The National Heritage Potential of Landscapes Within the Australian Drylands

This paper presents a summary of an internal report on the potential National Heritage values of Australian geomorphology within a defined area. The desktop study sought information on landforms which best demonstrate the evolution of the characteristic landscapes now found in Australia's drylands. Australian dryland landscapes owe much to continental stability, which allows inheritance of landscape features and preserves the effects of previous climates. Aridity is only the latest and not always the most powerful of a long series of influences. Twenty-eight places with high potential to pass heritage criteria were identified across eight geomorphic themes (astroblemes, sand deserts, karst, arid coasts, tectonic landforms, uplands, regolith, watercourses). Some were significant within a single theme (the Acraman Impact Structure, the Nullarbor Plain); others had value across many themes/sub-themes (two Cooper Creek sites, the Neales Catchment, Rodinga Range). Many had sufficient information to identify particular locations (e.g. Gosses Bluff, the Zuytdorp Cliffs), but those without were assigned broad indicative areas, from which suitable locations can be found (e.g. the Eastern Goldfields Palaeodrainages, the Simpson Desert, the Black Soil Plains). Knowledge gaps are identified, especially the remote Great Sandy Desert and Great Victoria Desert dunefields and the Davenport-Murchison Ranges. Clusters of potential heritage occur along the Amadeus Basin ranges, and within the Lake Eyre Basin.