WORLD CLASS

摘要

Thirty years ago, three Australian wonders were inscribed on the World Heritage list. They've since been joined by 15 others and stand alongside nearly 900 worldwide. The world heritage Convention was born in 1972, in the wake of a series of successful unesco campaigns to save irreplaceable treasures, including the Abu Simbel temples in Egypt, and Venice and its Lagoon in Italy. In 1978,12 sites were inscribed on the original list, and Australia's first entries were added just three years later, in 1981. "Australia was one of the earliest signatories of the World Heritage Convention," says protected-areas expert Associate Professor Peter Valentine, from James Cook University, Townsville. "The government wanted to very quickly make a mark by gettingsome of our obvious sites on the list."