Art, Wild and Terra Nullius

People have been living continuously all over the Australia dating back 50,000 years. From the 42,000 year old discover of Mungo Man to the petroglyphs of the Burrup peninsula dating back 50,000 years the aboriginal people have lived in harmony with their country all this time. Professor Langdon dismissed the European settlers fantasy that Australia was a land of wild beasts and savages that must be conquered and rendered relevant. The settlers involved the latin term " Terra Nullius" meaning land that belongs to no one as the basis for claiming almost all of Australia and Crown land - owned and controlled by the white settlers with our regard to the cultural heritage of the indigenous people.

Langton brought to focus the idea of cultural landscapes where people and pantry operate in harmony for generations. UNESCO's world heritage listing contains 1199 sites round the world that hold special cultural and natural significance. But even I did not know that there are UNESO cultural landscapes of which only 121 exist on the planet. There is only one cultural landscape in the US, two in Australia. You can read their criteria below as to what it takes to achieve this level of global protection.

WHC UNESCO Cultural Landscape Designation

Certain sites reflect specific techniques of land use that guarantee and sustain biological diversity. Others, associated in the minds of the communities with powerful beliefs and artistic and traditional customs, embody an exceptional spiritual relationship of people with nature.

To reveal and sustain the great diversity of the interactions between humans and their environment, to protect living traditional cultures and preserve the traces of those which have disappeared, these sites, called cultural landscapes, have been inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Cultural landscapes -- cultivated terraces on lofty mountains, gardens, sacred places ... -- testify to the creative genius, social development and the imaginative and spiritual vitality of humanity. They are part of our collective identity.

To date, 121  properties with 6 transboundary properties (1 delisted property) on the World Heritage List have been included as cultural landscapes.

whc.unesco.org

There exist a great variety of Landscapes that are representative of the different regions of the world. Combined works of nature and humankind, they express a long and intimate relationship between peoples and ...

I have done documentary photography on the one cultural landscape in the US. It Is called. Papahānaumokuākea and centered around Midway Island in the north and site of the great Battle of Midway in WWI. Only reachable by private plane and with federal research permit, there is no tourism as the area is fully protected from any commercial operations. Midway is also home to 400,000 pairs of Laysan Albatross that travel to the islands only at night when the birds are sleeping.

Papahānaumokuākea is a vast and isolated linear cluster of small, low lying islands and atolls, with their surrounding ocean, roughly 250 km to the northwest of the main Hawaiian Archipelago and extending over some 1931 km. The area has deep cosmological and traditional significance for living Native Hawaiian culture, as an ancestral environment, as an embodiment of the Hawaiian concept of kinship between people and the natural world, and as the place where it is believed that life originates and to where the spirits return after death. On two of the islands, Nihoa and Makumanamana, there are archaeological remains relating to pre-European settlement and use. Much of the monument is made up of pelagic and deepwater habitats, with notable features such as seamounts and submerged banks, extensive coral reefs and lagoons. It is one of the largest marine protected areas (MPAs) in the world.

The region is home to two very endangered species: the Monk Seal and Laysan Duck. Extraordinary protection measures have been implemented to protect this two creatures. Sharks prey on newborn seal pups so the government hired hunters to shoot any shark that approaches the beach near baby seals. And certain bird populations were eliminated from the islands to prevent layman duck eggs from being eaten.. The students on these expeditions questioned the role of government playing god and to who lives and dies. Even today when a Monk Seal lands on a public beach in the main Hawaiian Islands the beach is immediate closed to protect the seals. The endangered species law requires certain measures to protect these species dying off. In the case of the seals they are starving to death and being outcompeted by large predatory fish as the seals hunt offshore for their favorite meal of octopus.

In the end I am glad this landscape is protected from humans. But the native species does compete for survival and whether the ducks or seals survive is beyond our reach.