World Heritage List | Australia

Shark Bay, Western Australia

Date of Inscription: 1991

Criteria: N (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

Brief Description

At the most westerly point of the Australian continent, Shark Bay, with its islands and the land surrounding it, has three exceptional natural features: its vast sea-grass beds, which are the largest (4,800 sq. km) and richest in the world; its dugong ('sea cow') population; and its stromatolites (colonies of algae which form hard, dome-shaped deposits and are among the oldest forms of life on earth). Shark Bay is also home to five species of endangered mammals.

This object on the website of the World Heritage Centre whc.unesco.org/en/list/578