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Over the next 10 weeks Australians will be able to visit some of our nation's most important heritage places and objects, guided by the Chaser's Chris Taylor—and all without leaving their living rooms.

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, today launched Australia's Heritage: National Treasures — a series of mini-documentaries for broadcast on the ABC TV.

The Minister said the project, including a resource-rich educational website, was developed by Screen Australia and the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts in association with the ABC.

“The series showcases the places, the objects and the stories that reveal the richness of Australia's Indigenous, natural and historic heritage in an entertaining and easily accessible way,” Mr Garrett said.

“The mini-documentary series and website will introduce a whole new generation of Australians to our heritage, from stories about Ned Kelly to Francis De Groot's upstaging of the official opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge through to the inspiring story of the Vincent Lingiari led Wave Hill Walk-off.”

“The series brings to life stories about people, places and events that have helped create our nation,” Mr Garrett said.

Australia's Heritage: National Treasures will premiere on ABC1 on Thursday August 6, starting with the story of the Eureka Stockade.

Places including Western Australia's Fremantle Prison and Batavia Shipwreck site, Victoria's Royal Exhibition Building, Bonegilla Migrant Camp and the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and South Australia's Naracoorte Fossil Mammal Site all feature in following weeks.

Mr Garrett also announced four new additions to the National Heritage List.

“It is extremely fitting that at an event celebrating Australia's unique natural, historic and Indigenous heritage I am also announcing the addition of four new sites to the National Heritage List,” Mr Garrett said.

The places added to the National Heritage List are:

• Elizabeth Springs: Queensland's extraordinary Elizabeth Springs, part of the Great Artesian Basin, is home to a number of unique and endangered plants and animal species. The area has been recognised for its outstanding natural values.
• Witjira-Dalhousie Springs: Also part of the Great Artesian Basin, Witjira-Dalhousie Springs is recognised for its significance to Indigenous people, its association with an extraordinary number of song lines and extensive occupation sites, its their geological significance and outstanding natural values.
• Porongurup National Park: Part of the internationally recognised Southwest Australian ‘biodiversity hotspot’, Porongurup National Park contains an exceptionally high concentration of plants and animals in a relatively small area, with one of the richest varieties of plants in Australia.
• Cascades Female Factory Yard 4 North: Cascades Female Factory is highly significant for its role as a reception and incarceration site for convict women in Tasmania. Yard 4 North is listed alongside the existing Cascades Female Factory National Heritage place.

Australia's Heritage: National Treasures is a 10 week series that will screen from Thursday August 6 at 6:50pm on ABC1.

Explore the website live today at: www.screenaustralia.gov.au/learning/heritage 

For information on Australia's National Heritage places visit: www.heritage.gov.au

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