Flinders Ranges

Over 600 million years old, the Flinders Ranges is one of Australia’s magnificent landscapes. The traditional custodians of this diverse landscape are the Adnyamathanha People (meaning hills or rock people). It is world-renowned for its wealth of natural and cultural significance and historic and scenic values.

Particularly extraordinary are the fossils and geology of the Flinders Ranges, which display the history of our planet and the evolution of life on Earth. Some of this critical evidence spans more than 300 million years. It includes the world’s finest example of the Ediacaran explosion of life when the earliest forms of complex multicellular animal life evolved. These outstanding geological and palaeontological forms within the Flinders Ranges make it an important site to pursue for World Heritage Listing.

Scientific experts have agreed that the science stands up. The Flinders Ranges is the only place on Earth where 350 million years of near-continuous geological sequence can be seen, demonstrating the rise of a habitable planet and the dawn of animal life.

There is nowhere else in the world where this is so clear, connected, and well-presented. The outstanding World Heritage values are all laid out to see as you drive around the Flinders Ranges.

Seven properties that demonstrate the technical and scientific evidence required to support this narrative have been identified by experts. These aren’t the only sites in the Flinders Ranges with unique geological and paleontological values; they contain outstanding values of potential World Heritage quality. Most importantly, they are the places that, when brought together, complete the unique Flinders Ranges World Heritage story.

Achieving World Heritage status requires that a property is aligned with specific criteria and that there is strong evidence that the nominated values are unique/not replicated anywhere else in the world. Pursuing World Heritage status in line with these criteria in no way diminishes the plethora of wonderful cultural, environmental and social assets of the Flinders Ranges – it will provide an opportunity to celebrate and share them globally.