World heritage as authentic fake: Paradisic Reef and Wild Tasmania. (17th November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pocock, Celmara; Collett, David; Knowles, Joan
• Is Part Of: Landscape research. Volume 47:Number 8(2022)
• Page Start: 1024
• Page End: 1038
• Publication Date: 2022-11-17
• Subjects: World heritage -- authenticity -- utopia -- environmental campaigns -- conservation -- landscape; Landscape -- Periodicals; Land use -- Planning -- Periodicals; 719.05
• DOI: 10.1080/01426397.2022.2115990
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0142-6397

Abstract

Abstract: This paper explores how the imagined landscapes that act as a catalyst for World Heritage listing, are unable to be reconciled with formal heritage assessments. We explore this tension through two Australian World Heritage landscapes: the Great Barrier Reef and the Tasmanian Wilderness. The history of these listings suggests a teleological process driven by a desire to create authentic utopias. While utopias are imagined spaces, Paradise at the Reef and the Tasmanian Wilderness are realised through hyperreal landscapes (fakes). However, these wholistic landscapes dissolve into a series of inventories of species and numbers in official listing. We suggest the failure to recognise the hyperreal is a form of false consciousness that creates a tension between managing for formally recognised values and managing the unmanageable utopia, and that a broader use of cultural landscapes might be useful in addressing this divide.