'Forsaken Spot' to 'Classic Ground': Geological Heritage in Australia and the Recuperative Power of the Deep Past

Abstract

The scarcity of navigable rivers and elevated mountain ranges in Australia encourages an aesthetic fashioned by the monumental scale represented by deep-time landscapes and objects instead of geography. This study seeks to construct a theory of geological heritage and the redemptive or recuperative power of material remains of the deep past, concentrating on three landscapes. The South Australian Division of the Geological Society of Australia has played a central role in the preservation of geological heritage in that state since 1966 when the glacial pavements of Adelaideʼs Hallett Cove became the movementʼs flagship. The 44,800 hectare Lake Callabonna Fossil Reserve, a dry lake in the stateʼs arid far east, has been celebrated by vertebrate palaeontologists as a significant landscape since the 1890s. The dry Willandra Lakes of western New South Wales were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981 for their cultural, archaeological and geological significance. These three celebrated areas have been variously described as wasteland, desert, forsaken, degraded, unproductive and isolated. Geological perspectives provide a new lexicon for the appreciation of Australian landscapes as the deep past is mobilised to turn them into regions of ʻworld renownʼ or ʻclassic groundʼ. KEYWORDS Geological heritage; deep time; landscape; Hallett Cove; Lake Callabonna; Lake Mungo The meaning of landscapes takes novel forms in Australiaʼs topographically understated but climatically dramatic interior. The dearth of lush valleys, navigable rivers and forested alpine scenery west of the Great Divide encourages

Australia’s Geoheritage: History of Study, A New Inventory of Geosites and Applications to Geotourism and Geoparks

“…In discussing the geoparks movement in Australia, Douglas (2006), p. 275, contrasts the utilitarian approach, to preserve sites, educate and support sustainable development for tourism and job creation, with an aesthetic and culturally connected approach.…”

“…In her conclusion, Douglas (2006) notes that geological heritage in Australia can be hard to divorce from tourism, politics and nationalism and that landscapes may need more than their geological significance to be celebrated and gives as an example the World Heritage nomination of the Willandra Lakes, which had to harness archaeology, patrimony, landscape aesthetics and cultural heritage to ensure the preservation of important features.…”

“…Joyce (1980Joyce ( , 1995b provides further details of work in Australia, as do papers from two international conferences, the first held at Digne in France in 1991 and the second at Malvern in the UK in 1993 (McBriar 1991;McBriar and Hasenohr 1994;Joyce 1994a, b). Douglas (2006) Joyce 1992 Conference papers at 11th Australian Geological Convention at Ballarat, Victoria. Call for a debate and the development of an appropriate policy for the Society 1992 GSA Policy on "Geological Heritage in Australia" published (see Legge and King 1992).…”