Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island
Photo by Roman Bruehwiler.

Macquarie Island is the only place on earth where rocks from the earth's mantle (6 km below the ocean floor) are being actively exposed above sea-level. This makes it an important focus of geological study.

The island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between Australia and Antarctica. Fauna found on the island include: Subantarctic Fur Seals, Antarctic Fur Seals, New Zealand Fur Seals and Southern Elephant Seals - over 80,000 individuals of this species. Royal Penguins breed only on this island; King Penguins, Southern Rockhopper Penguins and Gentoo penguins also breed here.

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Site Info

Full Name
Macquarie Island
Unesco ID
629
Country
Australia
Inscribed
1997
Type
Natural
Criteria
7 8
Categories
Natural landscape - Volcanic and thermal
Link
By ID

Site History

1997 Inscribed

1992 Rejected

Interesting geologically but not of Universal Significance. Possibility of a wider nomination possibly with NZ islands?

Site Links

Unesco Website
Macquarie Island
Official Website

Macquarie island

Related

Macquarie Island faces 'ecosystem meltdown'

In the News

Nine years after official pest-free status, Macquarie Island is recovering but it's a 'long game' (2023.05.30)

More Protection for Macquarie Island World Heritage Site (2023.02.24)

Critically endangered herb thriving on Macquarie Island after seven-year feral animal eradication program (2020.06.03)

Huon Aquaculture takes Tasmanian Government to court over salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour (2017.02.07)

Macquarie Island base shutdown ‘a slap in the face’ (2016.09.17)

Macquarie Island wildlife recovering after rabbit eradication (2015.04.20)

Macquarie Island declared pest free (2014.04.08)

Japanese whaling ship caught inside the World Heritage area of the subantarctic Macquarie Island (2012.01.25)

An ambitious plan to eradicate rabbits, mice and rats from Macquarie Island has been put on hold because of bad weather.A team of 20 experts left for the island in May, with the aim of exterminating the pests during winter by dropping baits strategically across the island from a helicopter. (2010.07.22)

Eradicating the cat population on Macquarie has damaged the local environment, allowing rabbits to rapidly reproduce in their absence (2009.01.13)

Help is finally on the way for this unique southern outpost. But will it be too late? (2007.12.02)

Macquarie's feral cats: a delicate ecological balance (2007.02.24)

World Heritage island in Australia threatened by rabbits and rats (2006.10.22)

Locations

The site has 1 locations

Macquarie Island

Connections

The site has

Damaged
'Threatened' by Infestation of Rats: Rats and Rabbits
Ecology
Endemic Bird Species: Macquarie Shag
Tectonic processes: Criterion (viii): ... The island is the exposed crest of the undersea Macquarie Ridge, raised to its present position where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate meets the Pacific plate. These unique exposures provide an exceptionally complete section of the structure and composition of both the oceanic crust and the upper mantle, and provide evidence of ‘sea-floor spreading’ and tectonic processes that have operated for hundreds of millions of years.
Penguins: King, Gentoo, Royal, Rockhopper
Peat: "Vast waterlogged areas on the coastal platform are heavily vegetated, forming a mire based on deep peat beds and known locally as "featherbed" from the sensation gained when walking over them. Old sea stacks testify to the continual uplifting of the island as they protrude through the peat beds, some of them now being several hundred metres from the existing coastline" (see link)
Seals: fur seal
Antarctic Floristic Kingdom
Tundra
Albatross breeding sites: Wandering, Black-browed, Grey-headed, Light-mantled
Sea Stacks: The coastline is generally rocky with a several offshore islets and stacks. (Coastal WHS)
Geography
Uninhabited islands: Except for base of the Australian Antarctic Division
Pacific Ocean
Southernmost: No. 1, at 54?47 S
Human Activity
Hunting or harvesting of Birds: Throughout the 19th century the King Penguins were hunted almost to extinction for their oil
Seal Hunting: 1810-1920
Individual People
Named after individual people: Colonel Lachlan Macquarie
Timeline
Miocene: The geological evolution of Macquarie Island began 10 million years ago and continues today with the island experiencing earthquakes and a rapid rate of uplift, all of which are related to active geological processes along the boundary between the two plates. Nom file
Visiting conditions
Takes more than 5 days to visit: Combined cruise with New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands, 14 days
Biosecurity rules for tourists
One thousand visitors or fewer: 400 in 1991 (IUCN doc summary)
WHS on Other Lists
World Biosphere Reserves: (1977)
Biodiversity hotspot: New Zealand
World Heritage Process
Rejected, and then inscribed

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