In South Westland, New Zealand, despite the remoteness of its relatively intact and diverse geomorphic and biophysical systems, social and cultural values are significant. These values, however, are not recognised in its designation as a world heritage area. This paper uses narratives from different sources and an interrogative process, to reveal not only a range of approaches to heritage, expressed or implied by different stakeholder groups, but also the paradoxical nature of interrelationships among people, place and heritage. It allows tentative conclusions to be made about the significance of the lack of an explicit management strategy for the world heritage area as a whole, and about the need for heritage, whether regarded instrumentally as natural or cultural, to be reconceptualised as a cultural construct.