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LOCATION
Map Show Map
Address NARACOORTE
Locality
Accuracy H - high level confidence
Council Area Naracoorte Lucindale Council
Polygon Type B - Building footprint
DESCRIPTION
Details (Known As) Blanche & Victoria Fossil Caves, Naracoorte Caves National Park
Registered Name Blanche and Victoria Fossil Caves
Significance The caves are historically significant because their use by man reflects changing perceptions of outstanding natural features. Blanche Cave demonstrates the Victorian attitude of a recreational 'grotto', becoming a social venue complete with steps, tables and benches. In contrast, the rich fossil beds discovered in Victoria Cave illustrate later attitudes towards scientifically valuable sites of minimal disturbance, appreciation and education. These caves contain one of the most extensive and well preserved vertebrate fossil deposits in Australia and the world and were inscribed, with Riversleigh in Queensland, on the World Heritage List in 1994. Located in caverns which also display excellent limestone cave formations such as stalactites, stalagmites and flowstone, the fossil assemblage contains a record of faunal change spanning two ice ages, highlighting the impacts of both climatic change and humans on Australia's mammals. The extremely well preserved fossil bed dates to the middle to late Pleistocene period and contains tens of thousands of specimens representing nearly 100 vertebrate species, ranging in size from very small frogs to buffalo-sized marsupials, providing an important site for the study of the extinction of Australia's megafauna and the development of modern fauna. The high quality of preservation of the specimens as a result of the cave environment has enabled reconstruction and detailed anatomical descriptions of specimens as well as the extraction of DNA samples enabling the reconstruction of the evolutionary development of some species. (from Australia's World heritage website http://www.deh.gov.au/heritage/worldheritage/sites/fossil/naracoorte-values.html)
Subject Index Landscape area - Palaeontological Site; Landscape area - Geological Site
Class State
STATUS
Status Code REG - Confirmed as a State Heritage Place in the SA Heritage Register
Status Date 12-JAN-1984
REFERENCE
LGA Naracoorte Lucindale
State Heritage ID 11604
Heritage Number 16283
SECTION 16 INFORMATION
Section 16
PLAN PARCEL & TITLE
As listed in the SA Heritage Register
Plan Parcel & Title Information CR 5622/225 H440800 S392,CR 5658/439 D51601 A22

Disclaimer

While due care has been taken to ensure that the SA Heritage Places Database accurately reflects the South Australian Heritage Register and listings of Local Heritage Places in Council areas, the State of South Australia does not accept liability for the use of the SA Heritage Database for any purpose. Users should consult the Department for Environment and Water - Heritage South Australia to confirm the listing of State Heritage Places and the Planning and Design Code or their local council for Local Heritage Places.

In the majority of cases, the maps of State Heritage Places on this web site show the footprints of the most significant structures on a registered Place. However, sometimes they simply indicate the complete area of land comprising the Place. Work is proceeding to further refine the mapping of such places. It is also important to note that development control is not limited to the registered structures but extends to their setting and structures nearby (what is termed ‘development affecting’ a State Heritage Place). Hence it is vital that exact details of the listed place and implications for any proposed development be discussed with Heritage South Australia staff, as they cannot be deduced solely from the information on this web site. The inclusion of a place in the SA Heritage Register gives no right of public access. Permission to visit properties must be sought from the owners. The accuracy of the mapping of State Heritage Places is not guaranteed. Please contact Heritage SA ( https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/heritage/sa-heritage-register) if you believe there is an error.


GIS files

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