Case studies

Source: Ramsay (2020)

In the 21st century, urban renewal and intensification have increased, placing environmental and heritage values under threat. Lake Burley Griffin and its lakeshore landscape is an example of how urban intensification can lead to undesirable changes in an historic designed cultural landscape of national heritage significance.

Canberra, Australia’s capital, is a planned city in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The substantial lake system of Lake Burley Griffin was designed as its central feature and focus. It was largely designed by Walter and Marion Burley Griffin, but was later amended by the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) for practical and aesthetic reasons. The initial development of lake and surrounding parkland included around 40.5 hectares of landscape planting of about 55,000 trees. The completed lake and landscape are regarded as a masterwork of design and engineering that successfully kept the spirit of the Griffins’ plan while achieving a functional and modern attractive expression.

The national significance of Lake Burley Griffin and its lakeshore landscape was recognised though its inclusion in the NCDC National Capital Open Space System, a status that protected its values for 25 years. However, in the mid-2000s, the National Capital Plan was changed to allow residential development in this designated open space that was not present in the Griffin or the NCDC schemes. Included in this was the development of a multistorey apartment enclave in the West Basin area, lining the western side of Commonwealth Avenue, the iconic route to Australia’s Parliament House. This development required infilling of the lake up to 80 metres from the existing shoreline. The changes were of sufficient concern that the Australian Government Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories recommended against the amendments.

Following the establishment of the ACT Government in 1988, a complex dual planning system was established, with planning responsibilities divided between the ACT Government and the Australian Government’s National Capital Planning Authority. Today, only parts of the Lake Burley Griffin landscape are listed on the ACT Heritage Register and Commonwealth Heritage list. Despite various nominations to the National Heritage List since 2011 to compensate for the fragmented and partial listings (with the cultural landscape considered to meet 7 of the National Heritage criteria), no all-encompassing heritage listing or conservation management plan for Lake Burley Griffin and its lakeshore landscape has been accepted. The 2017 International ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) General Assembly passed a Heritage Alert resolution requesting the Australian and ACT governments to halt the West Basin development and to prepare an overarching conservation management plan for Lake Burley Griffin and its lakeshore landscape before any further development. Neither of these have happened.

Although increased urban density in Canberra and other Australian cities may be desirable (see the Urban chapter), care is needed to ensure no loss of significant heritage values.

Figure 20 Lake Burley Griffin’s West Basin, showing the start of infill and redevelopment, February 2021

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Figure 20 Lake Burley Griffin’s West Basin, showing the start of infill and redevelopment, February 2021

Photo: George Rooks, Lake Burley Griffin Guardians

Sources: Professor Di Walker and Cheryl Cowell, Western Australia

Shark Bay, on the coast of Western Australia, is a 2.2 million hectare marine and terrestrial biodiverse region of ecological, geological and hydrological significance, as well as a region of exceptional beauty. Shark Bay is a World Heritage Area, with its exceptional marine environment featuring more than 120 islands.

The Outstanding Universal Values that make this a World Heritage Area include:

• extensive seagrass beds, which are the largest (4,800 square kilometres (km²)) and the most diverse in the world
• hypersaline environments and extreme salinity gradients
• stromatolites, which are microbial colonies that occur as intertidal dome-shaped or mat-like deposits and are among the oldest life forms on earth; the Hamelin Pool stromatolites are the most diverse in the world
• one of the world’s most significant and secure strongholds for the protection of dugong and many other species assemblages, including some that are found nowhere else in the wild.

However, these values are highly vulnerable to climate change, and the Shark Bay World Heritage Area has been assessed as having a low system capacity to adapt to climate change. Climate impacts are expected to threaten the resilience of areas in Shark Bay and to increasingly affect the attributes that collectively contribute to the Outstanding Universal Values. The key climate stressors identified for Shark Bay are air temperature change, storm intensity and frequency, and extreme marine heat events.

The impact of climate change is already being experienced at Shark Bay. Tropical marine life is starting to move south due to increased sea temperatures, and tiger sharks are more likely to hunt in the area. A marine heatwave in 2011 is now known to have caused a 25% loss of seagrass habitat, equivalent to a loss of 1,000 km² of meadow. As a result, dolphin birth rates decreased, and crab, prawn and scallop populations declined. Mobile species moved into deeper water outside the protected area and were fished.

In addition, Shark Bay was subject to cyclone Seroja in 2021, which caused a storm surge in the Hamelin Pool area. This resulted in widespread flooding, which introduced terrestrial sediments. These affected the Holocene carbonate environments, which are the basis for some of the area’s Outstanding Universal Values. The cyclone also destroyed infrastructure in the area, including the viewing boardwalk located over the fragile 1,300-year-old stromatolites, with debris being spread across the stromatolites and adjacent algal mats.

These types of impact have been predicted by modelling as part of the Climate Change Vulnerability Index processes for Shark Bay. This example demonstrates the complex and cascading effects of climate change, including in tandem with existing climate-related events (e.g. cyclones). The identified and experienced high levels of vulnerability emphasise the importance of developing effective strategies for climate change adaptation at Shark Bay. This includes developing adaptation measures (which need to be based on good condition data and monitoring), underpinned by strategic adaptation and management planning.

Strategic planning is also required to balance the use of the area and protect its values. This is illustrated by the recent history of recreational fishing at Shark Bay, when areas were closed off to fishing to ameliorate pressures after the 2011 heatwave declines in some populations. These areas were recently reopened because fish populations had recovered well but, because of unusually high fish catch levels due to large domestic visitor numbers following COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, catch limits needed to be changed to allow more recovery.

Figure 25 Stromatolites, Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay

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Figure 25 Stromatolites, Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay

Photo: Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions

Co-authored by Reconciliation Action Plan manager Darren Griffin and the Barengi Gadjin Aboriginal Corporation

The Grampians National Park lies within the Greater Gariwerd Landscape (GGL), a term adopted by Victorian Government land management agencies and accepted by the 3 Traditional Owner organisations currently making joint decisions for this area. It encompasses the Grampians National Park and surrounding parcels of Crown land reserves, including Bepja/Mount Bepcha, Burrunj/western Black Range, Mount Talbot Scenic Reserve, Lil Lil/Red Rock Bushland Reserve and Grimgundidj/Dundas Range. Connected to this cultural landscape is Dyurrite/Mount Arapiles, situated 60 kilometres west in Jadawadjali Country.

Since 2013, 40 rock art sites have been rediscovered in the GGL, and more sites are being rediscovered every year. This landscape contains about 140 registered art sites, approximately 90% of all known rock art sites in Victoria. Indigenous occupation of the GGL dates back at least 22,000 years. The oldest rock art sites are 3,500 years old, and some may be older (Parks Victoria 2020a).

In 2020, an Interim Protection Declaration was issued for a significant Indigenous heritage rock art site recorded as ‘Dyurrite 1’ within Mount Arapiles–Tooen State Park (VDPC 2020). Recognition of the significance of rock art in the area and its unique heritage value has been welcomed by the Traditional Owners of the area, represented by the Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (BGLC), which holds native title rights and state Aboriginal Heritage Act Representative Body status on behalf of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk peoples. BGLC jointly manage the state park with Parks Victoria, and this declaration was the first step in the active management of the park in accordance with traditional cultural obligations.

Recreational activities such as rock climbing are proven to significantly endanger heritage sites. Parks Victoria is partnering with the Traditional Owners and widely consulting with a range of park users, including rock climbers, in preparing a new management plan for the GGL to ensure that significant heritage, environmental and cultural values, as well as tourism opportunities, are protected for future generations (BGLC 2020a).

Wotjobaluk Traditional Owner and BGLC Manager of On-Country Operations, Stuart Harradine, emphasises the importance of protections for empowering Indigenous aspirations and perspectives (BGLC 2020b):

The Wotjobaluk Traditional Owners have deep physical, spiritual and cultural connections to Dyurrite (Mt Arapiles) extending back tens of thousands of years. It is also the site of one of the last organised strongholds for the Indigenous resistance during the European invasion period. The importance of this place to Wotjobaluk Traditional Owners is not always fully appreciated by non-Indigenous people and is often overlooked in favour of recreational and other values. It is important that this perception changes, and that management of Indigenous cultural landscapes such as Dyurrite changes to reflect this.

The recent advances at Gariwerd and Dyurrite are excellent examples of Traditional Owner groups working together with state government land management departments to holistically manage the cultural landscape within iconic national and state parks (Figure 29). Managing these places according to their cultural obligations and traditions, which stretch back tens of thousands of years, and may have been greatly compromised as a result of colonisation but were never lost, benefits all Australians. The magnificent values of these landscapes are protected, and their deep, layered Indigenous heritage is illuminated so that it may be better understood, respected, appreciated and enjoyed by future generations (Parks Victoria 2020b).

Figure 29 Staff from Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and Parks Victoria participating in the Dyurrite cultural and environmental heritage assessment survey, November 2020

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Figure 29 Staff from Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and Parks Victoria participating in the Dyurrite cultural and environmental heritage assessment survey, November 2020

Photo: Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation

Based on information provided by Dr Kevin Kiernan, Tasmania

Sources: Lake Pedder Committee of Enquiry & Burton (1975), DASETT (1989), Timms (1992), Australian Government (1995), Tyler et al. (1996), Sharples (2001), Angus (2008), Cica (2011), Sims (2012), Kiernan (2019)

The natural Lake Pedder in south-western Tasmania was a highly scenic and globally geomorphologically unique glacigenic lake with rare biological values. It was the focal point of the Lake Pedder National Park declared in 1955 (Australian Government 1995, Tyler et al. 1996, Kiernan 2019). The lake – particularly famed for its beach, the most extensive freshwater beach system in Australia (Timms 1992) – was much visited by bushwalkers and others who arrived by plane. It became the subject of highly celebrated artworks by landscape painters, as well as stimulating development of a distinctive genre of Australian wilderness photography (Angus 2008, Cica 2011).

Lake Pedder was flooded in 1972 as part of the Gordon River hydro-electricity scheme, causing the greatest loss of wilderness (see Types and condition of natural heritage) of any single Tasmanian project to date. The history of the flooding of Lake Pedder reveals deficiencies in the then conservation legislation and its implementation. The lower house of the Tasmanian Parliament approved the proposal in 1967 but, after growing protests, was challenged in 1972 on the basis that the approval contravened the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1970 (Tas). Controversial retrospective legislation (the Gordon River Doubts Removal Bill) was passed to enable the flooding of the national park. This occurred despite an Australian Government open offer of funding for an alternative to flooding Lake Pedder based on the report of the Australian Government 1973 Committee of Inquiry into the flooding of Lake Pedder (Lake Pedder Committee of Enquiry & Burton 1975, Sims 2012).

Both the proposal and the process generated an unprecedented level of environmental controversy and stimulated the formation of the first ‘green’ political party established anywhere in the world. The Pedder controversy was also foundational to increased Australian Government involvement in environmental matters, including enactment of new legislative initiatives such as establishment of the National Estate system, Australia becoming a party to the World Heritage system, and Australian Government funding of heritage conservation initiatives.

Today, the Lake Pedder area lies at the heart of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, one of the key attributes of which is the Outstanding Universal Value of its glacial geoheritage (DASETT 1989, Hannan et al. 1993). The IUCN Advisory Group in their evaluation in 1989 foreshadowed the eventual restoration of Lake Pedder, consequently recommending that Lake Pedder be retained within the TWWHA (Thorsell cited in Australian Government 1995, para 2.14), the recommendation being adopted by the World Heritage Committee (UNESCO 1989). (UNESCO WHC 2021a). The restoration of Lake Pedder was also supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature meeting in Buenos Aires in 1994. Further scientific studies in the early to mid-1990s confirmed that the landforms remain intact beneath the reservoir, allowing restoration of the original lake (Sharples 2002), and an Australian parliamentary inquiry in 1995 concluded that restoration of the original lake was indeed technically feasible (Australian Government 1995).

The removal of dams for environmental rehabilitation is becoming relatively commonplace globally. This, and the current United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030, provide an opportunity to closely examine restoration of Lake Pedder, an action that would restore a key geomorphic attribute of Outstanding Universal Value and restore wilderness value, an attribute that underpins the maintenance of the integrity of the values of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Such an action would clearly demonstrate Australia’s commitment to heritage restoration.

Figure 30 The original Lake Pedder, before the 1973 inundation

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Figure 30 The original Lake Pedder, before the 1973 inundation

Photo: Kevin Kiernan