Contribute to preserving our Shire's heritage

CURRENT APPROACH:

The Shire:

• 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.