OUR HERITAGE
National and World Heritage
On 1 January 2004 the Australian Government commenced implementing groundbreaking heritage laws to protect places Australians regard as part of their national identity.
A programme called Distinctively Australian will underpin this new heritage system. Distinctively Australian engages the community in identifying and protecting nationally significant heritage places and experiencing Australia’s origins, history and values. The Government will invest more than $52 million over four years in the new initiative.
Under Distinctively Australian, the Government is also committed to improving the way it identifies and protects the heritage places it owns or manages. The Government has established a Commonwealth Heritage List of places managed or owned by the Australian Government. A National Heritage List of places of outstanding significance to the nation will also be established. For the first time, Indigenous, natural and historic places of national heritage significance will be protected to the full extent of the Commonwealth’s powers.
A newly established independent expert advisory body, the Australian Heritage Council, is the principal adviser to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage on heritage matters.
Proper heritage management is vital for protecting the values of heritage places. Under Distinctively Australian, management plans for national and Commonwealth listed places will be prepared.
Economic benefits are anticipated for regional communities through increased tourism to nationally significant places.
The Howard Government continues its investment in restoring cultural heritage places. The Government in this Budget will provide $5.5 million in 2003-04 for the restoration of St George’s Cathedral in Perth and St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne. This funding will support efforts to repair and preserve these heritage buildings. Funding for St Paul’s Cathedral is in addition to the funding of $2.5 million provided in 2001-02.
The Government also continues its commitment to identifying, protecting and conserving Australia’s 15 World Heritage places. These places play a central part in informing our national identity. World Heritage places also benefit our national economy and regional economies through tourism.
In 2003, the international World Heritage Committee inscribed Purnululu National Park in Western Australia’s Kimberley region on the World Heritage List for its unrivalled natural values. Purnululu is renowned for its extraordinary banded beehive structures, sandstone cliffs and the towers of the Bungle Bungle Range, and its rich Indigenous cultural heritage.
The World Heritage Committee will assess Australia’s nomination of the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens in Melbourne for inscription in 2004. The Government is also undertaking consultations for the development of future possible nominations including a series of Indigenous rock art sites, convict sites, the Sydney Opera House, Ningaloo in Western Australia and Cooloola in Queensland.
The Government will continue to promote better management of Australia’s World Heritage places in partnership with the State and Territories, and work with the states to create opportunities for greater involvement of Aboriginal people in managing World Heritage properties.
Regional heritage
The Australian Government recently established the Regional Natural Heritage Programme to help conserve the biodiversity of the South-East Asia-Pacific region. In cooperation with regional governments, the Programme will assist with identifying, protecting and managing areas in South-East Asia and the Pacific region recognised as global biodiversity hotspots or major wilderness areas. The Programme has a budget of $10 million over three years.
The Government also provides regional leadership in the management of World Heritage places through a range of activities.
Cultural heritage
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 provides Indigenous people with an avenue, after state and territory processes are exhausted, to protect and prevent the desecration of areas and objects of particular significance according to Aboriginal tradition. The Government is continuing to consult stakeholders about the revised legislation, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Bill, in preparation for its passage through parliament.
The Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 provides for the protection of declared historic shipwrecks and relics in waters under Commonwealth responsibility. In 2003-04 the Australian Government provided $391,000 to the States and Territories under the Historic Shipwrecks Programme for the protection and preservation of historic shipwrecks, research projects and community information.
As part of its commitment to ensure that Australia's most important movable cultural heritage is not lost to the nation, the Government provides annual funding up to $500,000 for the National Cultural Heritage Account. Established under the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986, the Account assists with the acquisition and care of, and access to, nationally significant heritage objects.
The Cultural Heritage Projects Programme provides assistance to community groups, private owners and local governments to identify and conserve their heritage places. In 2003-04, a fourth round of the Programme was advertised, attracting 289 applications. On 20 April 2004, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage announced 72 approved grants for this round valued at $3.5 million. Funding in 2004-05 for cultural heritage projects will help to preserve significant historic and Aboriginal places including churches, homesteads and former missions, convict sites and important remnants of our industrial heritage.
In 2003-04, 178 projects to restore historic hotels in rural and regional areas were completed under the Rural and Regional Historic Hotels Programme.
During 2002-03 about 80 projects were funded under the Preservation and Promotion of Indigenous Heritage and Environment Programme. This involved about 5250 Indigenous people in making decisions about their heritage and environment.
Projects related to the protection and preservation of Dreaming sites, art sites and a stone-axe quarry; maintenance of historic cemeteries; support and promotion of women’s lore and culture; protection of historic traditional art works on cave walls and protection of heritage values through the development of management plans for feral animal and plant control, community education and visitor management.
During 2004-05 funding will continue for regional, multi-regional and national heritage and environment projects.
Funding also supports the repatriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestral remains and objects. During 2004-05 Indigenous human remains in some British and Swedish museums are expected to be repatriated. Secret/sacred objects in public museums in Sweden will be identified as a first step towards returning these objects to Australia in 2006.
The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust – creating a significant conservation asset
The Sydney Harbour Federation Trust is responsible for planning, managing, conserving, enhancing and making accessible certain former Defence and other sites around Sydney Harbour. In 2004-05 $25.1 million will be spent on this work.
Following a period of public exhibition, the Trust’s comprehensive Plan was approved by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage in September 2003. The Plan sets out proposals for the Trust to rehabilitate, remediate, develop, enhance and manage the lands and maximise public access. By 2011 the rehabilitation of all of the lands and buildings is expected to be completed and the Trust sites are expected to be financially self-sustaining.