Why Cape York Peninsula is special

• Why Cape York Peninsula is special • What the experts say about Cape York • Cape York Peninsula Heritage Act 2007 • World Heritage and Cape York • The Wilderness Society’s campaign successes • The Wilderness Society’s vision for Cape York Peninsula

The significance of Cape York Peninsula’s natural beauty is hard to miss. On a damaged planet, the size, diversity and health of Cape York is very precious.

Cape York is home to more wetlands than Kakadu. Photo: Kerry Trapnell

Rivers And Wetlands

There are twenty one major wild river systems throughout Cape York which power a diverse and unique tropical landscape, and feed Australia’s most expansive and richest wetlands. The Wilderness Society is running a campaign to protect these wild rivers. Read more >>

Rainforest

The country’s largest old growth tropical rainforest traverses the Great Dividing Range along Cape York’s east coast. Two hundred different butterfly species have been identified in the Iron Range rainforests and over one thousand different plant species have been recorded in the McIllwraith Range, including sixteen percent of all Australian orchids. Only the adjoining forests of the Wet Tropics and south-west Western Australia contain comparable numbers of rare and threatened species.

Wildlife

Cape York is so remote and ecologically rich that many species remain undocumented. The region is home to one third of all Australian mammal species and half of our entire bird species and endemism is high: 264 plant species and 40 different animal species occur only on Cape York.

Coastal Significance

Cape York is edged by 1800 kilometres of pristine coast, including the healthiest section of the Great Barrier Reef.  It is home to 35 species of mangroves, some growing up to 30 metres in height. Newcastle Bay alone has a two hundred square kilometre mangrove forest.

Heathlands and Sand Dunes

Flowering heathlands are abundant along both the east and west coasts, and towering sand dune systems cover over two hundred and fifty square kilometres of coast, with extensive freshwater wetland and lake systems perched within their folds.

Tropical Savannah

Seventy percent of the world’s tropical savannah has already been cleared. Being home to some of the most intact tropical savannah left on Earth, Cape York remains a stronghold of this rare ecosystem type.

Evolutionary history

Cape York also tells the story of the ancient connection with Papua New Guinea. Cape York shares the cuscus and Palm Cockatoo with Papua New Guinea and tells the story of our shared and separate evolution.

Over the past 30 years numerous scientists have identified the international significance of Cape York Peninsula. Read what the experts say about Cape York >>