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Sandra Pannellthe reserve system and the determination of Aboriginal people to survive this regime 58 . TheAboriginal memories and values accorded this experience and its physical expression are anintegral dimension of the lived cultural landscapes of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.In 2000, the World Heritage Committee recommended for inscription on the List the‘Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the Southeast of Cuba’. Indoing so, the Committee recognised the “role of Indigenous people in delaying theestablishment of plantations systems” (cited in Fowler 2003: 89) and further acknowledged“the sweat and blood of the African slaves who increased the wealth of their masters”(ICOMOS 2000: 73). The listing of this cultural property suggests that the physical remainsof, and Aboriginal values ascribed to, the Queensland Reserve System for the ‘protection,segregation and control’ of Indigenous people could equally be recognised as evidence ofthe creation of a unique cultural landscape illustrating a significant stage in Aboriginal-European relations and throwing considerable light upon the cross-cultural history of theregion.The listing of the Cuban plantations represents a significant first step towards addressing thefull extent of the legacy of colonialism on the World Heritage List. As my previous commentssuggest, many of the historic centres inscribed on the List appear as heritage theme parks,where the colonial past is depicted as an inner sanctum of brightly coloured buildings. Inattempting to bend a troubled cultural past into a seamless show of heritage, historic centresalso manage to efface certain historic truths. There is some suggestion, however, that acultural landscape perspective may explicitly recognise the full “history of a place and itscultural traditions” (cited in Fowler 2003: 56), and thus may also provide a more appropriateWorld Heritage vehicle for the inclusion of the horror and public tragedy often encounteredon the “trail of social memory” (Schama 1995: 18). However, if the current repertoire ofWorld Heritage-listed cultural landscapes is anything to go by, it would appear that theinterpreters of the Convention are not ready, or prepared, to engage with this aspect of theworld’s history and heritage.58 Upon its closure in 1962, a number of the Mona Mona Mission houses were purchased byAboriginal residents and relocated to the communities of Koah, Oak Forest, Kowrowa and Mantaka.Some of the mission buildings were sold to local farmers (Bottoms 1999: 80).60
Reconciling Nature and Culture in a Global Context?Lessons from the World Heritage ListCHAPTER FIVE – ‘NATURAL’ CULTURALLANDSCAPES: THE CASE OF VAL D’ORCIA,TUSCANYThere exist a great variety of Landscapes that are representative of thedifferent regions of the world. Combined works of nature and humankind, theyexpress a long and intimate relationship between peoples and their naturalenvironment – ICOMOS, World Heritage Cultural LandscapesVal d’Orcia in the province of Siena, Tuscany, is the most recently inscribed ‘culturallandscape’ on the World Heritage List. Val d’Orcia was originally nominated by the ItalianGovernment on the basis of four cultural criteria (ii, iii, iv and vi). However, the placement ofthe valley formed by the Orcia River on the List in 2004 was eventually justified in terms ofjust two, (iv) and (vi), of the ten criteria outlined in the Operational Guidelines for theImplementation of the World Heritage Convention for ‘outstanding universal value’. As suchVal d’Orcia is described as an “exceptional reflection of the way landscape was rewritten inRenaissance times to reflect the ideals of good governance and to create an aestheticallypleasing picture” and as a landscape “celebrated by painters from Siennese School. In thislast regard, the World Heritage inscription states that “images of the Val d’Orcia, andparticularly depictions of landscapes where people are depicted as living in harmony withnature […] have profoundly influenced the development of landscape thinking” (ICOMOS2004: 136).Val d’Orcia, together with a number of other World Heritage properties, including the‘Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland’ (2000), the ‘Viñales Valley’ in Cuba (1999), the‘Costiera Amalfitana’ and ‘Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands’ of Italy (both listed in1997), the ‘Alto Douro Wine Region’ of Portugal (2001), and the ‘Loire Valley’ in France(2000), are all instances of ‘functional landscapes’ (Fowler 2003: 52). As ‘workingagricultural landscapes’, which bring together “cultural and natural scenic values” (UNESCOWord Heritage Centre website), these properties represent examples of the many agrarianthemedproperties inscribed on the List. While these various properties are identified asoutstanding examples of ‘wine-growing’, ‘tobacco-growing’, ‘stock-raising’, etc., to date thereis no means of “rationally assessing in global terms [these properties] as agriculturallandscapes in Europe” (Fowler 2003: 52). As Fowler points out, there is a “need for athematic, comparative study of ‘ordinary’ agricultural landscapes” (loc. cit.).The ‘agricultural’ landscape of Val d’Orcia consists of rolling hills above chalk plains. Theseplains are criss-crossed by cypress pine-lined avenues and are home to large elaboratefarmhouses surrounded by fields of vines, olives and cereal crops (Figure 19). Out of thisagricultural vista rise a number of conical hills, on top of which cluster fortified settlements(Figure 20). The larger hill-top settlements dating from the thirteenth century includeMontalcino, Castiglion d’Orcia, Rocca d’Orcia, Minticchello, Radicofani, San Quirico d’Orciaand Pienza. The Historic Centre of the City of Pienza was World Heritage listed in 1996 asthe first example of the Renaissance humanist concept of urban design.The long history of human occupation of Val d’Orcia is evident in prehistoric archaeologicalremains. The valley also played an important role during the Etruscan period and in thedevelopment of the Roman Empire (ICOMOS 2004: 133). It appears that the region wasabandoned agriculturally in the Middle Ages, however by the eleventh century the economyhad revived and monasteries and villages were established in the area (ICOMOS 2004: 133).The rise of Sienna as a trading state in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries led to theexpansion of its agricultural base. Val d’Orcia was colonised and the wealth of Siennesemerchants was invested in turning the landscape “into productive farmland within an61
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