The place

The Tasmanian Wilderness is a land of steep quartzite and dolerite mountains, glacial lakes, deep river gorges and a wild southern coast. Cradle Mountain, Frenchmans Cap and Federation Peak rise above the forests. Rivers such as the Franklin and the Gordon cut through limestone with large cave systems. Roaring Forties winds bring frequent rain and snow to the west, and the weather can change in hours. Cool temperate rainforest of myrtle beech, sassafras and ancient conifers grows in sheltered valleys, while open buttongrass moorlands cover the plains. Tannin-stained rivers run dark and fast.

History

Palawa, the Aboriginal people of Tasmania, have lived here for at least 35,000 years. During the last ice age, people sheltered in limestone caves along the Franklin and nearby rivers, such as Kutikina, and left hand stencils at Wargata Mina. After British colonisation in 1803, palawa suffered violent dispossession in the Black War of the 1820s, and survivors were removed to Flinders Island. Their descendants remain. Loggers, miners and Huon pine cutters worked parts of the area. The flooding of Lake Pedder in 1972 and the fight over the Franklin Dam, stopped by a High Court ruling in 1983, made the region a landmark of Australian conservation.

Why it matters for the living world

The area protects one of the last large temperate wilderness areas in the world. It holds Gondwanan plant lineages such as the King Billy and pencil pines and Huon pine, which can live for more than 2,000 years, as well as deciduous beech. These fire-sensitive conifers survive only where fire is rare. The forests and peatlands store large amounts of carbon. Animals include the Tasmanian devil, eastern quoll, platypus and wombat, and the orange-bellied parrot, one of the world's rarest birds, breeds at Melaleuca. Rivers and caves hold many endemic invertebrates.

People of the place

Palawa communities maintain strong ties to the land and have long called for greater recognition and a role in managing the World Heritage Area, including cultural burning and protection of sites. The cultural values recognised in the listing are tied to their ancestors' occupation. Few people live within the wilderness; towns such as Strahan and Queenstown on its edge depend on tourism, mining history and fishing. Walkers come for the Overland Track, the South Coast Track and river journeys. Debates continue over tourism development inside the area and how decisions are shared with palawa people.

What it faces

Fire is the most serious threat. In 2016, lightning started fires in the Central Plateau and other areas that burned pencil pine and cushion plant communities that may never recover; more fires followed in 2019. Climate change is making dry lightning storms and drought more common. Plant disease from the root pathogen Phytophthora spreads on boots and vehicles. The Tasmanian devil has been hit hard by a contagious facial tumour disease. Proposals for tourism developments in remote areas raise concern, and logging and mining at the edges continue to be debated. Fire management, research and stronger palawa involvement are central responses.

Sources

Written for Regenerative Voices from the sources above. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.