Southwest Tasmania: Wilderness at the Edge of the World

The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area covers more than 1.4 million hectares of southwest and west Tasmania, representing one of the largest temperate wilderness areas remaining on earth and protecting ecosystems, geological features, and Aboriginal cultural sites of global significance. The area's inscription on the World Heritage list reflects its outstanding natural values across multiple criteria, from its ancient Gondwanan plant communities to the cave systems containing evidence of human occupation extending back more than 40,000 years.

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is the most visited part of the World Heritage Area, attracting walkers on the Overland Track, day visitors to Cradle Mountain's visitor precinct, and the wildlife watchers who come for the wombats, wallabies, and Tasmanian devils that are visible at the Cradle Valley in ways that the broader wilderness does not offer. The park's visitor infrastructure has been developed to accommodate the substantial visitor numbers while minimising impact on the wilderness values that attract them.

The Overland Track, running 65 kilometres from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair, is Australia's most famous multi-day wilderness walk and one of the finest long-distance walking routes in the world. The track's combination of alpine heath, mountain tarns, ancient rainforest, and the dramatic peak scenery of the central plateau creates a landscape experience available nowhere else in Australia. The managed access system that limits track numbers during the peak season has been effective in maintaining the experience quality while accommodating the growing demand.

Southwest National Park, the largest and most remote part of the World Heritage Area, provides true wilderness of a kind that is increasingly rare in the accessible parts of the world. The park's remoteness, accessible primarily by light aircraft, boat, or extended multi-day walk, ensures that the wilderness experience it provides is genuine rather than packaged, with the solitude and self-reliance that definition requires.

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