised internationally when the park was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and this is an international register of properties that are recognised as having outstanding cultural or natural values of international significance. Kakadu was listed in three stages, stage 1 in 1981, stage 2 in 1987, and the park in 1992. Approximately half of the land in Kakadu is aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976, the areas of the park that are owned by Aboriginal people are leased by the traditional owners to the Director of National Parks to be managed as a national park. The remaining area is commonwealth land vested under the Director of National Parks, all of Kakadu is declared a national park under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Aboriginal traditional owners of the park are descendants of various groups from the Kakadu area and have longstanding affiliations with this country. Their lifestyle has changed in recent years, but their traditional customs, about 500 Aboriginal people live in the park, many of them are traditional owners. All of Kakadu is jointly managed by Aboriginal traditional owners and the Australian Governments Department of the Environment, Park Management is directed by the Kakadu Board of Management. Kakadu National Park was declared under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975 in three stages between 1979 and 1991, the NPWC Act was replaced by the EPBC Act in 2000. The declaration of the park continues under the EPBC Act, Stage One of the park was declared on 5 April 1979. Stage Two was declared on 28 February 1984, in March 1978, a claim was lodged under the Land Rights Act for the land included in Stage Two of Kakadu. The land claim was successful and, in 1986, three areas in the eastern part of Stage Two were granted to the Jabiluka Aboriginal Land Trust
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Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh)
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Riversleigh, in the north-west of Queensland, is Australias most famous fossil site. The 100 km2 area has fossil remains of ancient mammals, birds, the fossils at Riversleigh are unusual because they are found in soft freshwater limestone which has not been compressed. This means the animal remains retain their three-dimensional structure, the area is located within the catchment of the Gregory River. Fossils were first noted to exist in the area in 1901, an initial exploration survey was conducted in 1963. Since 1976 the area has been the subject of systemic exploration, the site was co-listed with the Naracoorte Caves National Park in South Australia as a World Heritage site in 1994 and by itself, it is an extension of the Boodjamulla National Park. Fossils at Riversleigh are found in limestone by lime-rich freshwater pools, and in caves, some of the fossils at Riversleigh are 25 million years old. High concentrations of calcium carbonate has meant the fossils are well preserved. The fossil collection reveals mammalian evolution across a span of more than 20 million years. There are more than 200 individual locations where fossils have been found, the fossil record here is significant because it provides evidence on evolution and the distribution of species across Gondwana. Thirty-five fossil bat species have been identified at the site, which is the richest in the world, cave deposits have been particularly rich in bat species. The skull and nearly complete dentition of a fifteen million-year-old monotreme, Obdurodon dicksoni, fossil ancestors of the recently extinct thylacine, Thylacinus cynocephalus, have also been identified among Riversleighs fauna. In 1993, Nimbadon skulls were unearthed in an unknown cave in the region. Researchers estimate that the prehistoric marsupial first appeared about 15 million years ago and died out about 12 million years ago, a well-preserved skull of the ancient Nimbacinus dicksoni marsupial found at Riversleigh has been used to determine the hunting behaviour of the species. Other fossils have provided evidence of how the koala has evolved in response to Australias change from predominant rainforest vegetation to drier eucalypt forests, some fossil insects and plants have also been discovered. Mike Archer is a paleontologist who has been working at Riversleigh since 1983 and he and his co-workers discovered that diluted acetic acid was the most effective method of extracting fossils. List of fossil sites Archer, M. et al, Riversleigh, the Story of Australias Inland Rainforests
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Fraser Island
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Fraser Island is a heritage-listed island located along the south-eastern coast of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is approximately 250 kilometres north of the state capital - Brisbane and it is a locality within the Fraser Coast local government in the Wide Bay–Burnett region. Its length is about 120 kilometres and its width is approximately 24 kilometres and it was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992. The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1,840 km2 and it is also Queenslands largest island, Australias sixth largest island and the largest island on the East Coast of Australia. The island has rainforests, eucalyptus woodland, mangrove forests, wallum and peat swamps, sand dunes and coastal heaths. Unlike on many sand dunes, plant life is abundant due to the naturally occurring mycorrhizal fungi present in the sand, which release nutrients in a form that can be absorbed by the plants. Fraser Island is home to a number of mammal species, as well as a diverse range of birds, reptiles and amphibians. The island is protected in the Great Sandy National Park, Fraser Island has been inhabited by humans for as much as 5,000 years. Explorer James Cook sailed by the island in May 1770, matthew Flinders landed near the most northern point of the island in 1802. For a short period the island was known as Great Sandy Island, the island became known as Fraser due to the stories of a shipwreck survivor named Eliza Fraser. Today the island is a tourism destination. Its resident human population was 194 at the 2011 Australian Census, Fraser Island is separated from the mainland by Great Sandy Strait. The southern tip, near Tin Can Bay, is situated to the north of Inskip Peninsula, the most northern point of the island is Sandy Cape where the Sandy Cape Light operated from 1870 to 1994. The establishment of the lighthouse was the first permanent European settlement on the island, the nearest large town to Fraser Island is Hervey Bay, while Maryborough and Bundaberg are also close by. The bay on the north east coast is called Marloo Bay, the most westerly place on the island is Moon Point. Eli Creek is the largest creek on the east coast of the island with a flow of 80 million litres per day, Eli Creek has its own unique and varied wild life. Coongul Creek on the west coast has a rate of four to five million litres per hour. Some of the swamps on the island are fens, particularly near Moon Point and this was only discovered in 1996 when a group of experts who had attended a Ramsar conference in Brisbane flew over the island and conducted an aerial survey
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Wet Tropics of Queensland
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The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km² of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Wet Tropics of Queensland meets all four of the criteria for natural heritage for selection as a World Heritage Site, World Heritage status was declared in 1988. The Wet Tropics were added to the Australian National Heritage List in May 2007, the tropical forests have the highest concentration of primitive flowering plant families in the world. Only Madagascar and New Caledonia, due to their isolation, have humid. The Wet Tropics of Queensland stretches in part from Townsville to Cooktown, the Great Dividing Range and a number of small coastal ranges, highlands, tablelands, foothills and an escarpment dominate the landscape. The heritage site contains the section of the Queensland tropical rain forests including the Daintree Rainforest. 16 different structural types of rainforest have been identified, the World Heritage area includes Australias highest waterfall, Wallaman Falls. In total it spans 13 major river systems including the Annan, Bloomfield, Daintree, Barron, Mulgrave, Russell, Johnstone, Tully, Herbert, Burdekin, Mitchell, Normanby, copperlode Dam, Koombooloomba Dam and Paluma Dam are found within the World Heritage Area. 15% of the area is protected as national park, the Wet Tropics Management Authority was established in 1983, it is responsible for managing the site according to Australias obligations under the World Heritage Convention. The agency employed 20 staff in 2012 as a unit within the Department of Environment and it is headed by a Board of Directors responsible to the Wet Tropics Ministerial Council which contains both Queensland and Federal Government representatives. The site contains many features such as over 390 rare plant species. There are at least 85 species that are endemic to the area,13 different types of rainforest and 29 species of mangrove, of the 19 families of primitive flowering plants worldwide,12 are found in the Wet Tropics including two families found nowhere else. This includes at least 50 individual species which are endemic to the area,90 species of orchids have been noted. The large rare trees Stockwellia or Vic Stockwells Puzzle Stockwellia quadrifida grow only in restricted areas of well developed upland rain forest in the Wet Tropics, 65% of Australia’s fern species are protected here, including all seven of the ancient fern species. 370 species of bird have been recorded in the area,11 species of those are found nowhere else. The endangered southern cassowary and rare spotted-tailed quoll are some of the threatened species. The musky rat-kangaroo is significant because it represents a stage in the evolution of kangaroos. Other rare animals include the yellow-bellied gliders and brush-tailed bettong,107 mammal species have been identified
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Naracoorte Caves National Park
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Naracoorte Caves National Park is a national park near Naracoorte in the Limestone Coast tourism region in the south-east of South Australia. It was officially recognised in 1994 for its fossil record when the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List. The park preserves 6 km² of remnant vegetation, with 26 caves contained within the 3.05 km² World Heritage Area, the park is a visitor destination in itself, with a camping ground and caravan park, dormitory accommodation for groups, picnic grounds and a licensed cafe. The range of activities is extensive. Show cave tours are guided by professional interpreters through highly decorated caves with some tours visiting amazing fossil deposits, modern technology has been utilised to show visitors the normally inaccessible interior of Bat Cave, where thousands of southern bent-wing bats breed each year. Other opportunities include adventure caving, a selection of specialty tours, the Wonambi Fossil Centre, the parks visitor centre, features displays of fossils and bones found in the caves and dioramas of extinct animals. The limestone of the area was formed from coral and marine creatures 200 million years ago, ground water since then has dissolved and eroded some of the limestone, creating the caves. The caves, such as the Victoria Fossil Cave and Blanche Cave, are not far below ground. This is the source of the collection of fossils. Mammals and other creatures have fallen into open caves and been unable to escape. The fossil record has been preserved in strata formed from eroded topsoil washed, in some places, the fossil-bearing silt is up to 20 metres thick. Some of these areas are being preserved for research when better methods of dating and reconstructing fossil records may have been found. These fossil traps are especially significant for tracing Australian megafauna, Riversleigh List of World Heritage Sites in Oceania List of fossil parks Protected areas of South Australia Achenbach, Joel, Lost Giants, National Geographic,218, 90–109. Archived from the original on 2007-09-01, World heritage listing for Naracoorte UNESCO site with information on Riversleigh, Australia Naracoorte Caves National Park webpage on protected planet Naracoorte Lucindale Tourism
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Macquarie Island
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Macquarie Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies in the southwest Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30 S, 158°57 E. Politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978 and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997 and it was a part of Esperance Municipality until 1993 when the municipality was merged with other municipalities to Huon Valley. The island is home to the royal penguin population during their annual nesting season. Ecologically, the island is part of the Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion, since 1948 the Australian Antarctic Division has maintained a permanent base, the Macquarie Island Station, on the isthmus at the northern end of the island at the foot of Wireless Hill. The population of the base, the only human inhabitants. A heliport is located near the base, in September 2016, the Australian Antarctic Division confirmed it will close its research station on the island in 2017. The Australian/Briton Frederick Hasselborough discovered the uninhabited island accidentally on 11 July 1810 when looking for new sealing grounds and he claimed Macquarie Island for Britain and annexed it to the colony of New South Wales in 1810. The island took its name after Colonel Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821, Hasselborough reported a wreck of ancient design, which has given rise to speculation that the island may have been visited before by Polynesians or others. Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, who explored the area for Alexander I of Russia, Bellingshausen landed on the island on 28 November 1820, defined its geographical position and traded his rum and food for Macquarie Islands fauna with the sealers. Between 1810 and 1919, seals and then penguins were hunted almost to the point of extinction, the conditions on the island and the surrounding seas were considered so harsh that a plan to use it as a penal settlement was rejected. In 1877, the crew of the schooner Bencleugh was shipwrecked on the islands for four months, the ships owner, John Sen Inches Thomson, wrote a book on his sea travels, including his time on the island. The book, written in 1912, was entitled Voyages and Wanderings In Far-off Seas, in 1890, New South Wales transferred the island to Tasmania, which leased it to Joseph Hatch between 1902 and 1920 for his oil industry based on harvesting penguins. Between 1911 and 1914, the became a base for the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Sir Douglas Mawson. George Ainsworth operated a station between 1911 and 1913, followed by Harold Power and by Arthur Tulloch from 1914 until it was shut down in 1915. The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions established its headquarters on 25 May 1948 on Macquarie Island. The island had status as a reserve under the Man. On 23 December 2004, an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the moment magnitude scale rocked the island, geoscience Australia issued a Tsunami Inundation Advice for Macquarie Island Station. Such a tsunami would likely affect other parts of the coastline, such a significant earthquake at Macquarie Island capable of causing such a tsunami is a high risk according to several papers
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Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area
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The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area is a World Heritage Site in Tasmania, Australia. The area is one of the largest conservation areas in Australia, covering 15,800 km² and it constitutes one of the last expanses of temperate wilderness in the world, and includes the South West Wilderness. The Tasmanian Wilderness, a network of parks and reserves with steep gorges, human remains dating back more than 20,000 years have been found in limestone caves in the area. In 2014, the Abbott Government proposed de-listing the Tasmanian Wilderness as a World Heritage Site so as to allow the logging of trees within the protected area, if successful, the proposal would have marked the first time a developed nation had de-listed a site for economic purposes. The proposal was rejected by the 38th Session of the World Heritage Committee in June 2014, the Abbott Government has since stated it intends to respect the decision of the committee. Other controversial environment related projects spearheaded by the Abbott Government include the Great Barrier Reef dredging project, in 2016, the Tasmanian government withdrew the bid to allow logging in the Tasmanian Wilderness after a UNESCO report opposed the idea
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Royal Exhibition Building
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The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage Site-listed building in Melbourne, Australia, completed in 1880. It is located at 9 Nicholson Street in the Carlton Gardens, flanked by Victoria, Carlton and Rathdowne Streets and it was built to host the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880–81 and later hosted the opening of the first Parliament of Australia in 1901. Throughout the 20th century smaller sections and wings of the building were subject to demolition and fire, however and it is the worlds most complete surviving site from the International Exhibition movement 1851–1914. It sits adjacent to the Melbourne Museum and is the largest item in Museum Victorias collection, today, the building hosts various exhibitions and other events and is closely tied with events at the Melbourne Museum. The Royal Exhibition Building was designed by the architect Joseph Reed, who designed the Melbourne Town Hall. According to Reed, the design was inspired by many sources. The dome was modeled on the Florence Cathedral, while the main pavilions were influenced by the style of Rundbogenstil and several buildings from Normandy, Caen and it was built by David Mitchell, who also built Scots Church and St Patricks Cathedral. He was also the father of the famed soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the foundation stone was laid by Victorian governor George Bowen on 19 February 1879 and it was completed in 1880, ready for the Melbourne International Exhibition. The building consisted of a Great Hall of over 12,000 square metres, after the official opening, the Federal Parliament moved to the Victorian State Parliament House, while the Victorian Parliament moved to the Exhibition Building for the next 26 years. On 3 September 1901, the Countess of Hopetoun, wife of the Governor-General, a large flag,5.5 metres by 11 metres, was unfurled and flown over the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building. In 1902, the hosted the Australian Federal International Exhibition. The period after this saw the building used for many purposes. It was a venue for the 1956 Summer Olympics, hosting the basketball, weightlifting, wrestling, in 1948, members of the Melbourne City Council put this to the vote and it was narrowly decided not to demolish the building. The wing of the building once housed Melbourne Aquarium burnt down in 1953. During the 1940s and 1950s, the building remained a venue for regular weekly dances, over some decades of this period it also held boat shows, car shows and other regular home and building industry shows. It was also used during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s for State High School Matriculation and for the Victorian Certificate of Education examinations, the western annexe was demolished in the 1970s. Nevertheless, the ballroom was demolished in 1979, leaving the main structure in place along with annexes constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. Following the demolition of the ballroom, there was a public outcry which prevented the main building from also being demolished
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Carlton Gardens
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The Carlton Gardens is a World Heritage Site located on the northeastern edge of the Central Business District in the suburb of Carlton, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The 26-hectare site contains the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne Museum and Imax Cinema, tennis courts, the rectangular site is bound by Victoria Street, Rathdowne Street, Carlton Street, and Nicholson Street. From the Exhibition building the gardens gently slope down to the southwest and northeast, according to the World Heritage listing the Royal Exhibition Buildings and Carlton Gardens are of historical, architectural, aesthetic, social and scientific significance to the State of Victoria. A network of tree-lined paths provides formal avenues for highlighting the fountains and this includes the grand allee of plane trees that lead to the exhibition building. Two small ornamental lakes adorn the southern section of the park, the northern section contains the museum, tennis courts, maintenance depot and curators cottage, and the childrens playground designed as a Victorian maze. The elm avenues of Ulmus procera and Ulmus × hollandica are significant as few examples remain world wide due to Dutch elm disease, wildlife includes brushtailed possums, ducks and ducklings in spring, tawny frogmouths, kookaburras. Indian mynas and silver gulls are common, at night Goulds wattled bat and white-striped freetail bats hunt for insects while grey-headed flying foxes visit the gardens when native trees are flowering or fruiting. The gardens contain three important fountains, the Exhibition Fountain, designed for the 1880 Exhibition by sculptor Joseph Hochgurtel, the French Fountain, the grounds adjoining the north of the Exhibition Building formerly contained a sports ground, known as the Exhibition Oval or Exhibition Track. A fifth-of-a-mile oval asphalt cycling track was built in 1890, then was refurbished in 1896 to improve the surface and widen, the circuit held cycling races until the 1920s, as well as low-powered motorcycle races. The cycling track was removed in 1928, and replaced with a track for high-powered motorcycle racing. 1839 – Large tracts of surrounding the original town grid of Melbourne were reserved from sale by Superintendent Charles La Trobe. Circa 1856 – The City of Melbourne obtained control of the Carlton Gardens, the path layout and other features of the design were built although limitations on funding for maintenance etc. resulted in frequent criticism. 1870s – The colonial Victorian Government resumed control of the Gardens, the site was soon afterwards drastically redesigned for the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition by the architect Joseph Reed. The prominent local horticulturist William Sangster was engaged as a contractor to redevelop the gardens,1880 – Exhibition Building completed for the Melbourne International Exhibition that year. Temporary annexes to house some of the exhibition in the section were demolished after the exhibition closed on 30 April 1881. 1888 – Melbourne Centennial Exhibition to celebrate a century of European settlement in Australia,1891 – The curators Lodge was completed and lived in by John Guilfoyle. 1901 – First Parliament of Australia opens in the Exhibition Building, the west annex of the Building becomes the site of the Victorian Parliament for the next 27 years. 1919 – buildings became a hospital for influenza epidemic victims 1928 – Perimeter fence removed leaving the bluestone footings
