Australia

Macquarie Island

WHS Score 3.75
rate
Votes 5 Average 4.6
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Votes for Macquarie Island

3.0

  • Roman Bruehwiler

5.0

  • CampbellME
  • Dutchbirder
  • Timothy C Easton
  • Waxwing

Macquarie Island holds a remote, windswept landscape that is the only place on Earth where rocks from the Earth's mantle are actively exposed above sea level.

The active tectonic processes make it an important focus of geological study. The island and associated islets lie about halfway between Australia and Antarctica and are populated by huge congregations of penguins and seals. Over 850,000 Royal Penguins breed here yearly.

Community Perspective: this site has been unreviewed so far.

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Macquarie Island (ID: 629)
Country
Australia
Status
Inscribed 1997 Site history
History of Macquarie Island
1992: Rejected
Interesting geologically but not of Universal Significance. Possibility of a wider nomination possibly with NZ islands?
1997: Inscribed
Inscribed
WHS Type
Natural
Criteria
  • vii
  • viii
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • May 30, 2023 abc.net.au — Nine years after official pest-free status, Macquarie Island is recovering but it's a 'long game'
  • Feb. 24, 2023 miragenews.com — More Protection for Macquarie Island World Heritage Site
  • June 3, 2020 theguardian.com — Critically endangered herb thriving on Macquarie Island after seven-year feral animal eradication program
  • Feb. 7, 2017 abc.net.au — Huon Aquaculture takes Tasmanian Government to court over salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour
  • Sept. 17, 2016 thenewdaily.com.au — Macquarie Island base shutdown ‘a slap in the face’
  • April 20, 2015 abc.net.au — Macquarie Island wildlife recovering after rabbit eradication
  • April 8, 2014 abc.net.au — Macquarie Island declared pest free
  • Jan. 25, 2012 gcaptain.com — Japanese whaling ship caught inside the World Heritage area of the subantarctic Macquarie Island
  • July 22, 2010 news.smh.com.au — An ambitious plan to eradicate rabbits, mice and rats from Macquarie Island has been put on hold because of bad weather.A team of 20 experts left for the island in May, with the aim of exterminating the pests during winter by dropping baits strategically across the island from a helicopter.
  • Jan. 13, 2009 bloomberg.com — Eradicating the cat population on Macquarie has damaged the local environment, allowing rabbits to rapidly reproduce in their absence
  • Dec. 2, 2007 theage.com.au — Help is finally on the way for this unique southern outpost. But will it be too late?
  • Feb. 24, 2007 news.independent.co.uk — Macquarie's feral cats: a delicate ecological balance
  • Oct. 22, 2006 panda.org — World Heritage island in Australia threatened by rabbits and rats

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Natural landscape: Volcanic
Travel Information
One thousand visitors or fewer
One thousand visitors or fewer
400 in 1991 (IUCN doc summary)
Takes more than 5 days to visit
Takes more than 5 days to visit
Combined cruise with New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands, 14 days

See heritage-expeditions.com

Recent Connections
View all (26) .
Connections of Macquarie Island
Geography
Ecology
  • Seals
    fur seal
  • Endemic Bird Species
    Macquarie Shag
  • Penguins
    King, Gentoo, Royal, Rockhopper
  • Megaherbs
    "Tussock grass Poa foliosa with masses of long leaves sprouting from a root pedestal; Stilbocarpa polaris, Macquarie Island Cabbage (which looks more like a hairy rhubarb but is not related to either food plant); and Pleurophyllum hookeri, a rosette daisy with silvery leaves"

    See farsouthecology.com

  • Tundra
  • Antarctic Floristic Kingdom
  • Strict Nature Reserve
    Fully. "a limit of 750 tourists per year is allowed by the state Parks & Wildlife Service, though between 1990 and 2005, the average annual number of visitors was 334. The only access is by sea - some eight ships and yachts call per year - (Potter, 2007) and most of the island is closed so as not to disturb the wildlife. .... Visits are now by permit only, with care taken not to import any pathogens." (UNEP-WCMC)

    See world-heritage-datasheets.unep-wcmc.org

  • Albatross breeding sites
    Wandering, Black-browed, Grey-headed, Light-mantled
  • Tectonic processes
    Criterion (viii): ... The island is the exposed crest of the undersea Macquarie Ridge, raised to its present position where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate meets the Pacific plate. These unique exposures provide an exceptionally complete section of the structure and composition of both the oceanic crust and the upper mantle, and provide evidence of ‘sea-floor spreading’ and tectonic processes that have operated for hundreds of millions of years.
  • Peat
    "Vast waterlogged areas on the coastal platform are heavily vegetated, forming a mire based on deep peat beds and known locally as "featherbed" from the sensation gained when walking over them. Old sea stacks testify to the continual uplifting of the island as they protrude through the peat beds, some of them now being several hundred metres from the existing coastline" (see link)

    See www.environment.gov.au

  • Sea Stacks
    The coastline is generally rocky with a several offshore islets and stacks. (Coastal WHS)
Damaged
World Heritage Process
Human Activity
WHS on Other Lists
Timeline
  • Miocene
    The geological evolution of Macquarie Island began 10 million years ago and continues today with the island experiencing earthquakes and a rapid rate of uplift, all of which are related to active geological processes along the boundary between the two plates. Nom file
Visiting conditions
WHS Names
News
abc.net.au 05/30/2023
Nine years after official pest-fre…
miragenews.com 02/24/2023
More Protection for Macquarie Isla…
theguardian.com 06/03/2020
Critically endangered herb thrivin…

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