Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an external territory of Australia, at the bottom of the world. UN Tourism publishes no arrivals figure for it, so Globestamp places its stamp by estimate: Mythic, for fewer than 50,000 visitors a year.
- Stamp finish
- Mythicplaced by estimate
- Area
- 393 km² (152 sq mi)
Does Heard Island and McDonald Islands count as a country?
It depends on the list. Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an external territory of Australia, so it is not one of the UN’s 193 members, but Globestamp’s list of 250 countries and territories counts it on its own. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “Australian Antarctic Territory (Davis, Heard, Macquarie, Mawson)”.
| List | Counts Heard Island and McDonald Islands? |
|---|---|
| UN member states (193) | No |
| Globestamp’s countries and territories (250) | Yes |
| Travelers’ Century Club (330) | Yes, as Australian Antarctic Territory (Davis, Heard, Macquarie, Mawson) |
| European Union | No |
| Schengen area | No |
Heard Island and McDonald Islands belongs to Australia, but travelers usually count it on its own, because it has its own entry rules, its own flag or its own place on the map. Other places in the same family: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island.
The Heard Island and McDonald Islands stamp
Every country in Globestamp has its own stamp, drawn after a real entry stamp. Its finish shows how few travelers get there. Heard Island and McDonald Islands’s is Mythic: a living finish taken from the place itself, the finish for places with fewer than 50,000 visitors a year. UN Tourism has no figure for Heard Island and McDonald Islands, so its finish is placed by hand from what is known of its visitors. See every stamp on the stamp wall, or the rarest on the least-visited countries.
What counts as a visit to Heard Island and McDonald Islands
The common rule among travelers is that you set foot there: an airport layover usually doesn’t count, and a port where you went ashore does. Globestamp counts Heard Island and McDonald Islands when one of your photos was taken on its ground, or just off its coast; a photo taken from a plane never counts. Heard Island and McDonald Islands has no airport with scheduled flights, so most visitors arrive by road, rail or sea. Read more in how to count the countries you’ve visited.
Questions people ask
Is Heard Island and McDonald Islands a country?
It depends on the list. Heard Island and McDonald Islands is an external territory of Australia, so it is not one of the UN’s 193 members, but Globestamp’s list of 250 countries and territories counts it on its own. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “Australian Antarctic Territory (Davis, Heard, Macquarie, Mawson)”.
How many tourists visit Heard Island and McDonald Islands?
UN Tourism, the usual source, publishes no arrivals figure for Heard Island and McDonald Islands. Globestamp places its stamp by estimate, as Mythic: fewer than 50,000 visitors a year.
How rare is a Heard Island and McDonald Islands stamp in Globestamp?
It is printed in Mythic, the finish for places with fewer than 50,000 visitors a year. The fewer travelers a place receives, the rarer its finish, from plain Ink to Mythic.
Does Heard Island and McDonald Islands count for the Travelers’ Century Club?
Yes. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “Australian Antarctic Territory (Davis, Heard, Macquarie, Mawson)”, one of its 330 destinations.
Places as rare as Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Near Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Sources
- Countries, cities and regions: Natural Earth 10m admin-0 (public domain); lists as of October 2026.
- Visitors: UN Tourism via the World Bank, ST.INT.ARVL (International tourism, number of arrivals), CC BY 4.0, data updated 2026-10-08. Each country's latest year before 2020. Countries count visitors differently; use as a rough rank.
- World Heritage Sites, parks, landmarks and the bucket-list places: Wikidata (CC0), as compiled in the app, October 2026.
- Airports: OurAirports (public domain), airports with scheduled service.
- Travelers’ Century Club: the club’s list of 330 destinations, as of January 2022.