NSW
The Bundian Way
Targangal (Kosciuszko) to Bilgalera (Eden)
RegisteredFirst NationsWalking265 kmMulti day
A pathway walked for thousands of years, joining the highest point of the continent to the sea. Along the Bundian Way, peoples of the high country and the coast travelled between the summer bogong moth gatherings in the Alps and the whale seasons of Twofold Bay, trading, teaching and keeping kinship alive across the Monaro. In 2013 it became the first Aboriginal pathway listed on the NSW State Heritage Register, championed by the Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Why it belongs: the oldest kind of Australian journey, honoured under First Nations custodianship at national scale.
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WA
The Golden Pipeline
Mundaring Weir to Kalgoorlie
RegisteredEngineeringDriving550 km3 days
C. Y. O’Connor’s goldfields water scheme, opened in 1903, pushed fresh water 550 kilometres uphill from the Perth hills to the driest goldfields on earth, and is still running. The heritage trail that follows it, created by the National Trust of Western Australia, threads pump stations, wheatbelt towns and the scheme now honoured on the National Heritage List.
Why it belongs: a National Trust made trail already in the family, proving the model of drive, stop, learn and spend in the regions.
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VIC
Goldfields Story Trail
Ballarat to Bendigo, through Castlemaine and Maldon
RegisteredGold rushDrivingCycling1 to 3 days
The richest alluvial goldfields the world has known remade Australia in a decade. Eureka and the ballot, boom architecture, and migration from every continent, including the largest Chinese communities of the era. The route links Sovereign Hill, Trust properties and intact streetscapes across a region now pursuing UNESCO World Heritage recognition.
Why it belongs: the proposed pilot’s heart, where heritage visitation already works and a national mark multiplies it.
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TAS
The Heritage Highway
Hobart to Launceston through the Midlands
RegisteredConvict eraDriving170 km1 to 2 days
Australia’s most complete colonial road, surveyed in 1821 and built by convict gangs whose bridges and garrison towns still stand. Oatlands, Ross and Campbell Town hold the country’s densest Georgian streetscapes, and the route joins UNESCO listed convict sites at Woolmers and Brickendon. A national trail here turns a two hour drive into a two day journey through the founding decades.
Why it belongs: the convict story, told where it happened, on a route every visitor to Tasmania already crosses.
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SA
Burra and the Copper Country
Burra State Heritage Area, Mid North South Australia
RegisteredIndustrialWalkingCyclingRail trail
The Monster Mine at Burra paid for South Australia and drew Cornish miners in their thousands; their cottages, chimneys and chapels survive in one of the most intact mining landscapes anywhere. Recognised on the National Heritage List and already piloting the Trust’s SA heritage app, Burra links town walks, the mine site and rail trail cycling into a single register ready experience.
Why it belongs: the proof of concept, where the register’s digital tools meet a community that has kept its heritage whole.
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How trails are registered
A formal, curated register of Australia’s heritage trails, each assessed against national criteria for cultural significance, condition and visitor experience. The register gives the Trust the standing instrument to recognise, monitor and update significant cultural trails, and to designate the most important as nationally significant.
Stewardship for generations
A national curatorial committee drawn from every state and territory Trust, First Nations custodianship protocols for stories connected to Country, and a maintenance and review cycle so that every registered trail remains accurate, safe and worthy of the mark it carries.
