The document discusses a national geotourism strategy for Australia and its application to the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. It outlines how geotourism can celebrate the region's geoheritage by expanding mapping and using new technologies. It also discusses developing geotrails, collaborating across natural and cultural heritage, and training geologists in interpretation. The strategy aims to enhance coordination of geoheritage listings and establish assessment procedures to balance protection and visitation of important geosites.

1. “Blue Mountains National Landscape and the
National Geotourism Strategy”
Linnean Society of NSW Symposium
8th November 2019
Angus M Robinson FAusIMM (CP)

2. Australian Geoscience Council
 The Australian Geoscience Council (AGC) is the
peak Council of geoscientists in Australia
representing nine major Australian
geoscientific societies with a total membership
of over 8,000 individuals.
 Under the current 2015-2020 Strategic Plan of
the AGC, and as a Geoscience advocacy
opportunity, the AGC has decided to formulate
a National Geotourism Strategy to
accommodate the orderly development of
major geotourism projects and activities in line
with overseas trends and domestic regional
development imperatives.

3. Today’s Agenda
 Understanding Natural Heritage
 Ecotourism and Geotourism
 National Geotourism Strategy Discussion Topics
as they relate to the Blue Mountains National
Landscape and WHA
 Geotrails
 Geotourism – Destination Pagoda, Blue Mountains
 Take-Aways

4. Understanding
Natural
Heritage
Natural heritage is the
legacy of natural objects
and intangible attributes
encompassing the
countryside and natural
environment, including flora
and fauna, scientifically
known as BIODIVERSITY, and
geology, landforms and soil
landscapes, i.e.
GEODIVERSITY (Geoheritage)

5. Ecotourism
&
Geotourism
Concepts
 Ecotourism is ecologically sustainable
tourism with a primary focus on
experiencing protected natural areas
that fosters environmental and
cultural understanding, appreciation
and conservation.
 But ecotourism per se is too narrowly
defined and is increasingly seen as a
niche market.
 However 'geotourism is holistic,
nature-based and cultural tourism
that focuses on an area's geology &
landscape as the platform for
providing visitor engagement,
learning and enjoyment'.

6. Geotourism
comprises the following features of both
natural and cultural heritage:
 Abiotic – non-living aspects such as the sky,
climate, landscape and landforms, geology
and soils: inclusive of GEODIVERSITY.
 Biotic – the living parts eg. fauna (animals)
and flora (plants): BIODIVERSITY.
 Cultural – past & present, indigenous and
post European settlement, non-living and
built.
Holistic in scope, geotourism is booming
globally and a key driver for tourism,
particularly in Europe and Asia.
Source: Professor Ross Dowling

7. ‘Place Based’ Geotourism incorporating
all types of ‘nature-based’ tourism
Astrotourism
Cuisine
Agritourism
Indigenous
Tourism
Heritage
Tourism
Cultural
Tourism
ECOTOURISM
Geotourism
i.e. ‘experiential
tourism’

8. Geotourism
is not
'geological tourism’'

9. Building the Geotourism Concept - Blue Mountains WHA
 The ‘Greater Blue Mountains’ is one of Australia’s
identified 16 iconic Australian National Landscapes.
 A few years ago, Professor David Branagan had
highlighted the significance of Charles Darwin’s visit
to the Blue Mountains in 1836.
 In 2013, The Linnean Society of NSW held a major
symposium at Jenolan Caves with a focus also on the
earth sciences history of the region.

10. Australia’s 16 National Landscapes

11. Australia’s National Landscapes Programme
Partnership between Tourism Australia and Parks Australia that aimed to:
 Promote world class, high quality visitor experiences
 Increase the value of tourism to regional economies
 Enhance the role of protected areas in those economies
 Build support for protecting our natural and cultural assets
 Engage local communities
The Blue Mountains WHA
was one of 16 designated
Australian National
Landscapes
‘To differentiate Australia’s iconic natural
and cultural destinations from anything else
available in the world’

12. Blue Mountains
World Heritage Area
Iconic Triassic sedimentary
landforms of the Sydney Basin –
eight protected areas
10,000 square km area
Size of Lebanon

13. Geotourism – Diversity of Sites in the Blue Mountains WHA
Geotourism
Icons
(Inc National Landscapes)
Mine Sites
National Parks/Reserves/
Urban Parks
Geo-trails
Geo-sites
Geoparks/
PaleoParks
Caves/Karst Areas
Landforms
WHAs

14. Iconic Geotourism Themes of the
Blue Mountains National Landscape and WHA
 A: Iconic Triassic sedimentary landforms of the Sydney
Basin; Permian coal/oil shale measures; Silurian cave
system (historically Australia’s premier tourist
attraction).
 B: Cool temperate gardens developed on Tertiary
basalt caps; kangaroos, wombats, platypus, birdlife in
the wild.
 C: Indigenous culture; and European exploration
STORIES: crossing the mountains, discovering and
developing the caves.

15. Key ‘GEO’ themes of the Blue Mountains WHA
 The STORY of the Sydney Basin and the present-day landforms.
 Wide variety of landforms and erosional features developed across the
Triassic sedimentary plateau; the Lapstone Monocline.
 The Permo-Triassic ‘extinction’ event; and the bituminous coal/coal
shale layers in the underlying Permian sedimentary sequence.
 The Tertiary basalt plugs exemplifed by exposure at Mt Tomah.
 The early discovery of gold in the Hartley/Fish Creek area.
 The complexity of the karst landform and depositional features of the
Jenolan Caves.

16. Thick beds of shale and coal
Tertiary basalt cap

17. Great Ocean Road National Landscape
A: Blue Mountains Landscape and Geology

18. A: Jenolan Caves Limestone Caves

19. Great Ocean Road National Landscape
B: Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens, Mt Tomah

20. C: Blackfellows Hand Cave, Lithgow

21. C:

22. A multi-media Tourist Experience from Bathurst to the Nepean River
which aims to promote a contemporary Australian Dreaming Trail from
Emu Ford on the Nepean River at Emu Plains, across the Blue Mountains,
through to Bathurst, Australia’s first inland European settlement (1815)
C: Post European Settlement Culture

23. Through the maps forming part of the guide book, a recurring theme in
Cox's Road Dreaming is the focus on the Natural History associated with
the road - the study of organisms and their environments, geology,
vegetation communities, and biological and physical processes.
A: GEOLOGY B: FLORA

24. National
Geotourism
Strategy –
Discussion
Topics
1. Geotourism as a means of celebrating
geoheritage.
2. Enhanced coordination nationally of
geoheritage listings.
3. Establishment of a national set of
administrative procedures for
‘georegional’ assessment.
4. New geotrail development.
5. Geotourism to strengthen Australia’s
international geoscience standing.
6. Training of geologists to improve
communication skills for geosite interpretation.
7. Collaboration with providers of other
areas of natural (bioregion) and cultural
(particularly mining) heritage content.

25. National
Geotourism
Strategy –
Topic #1
Geotourism celebrating Geoheritage:
 By expansion of the Geotourism
map concept (as developed in
NSW) progressively across Australia
on a ‘state by state’ basis (both
hard copy and online)
supplemented by publications.
 By consideration of new ICTs (e.g.
smartphones, 3D visualisation, AR
& VR), GIS technologies as a cost-
effective means of accessing and
better communicating geological
content for travellers and residents
in regional Australia.

29. National
Geotourism
Strategy –
Topic #4
New Geotrail Development:
Individual geological surveys from
the States and Territories be invited
to engage, on an ‘as needs’ basis,
and in collaboration with
university/museum interest groups
as well as with state/territory
divisions and branches of the
interested professional societies,
to review the suitability of existing
roads, bushwalks, biking and rail
trails as potential geotrails.

30. Best
Practice
Geotrails
 Should be constructed around
routes currently used by
tourists; geotrails should form
logical journeys linking
accommodation destinations.
 Should meld the geological
heritage features of a region
with a cohesive STORY.
 Should incorporate and
package in the biodiversity
and cultural components
(including mining heritage) of
the region through which the
geotrail traverses.

31. Exemplar: Port Macquarie Coastal Geotrail, NSW
"The collaborative geotrail project has been led by the University of
Newcastle (A) & supported by Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, the
Geological Survey of NSW (A), NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
(B) & Birpai Local Aboriginal Land Council (C). Supported by a
brochure, website & smartphone app, the Port Macquarie Coastal
Geotrail is a four kilometre walk from Shelly Beach to Rocky Beach
that tells the story of plate tectonics & how the Earth’s crust was
formed along the stretch of coastline over the past 460 million years".

32. A MAJOR BLUE MOUNTAINS GEOTRAIL?

33. Great Ocean Road National Landscape

35. National
Geotourism
Strategy –
Topic #2
Enhanced coordination nationally of
geoheritage listings with the objective of
highlighting areas of both geotourism value
and geosites that need to be protected,
given that
 the right balance needs to be
determined between the needs of
exposing geosites for public visitation
and geoconservation needs, and
 there are no national standards or
guidelines with each state/territory
having different strategies and systems
for recording geoheritage.
•

36. National
Geotourism
Strategy –
Topic #7
Mechanisms for collaboration
with providers of other areas of
natural (bioregion) and cultural
heritage content,
 inclusive of mining and
resource industry heritage
(e.g. mining companies,
geological and mining
museums, historical
societies,
 as well as specialist groups
with interests in flora and
fauna etc.)

37. The

38. Lithgow State Mine and Heritage Park

39. Lithgow State Mine and Heritage Park

40. Photo by Henry Gold

41. Pagoda, ‘Gardens of Stone’

42. Take-Aways
 A national geotourism strategy will provide a framework to
enhance the quality and scope of experiences in the Blue
Mountains WHA.
 Geotours must offer a variety of experiences for travellers to
succeed as a tourism product.
 Making best use of existing interpretative information can be
of great assistance.
 Availability of augmented and virtual reality tools supported
by quality interpretative signage would enhance greatly the
visitor experience .

43. Field Guides
 Layers of Time, John Pickett and Dave Alder, 1997
 Rocks and Trees, John Martyn, 2018
 Geology of the Blue Mountains: A Tourist’s Guide, Paul Gorjan,
2019
 Jenolan Caves: The Complete Guide, Mark Hallinan, 2013
(available in a book or on a CD)
 Native Fauna of the Greater Blue Mountains WHA, Judy Smith,
Peter Smith and Kate Smith, 2019
 Other reference works: Blue Mountain Education and Research
Trust www.bmert.org
Note: Geology and geomorphology of Jenolan Caves and the
surrounding region by David Branagan, John Pickett and Ian
Percival, 2014

44. Contact Details
angus@leisuresolutions.com.au
Tel: 0418 488 340
https://www.slideshare.net/leisuresolutions
http://www.leisuresolutions.com.au/index.php/geotourism-industry-groups/
Information about Australian Geotourism and Geopark Development Activities
http://www.agc.org.au/geoscience-in-australia/geotourism/
Australian Geoscience Council