World Heritage Identification Number: 167
World Heritage since: 1981
Category: Mixed Cultural Heritage and Natural Heritage
WHE Type: Natural Landscapes & Geographic Features
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇦🇺 Australia
Continent: Oceania
UNESCO World Region: Asia and the Pacific
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Exploring the Willandra Lakes Region: A Unique Landmark in Human Evolution Studies
The Willandra Lakes Region, located in the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia, stands as a testament to the rich history and diverse ecosystems that have shaped the continent over millennia. Inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 5th Session of the World Heritage Committee in 1981, this 2,400-square-kilometer (930 square miles) area serves as a significant landmark in the study of human evolution, paleontology, and archaeology.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The fossil remains of a series of lakes and sand formations that date from the Pleistocene can be found in this region, together with archaeological evidence of human occupation dating from 45–60,000 years ago. It is a unique landmark in the study of human evolution on the Australian continent. Several well-preserved fossils of giant marsupials have also been found here.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (iii): The drying up of the Willandra Lakes some 18,500 years BP allowed the survival of remarkable evidence of the way early people interacted with their environment. The undisturbed stratigraphy has revealed evidence of Homo sapiens sapiens in this area from nearly 50,000 years BP, including the earliest known cremation, fossil trackways, early use of grindstone technology and the exploitation of fresh water resources, all of which provide an exceptional testimony to human development during the Pleistocene period.
Criterion (viii): The Australian geological environment, with its low topographic relief and low energy systems, is unique in the longevity of the landscapes it preserves, and the Willandra Lakes provides an exceptional window into climatic and related environmental changes over the last 100,000 years. The Willandra Lakes, largely unmodified since they dried out some 18,500 years BP, provide excellent conditions for recording the events of the Pleistocene Epoch, and demonstrate how non-glaciated zones responded to the major glacial-interglacial fluctuations. The demonstration at this site of the close interconnection between landforms and pedogenesis, palaeochemistry, climatology, archaeology, archaeomagnetism, radiocarbon dating, palaeoecology and faunal extinction, represents a classic landmark in Pleistocene research in the Australasian area. Willandra Lakes Region is also of exceptional importance for investigating the period when humans became dominant in Australia, and the large species of wildlife became extinct, and research continues to elucidate what role humans played in these events.
Encyclopedia Record: Willandra Lakes Region
The Willandra Lakes Region is a World Heritage Site in the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia. The Willandra Lakes Region is the traditional meeting place of the Muthi Muthi, Ngiyampaa and Paakantyi Aboriginal peoples. The 2,400-square-kilometre (930 sq mi) area was inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 5th Session of the World Heritage Committee in 1981.Additional Site Details
Area: 240,000 hectares
Number of Components: 1
(viii) — Outstanding example representing major earth stages
Coordinates: -34 , 143
IUCN World Heritage Outlook
The 2025 Conservation Outlook on Willandra Lakes Region reports the following assessment:
Source: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) · View assessment
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Unknown, Public domain
