Assessing the heritage significance of landscapes

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the past 20 years of efforts by government heritage agencies in Australia to incorporate cultural landscapes into formal regimes for heritage listing. Australian laws and practices evolved from the 1970s and were shaped by both British and American models. Australian heritage practice is based on the assessment of heritage values according to jurisdictional thresholds and criteria. From the 1990s, heritage agencies sought to more explicitly include landscapes in their heritage lists and registers, but cracks began to appear in these efforts. The 1990s heralded new possibilities for the recognition of landscapes as heritage within formal systems of designation and protection. From the late 1990s, the newly formed Landscape Advisory Committee to the Victorian Heritage Council observed that few landscapes had been included in the Victorian Heritage Register in the 20 years of its development.