List of World Heritage Sites in Australia

Great Barrier Reef

Kakadu

Willandra Lakes Region

Lord Howe Island

Tasmanian Wilderness

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa

Sydney Opera House

Budj Bim

Royal Exhibition Building

Fremantle Prison

Naracoorte

Riversleigh

Wet Tropics

Ningaloo

Purnululu

Fraser Island

Shark Bay

Blue Mountains

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Location of World Heritage Sites in Australia. Red dots are cultural sites, blue dots are natural, and orange dots are mixed sites. Four convict sites are in the Sydney area and five are in Tasmania. The convict site at Norfolk Island, as well as the Lord Howe Island, Macquarie Island, and Heard and McDonald Islands are not shown on the map. The Gondwana Rainforests comprise 41 sites in eastern Australia and are also not shown individually.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972.^[1] Cultural heritage consists of monuments (such as architectural works, monumental sculptures, or inscriptions), groups of buildings, and sites (including archaeological sites). Natural features (consisting of physical and biological formations), geological and physiographical formations (including habitats of threatened species of animals and plants), and natural sites which are important from the point of view of science, conservation, or natural beauty, are defined as natural heritage.^[2] Australia accepted the convention on 22 August 1974.^[3] There are 20 World Heritage Sites in Australia, with a further six on the tentative list.^[3]

The first sites in Australia added to the list were the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu National Park, and Willandra Lakes Region, at the fifth session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Sydney, in 1981.^[4] The most recent site listed was the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, in 2019.^[3] Of these 20 sites, four are cultural, 12 are natural, and four are mixed, listed for both cultural and natural properties.^[3] Australia has served as a member of the World Heritage Committee five times, in 1976–1983, 1983–1989, 1995–2001, 2007–2011, and 2017–2021.^[3]