The Australian Alps National Parks

The National Heritage List recognises and protects our most valued The Australian Alps natural, Indigenous and historic heritage sites. It reflects the story of our development, from our original inhabitants to the present day, Stuart Cohen Stuart Cohen Australia’s spirit and ingenuity, and our unique, living landscapes. Each place in the List has been assessed by the Australian Heritage Council as having outstanding heritage value to the nation, and is protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This means that approval must be obtained Australian Alps national parks Parks Victoria before taking any action that may have a significant impact on the www.australianalps.environment.gov.au 131963 national heritage values of the place. In this way, we can retain our heritage for future generations. To ensure ongoing protection, each listed place should have a management plan outlining how the heritage values of the site will be conserved and interpreted. New South Wales National Parks ACT Parks Conservation The National Heritage List enables all Australians to value, protect, and Wildlife Service and Lands and celebrate our unique heritage. 1300 361 967 02 6207 5111 For further information visit www.heritage.gov.au www.heritage.gov.au Cover image: Australian Scenics our pastoral and pioneering history. Linked to this is Banjo Paterson’s ballad The Man from Snowy River, an epic legend of horsemanship. • The Alps is the major area in Australia for broad-scale snow recreation. Snow sports began in the 1860s and activities expanded Dr Linda Broome photos Fairfax Australian Scenics Juliet Ramsay during the 20th century. • With significant natural catchments, the The spectacular and distinctive Australian Alps contain landforms created of Australia’s natural history. The Kosciuszko Plateau includes the most Alps have contributed to the nation’s by glaciers, remarkable fish fossils and unique cold climate plants and striking examples on the Australian mainland of landforms created by social and economic development through animals. The Alps have a strong association with Australia’s pioneering glaciers. The remarkable Mt Howitt fish fossils demonstrate all life stages the use of alpine waters for irrigation, to history, while the snowfields and national parks have long been popular from larvae to mature fish. generate electricity and as a partial source recreation areas. The Australian Alps, made up of eleven national parks for domestic water supplies for Melbourne • The Alps are home to unique cold climate plants and animals – from and nature reserves, received Australia’s highest heritage honour on and Canberra. wildflowers to snow gums, and from mountain pygmy possums to 7 November 2008. Neville Byrne migratory Bogong moths. Scientific significance Unique natural environment Longstanding human interaction • There is a long history of scientific research and endeavour in the Alps. • The high altitude peaks and plateaus, glacial lakes and alpine and For example, in the mid-1800s Baron Ferdinand von Mueller gathered • Past large scale Aboriginal social gatherings based on moth feasting were sub-alpine ecosystems of the Australian Alps are rare in our mostly flat, extensive botanical alpine collections and Alfred William Howitt unique to the Alps. dry and hot continent. documented the area’s geology, botany and Aboriginal societies. • Huts, fences, cattle yards and stock routes reflect over 150 years of • The Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station played a major role in the Apollo • Containing the highest peaks in the Great Dividing Range, the Alps summer grazing on the alpine high plains, which began in the 1830s. 11 moon landing mission. are of outstanding landscape value and are important in the pattern The distinctive way of life associated with that grazing is significant to .

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