Mundaring has a rich and colourful history. Local heritage is a defining characteristic of the Shire and needs to be understood, protected, sustained and celebrated.
The Shire wishes to invite contributions from passionate and committed volunteers willing to contribute their time and energy to strengthen and broaden our collective understanding of local heritage. For this reason, the Shire has created this 'community-led' project page to allow interested volunteers to make contributions to:
make changes / suggestions to existing Place Records;
suggest new sites worthy of recognition and possible protection.
It is envisaged that a review of the Shire's Heritage Framework will occur at some point in the future. This platform has been established to facilitate and assist volunteers to feed into a formal review. Please note, this is not actively administered by Shire staff but will function as a information repository, that will be used as an important data source once a formal heritage review is initiated. Interested stakeholders are also welcome to liaise with the Mundaring & Hills Historical Society (https://www.mhhs.org.au/).
Please note, a site added to this platform will not be afforded any additional level of protection. However its inclusion will ensure the site will be considered, investigated and reviewed at the point of a formal heritage review.
We encourage you to provide ongoing contributions by:
Please complete this form if you wish to revise an existing place record or provide addition information for consideration. Please refer to the existing heritage inventory list.
Make suggestions, contribute to others ideas and have your say on new proposed heritage places. Where relevant and possible, please upload a supporting image.
The Parkerville Farm has not been included in either the MI or SHL. This farm (c.1941) is significant to the area because it plays a major part in the history of both the
Children's Home and the township of Parkerville as a whole. The site is still home to the
original tin sheds as well as brick sheds which are in good condition. There are many
foundations on the site which mark the location of the former sheds and original homestead.
There is also a rock made well on the site near the intersection of Swift Turn and Kilburn
Road and a gate with the PCH acronym on it.
The current EHSHS Admin/Maths block dates back to June 1953 when the building first opened. This makes the building 68 years old this June. EHSHS was placed on the 1997 Municipal Inventory, but was not included in the 2016 Heritage List. This building is significant and should be placed on the list because it was the Shire's original public high school constructed.
Has no formal Heritage Strategy however provides financial support to the Mundaring and Hills Historical Society (60k/yr), access and use of the Station Masters House (Mundaring) and Museum space attached to the visitors centre
Staff support a Cultural Advisory Group, which includes Heritage representatives.
The Shire’s local heritage is:
Recognised within the a Municipal Inventory (1997);
Given a cascading level of protection under the Heritage List (2015) and Heritage Policy.
In some cases is of State significance and is listed under the State Heritage List;
A review of the Shire’s Municipal Inventory was conducted in 2015 to identify and elevate key local heritage sites into a ‘Heritage List’ and a new policy; With the support of a community reference group this project ensured significant local heritage sites continued to be recognised under new State planning regulations.
Other considerations are:
Heritage Council Guidelines suggest an MI (now referred to as a Local Heritage Survey) in a regional or remote local government is likely to remain relevant for 10-15 years (i.e 2020-2025).
There is no state statutory requirement for the Shire to review the current listings;
It is recognised that the Shire could benefit from a more formalised and systematic approach to understanding, protecting, sustaining, and celebrating local heritage.
LOOKING FORWARD:
There are likely 3 main bodies of work required in the consideration of heritage matters moving forward.
1) Heritage Strategy
This which would set the future direction for heritage management and coordinated interpretation initiatives across the Shire, and embed a workable Shire/community governance framework which formalises sustainable recurrent funding and heritage interpretation initiatives.
2) Review Shire's Municipal Inventory (MI) (1997)
Currently the MI includes ‘5 classifications’ (Highest, High, Retain, Conserve, Historic / Significant site); whereas the Local Heritage Survey (LHS) has 4 categories *(Exceptional, Considerable, Some/moderate, Little). Further, data relating to GIS coordinates, addresses, update current use, images, and internal photos for sites on/or recommended for the Heritage List (currently 61 sites). The MI also references an ancillary list of 132 site that were not considered to warrant inclusion in the MI at that time or did not have enough historical notes, which may now require additional Place records. Other sites may be nominated for assessment also.
3) Update Heritage List / Policy.
INTERIM APPROACH
Until a decision is made in relation to the above - acknowledging that Council must weigh up heritage against other community priorities - officers wish to acknowledge the important role community members can make and provide a platform for volunteers to contribute to our collective understanding local heritage.
Community insights will help inform the scope of works for 1, 2, and 3 above; clarifying project costs and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a future review process.