According to the World Heritage website World Heritage is described as “the designation for places on Earth that are of outstanding universal value to humanity and as such, have been inscribed on the World Heritage List to be protected for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.” Currently there are 911 natural and cultural places inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Australia boasts 19 separate World Heritage listed areas. Three are of cultural significance; 12 are of natural significance and four are of both cultural and natural significance.

Those sites that are of Cultural Significance are:

• Australian Convict sites which are scattered throughout the nation
  
• The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens in Melbourne; and
  
• Sydney Opera House, everyone know’s where that is!
  

The sites that are of Natural Significance are:

• Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh / Naracoorte) in country Victoria
  
• Fraser Island off the coast of south east Queensland,
  
• Gondwana Rainforests of Australia which is situated in various areas along the Great Escarpment on the east coast of Australia
  
• The Great Barrier Reef which spans almost the whole of the eastern seaboard of Queensland
  
• The Greater Blue Mountains Area which is located to the west of Sydney
  
• Heard and McDonald Islands which are situated the Southern Ocean, approximately 1,700 km from the Antarctic continent and 4,100 km south-west of Perth
  
• Lord Howe Island Group is found 700 kms east of Sydney in the Pacific Ocean
  
• Macquarie Island, which is found in the Southern Ocean, 1,500 kms south east of Tasmania
  
• Ningaloo Coast found on the point in mid Western Australia.
  

  

  
  
• Purnululu National Park located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia
  
• Shark Bay, another Western Australian location not far from the Ningaloo Coast; and
  
• Wet Tropics of Queensland found along the northern coast of north Queensland
  

The mixed sites (both natural and cultural) are:

• Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory
  
• Tasmanian Wilderness in Tasmania
  
• Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory; and
  
• Willandra Lakes Region found in south west New South Wales.
  

  

  
  
  I am really privileged to say that I have visited 11 of the 19 World Heritage Listed sites in Australia. It does help that I’m an Aussie I must add!