The Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area, New South Wales, Australia: Land Use Planning and Management of Aboriginal and Archaeological Heritage

Abstract

The Willandra Lakes Region is a series of dry lakes in southwest New South Wales, Australia, set within a semiarid landscape. The region covers some 239,000 hectares and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981. Since world heritage inscription, the region has been transformed. Plans of management have been developed at the regional, property and individual archaeological site level. Mungo National Park has expanded significantly and now encompasses many of the key archaeological sites. Grazing and cropping continue on private lands in the World Heritage Region, but the pattern of land use in these areas has been extensively modified to reduce the impacts of grazing on the fragile soils and the archaeological values they contain. All of these actions have been designed to improve the conservation of archaeological values and have involved long-term and ongoing consultation and planning between private landholders, Aboriginal Elders, government land managers and academic researchers.