tasmanian Wilderness / Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area / Place Travel Heritage

Southwest National Park, also spelled South-West National Park, national park in southwestern Tasmania, Australia, covering more than 2,350 square miles (6,080 square km). Together with the adjacent Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park (established in 1981), Southwest forms the core of the Tasmanian Wilderness, a World Heritage site that is perhaps the best-known wilderness area in Australia.

The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area is a World Heritage Site in Tasmania, Australia. Area: 1,584,233 ha. Location: Tasmania, Australia. Extensions: 1989. Criteria: Cultural: iii, iv, vi, vii; natural: viii, ix, x. Inscription: 1982 (6th Session). UNESCO Site Id: 181.

Tasmanian Wilderness, area of remarkable natural beauty and ecological diversity in southwestern, western, and central Tasmania, Australia. Designated a World Heritage site in 1982, its area was extended to some 5,300 square miles (13,800 square km) in 1989.

The Tasmanian Wilderness consists largely of Southwest National Park (established 1968), Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park (1981), and Cradle Mountain–Lake St. Clair National Park (1971), but it also includes the national parks Walls of Jerusalem (1981) and Hartz Mountains (1939). On its northeastern and eastern edges are the Central Plateau Conservation Area (1982) and other protected lands. Archaeological sites within the region are Maxwell River and Wargata Mina, and there is a historic site at Macquarie Harbour.

Tens of thousands of years after the arrival of Aborigines to the area, it became the home of Tasmania’s first penal colony (1822–33), which centred on Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour. Trapping, mining, shipbuilding, and the harvest of timber were important economic activities from the early 19th century, and industrial interests still compete for a share of the region’s natural wealth.

Tens of thousands of years after the arrival of Aborigines to the area, it became the home of Tasmania’s first penal colony (1822–33), which centred on Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour. Trapping, mining, shipbuilding, and the harvest of timber were important economic activities from the early 19th century, and industrial interests still compete for a share of the region’s natural wealth.

Marked by rugged terrain and a cold, wet climate, the park consists of several parallel highland ranges divided by wide valleys. Eucalyptus and sedges are common in the area’s rainforests. The Maatsuyker islands, which form part of the park off Tasmania’s southern shore, are the habitat of numerous seabirds and seals. The initial park was created in 1968 out of the amalgamation of Lake Pedder National Park (created in 1955) and the Huon Serpentine Impoundment, which had inundated Lake Pedder owing to the construction of a hydroelectric dam. In 1976 the park was almost doubled when the Port Davey Foreshore Preserve and the Precipitous Bluff were both added to it. In 1981 it was enlarged again, with lands about the headwaters of the Davey River, and in 1990 it subsumed Mount Bowes and areas along the Upper Weld River.