Conference Paper

Author

Buckley, Kristal

Title

Burning Issues and Brighter Futures: A View from Australia

In

Sustaining Heritage: Second International and Thirteenth National Engineering Heritage Conference and NSW Railways Seminar

Imprint

Engineers Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, 2005, pp. 158-160

ISBN/ISSN

085825820X

Url

https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.068557369063072

Abstract

In many ways, the future has never been brighter for Australia's cultural heritage. Communities everywhere are asserting the importance of their heritage in sustaining local identity and regional character. Changes in legislation and policy frameworks throughout the country, and at all levels of government strive to improve the responsiveness and efficiency of existing protective mechanisms, while expanding definitions of 'heritage'. We are mid-way through a national inquiry by the Productivity Commission into the operation of our 'historic' heritage conservation frameworks which has brought these issues into sharper focus. However, few at this conference would agree that our heritage is always well-managed or sufficiently celebrated. So, what hinders this bright future - what are the burning issues? An Australian national 'snapshot' suggests that for our engineering and industrial heritage they include everything from resourcing; fashions and fads in heritage work; training and expertise; hazy definitions of technical 'best practice'; current practice for movable and 'place' heritage, and managing intangible values; pressures and barriers posed by other statutory frameworks; market factors and redundancy cycles; aesthetics, scale and adaptive re-use; and significant knowledge gaps - just to name a few! This presentation will explore these issues within the dialogue of an international panel.

Related Published resources

isPartOf

• Sustaining Heritage: Second International and Thirteenth National Engineering Heritage Conference and NSW Railways Seminar (Sydney, New South Wales: Engineers Australia, 2005), 268 pp, https://search.informit.org/doi/book/10.3316/informit.085825820X. Details