Landscape Forums

Making it happen: protecting cultural landscapes 2010

3 September 2010

The primary purpose of this Forum, built on the previous six Landscapes Forums, was to evaluate the tools available to communities and governments both state and local for the conservation and management of significant cultural landscapes.

The first speakers reviewed the values we attach to landscape and the current threats and then the current range of management responses available were outlined.

Making it happen: protecting cultural landscapes Part 1 (PDF 1277 Kb)
Making it happen: protecting cultural landscapes Part 2 (PDF 1462 Kb)
Making it happen: protecting cultural landscapes (Word 722 Kb)

Heritage of the High Country forum 2009

Heritage of the High Country forum looks at building awareness of historic places in the High Country - an area with many layers of cultural heritage from a rich Aboriginal past continuing to the present, following the tracks of early explorers, prospectors and miners, cattlemen, the evolution of tourism and recreation (walking and skiing), and hydro power schemes.

Topics include:

• The Alpine National Park Management Plan Review
• Tourism and recreation
• Cultural heritage - what is it and what contributions from the past are important for the future.
• Education and interpretation
• Natural heritage and landscape.

 Heritage of the High Country report 2009 (PDF 1510kb)

Heritage landscapes selected forum papers 2004-08

Selected papers (2004-2008) have been brought together in one publication to synthesise the knowledge gained from the landscapes forums and to communicate it to those dealing with landscape heritage at all levels.

This publication is a resource for landscape practitioners, urban and regional planners, heritage consultants, economists, local and state government agencies, and for professionals and community members and organisations dealing with heritage landscape issues.

The CD version of the selected papers are available by contacting us on heritage.victoria@dpcd.vic.gov.au or 03 8644 8800.

Heritage and the Land Forum 2008

Heritage and the Land - explored landscape changes in the Wimmera-Mallee region of Victoria. The Forum was held on World Heritage Day in the historic Murtoa Mechanics Hall and included visits to the unique bird collection held by the Murtoa & District Historical Society and displayed in the heritage listed Railway Water Tower.

Presentations were made by government officers, local identities and specialists from Melbourne. Forum topics included the effect of climate change, changes in agriculture and local communities, history of the countryside, and the role of rail and water systems in opening up the land. Rather than what some see as a flat and boring landscape, the region is dotted with early structures, buildings and windbreak plantings that give the area its unique heritage.

The workshops involved discussion on the following topics;

• Agricultural land uses
• Impact of railway changes to the landscape
• Tourism and recreation and the landscape
• Management of the natural heritage values
• Pastoral landscape heritage
• Towns in the landscape setting
  
• Tools for interpretation and promotion of landscape character and heritage

The following day included a bus tour to Dimboola, Ebenezer Mission, Wimmera Mallee Museum at Jeparit, and an opportunity to observe the broad open landscape, agricultural activities, silos and rail infrastructure, the new Mallee pipeline, plantations, and remnant vegetation.

Cultural Landscapes of the Volcanic Plains forum 2007

30 March 2007

This forum recognises the diverse and very real pressures facing Victoria's Volcanic Plains - and the fact that this landscape is not just a natural asset but a very important cultural heritage asset.

The forum looked at:

• The role of the Heritage Council and recent decisions by the Council in south-west Victoria, the registration of Tower Hill National Park, Warrnambool and Koroit Botanic
• Biodiversity, water and soil management in the region.
• Different types of volcanoes, and where they can be found in Victoria
• Placement of volcanoes within the wider environment. The volcanic plains are a landscape unlike any other in Australia because of their highly fertile soils and good rainfall.
• Architecture and garden design in the South West
• Local government planning tools in the South-West, summarising heritage studies, listing the relevant Victorian Planning Provisions 'the tool box' and discussing how the HO, VPO, SLO and ESO, can be used to protect volcanic craters and SW homesteads in various circumstances.
• Main threats to landscape values: too much clearing, and reduced rainfall/drought. Corangamite has about 1300 lakes and wetlands, some RAMSAR-listed, and some drained by early farmers. Native grasses are only 10% intact across the Volcanic Plains.

Historic Towns in the Landscape Forum: Buninyong 2006

28 April 2006

This forum focused on small towns and their relationship with the surrounding landscape. It examined ways in which historic towns which are growing can develop at the same time as protecting their heritage, as well as options for managing heritage settings to bring benefit to those towns which are facing stagnation or decline.

Many small towns are of outstanding heritage character and most have historic features that make them special places to those who live in them. Heritage significance is not limited to the historic buildings, the town street pattern or the gardens but includes the setting of the town often with elements that indicate how it developed in the past and is located where it is. Change is occurring around many towns and pressures for expanding accommodation for the "sea and tree changes" attracted to the lifestyle of small communities, may adversely affect this historic character.

The Forum was broadly divided into three parts:

1. Firstly the general context of small towns in social, economic and environmental terms with reference to history.
2. Secondly some case studies of historic small towns examining the pressures and opportunities consideration of heritage issues has presented -. including a walking tour of Buninyong, and
   
3. Finally look at strategic options to conserve the settings of historic towns. Here the group discussion session provided some interesting insights and worthwhile suggestions. Feedback from the Forum will be used to guide further discussion and action in Heritage Council.

The Forum concluded on Saturday 29 April with a tour of the Creswick - Buninyong region highlighting the features of historic towns and rural landscapes, roadsides, farm properties, gardens and windbreaks.

Presentations at the Forum were made by Prof Peter Spearritt from Queensland, Dr Jerry Courvisanos of Ballarat University, Trevor Budge President PIA Victoria Division, Dr Gordon Forth formerly at Deakin University, Jeremy Reynolds DSE, Ray Tonkin and Jim Gard'ner of Heritage Victoria, Dr Anne Beggs-Sunter of the Buninyong and District Historical Society and Wendy Jacobs from Ballarat.

The Forum was made possible by the generous financial support of Heritage Council, and assistance from the National Trust. We are indebted to the Buninyong and District Historical Society and the City of Ballarat that made available the venues for the Forum.

Mornington Peninsula 2005

The Mornington Peninsula has for at least the past 30 years been subject to landscape assessment and conservation planning initiatives, in the various Shire planning schemes, the Western Port Regional Authority and its conservation plan and, most recently, the State Government's Metropolitan strategy Melbourne 2030. The National Trust has classified much of the hinterland and coastline of the Peninsula. In 2002 the Heritage Council placed the beach and foreshore area at Shoreham, known as "The Pines" on the State Heritage Register, and become one of the first cultural landscapes to be so recognised.

This forum was focused on outcomes. It looked at:

• The actions necessary to achieve sensible objectives for managing the landscape including the integration of cultural heritage and community values into the process.
• Common problems and issues of managing change within the landscape.
• Improved methods for assessing the landscape to provide better tools for landscape assessment and management.
• Promotion and support for policies that can protect rural and coastal landscapes from inappropriate development.
• Exploration of the concept of stewardship of the landscape.

The Forum began with a tour of the Peninsula covering the key themes of the day and included examples of significant habitat, roadsides and environmental processes. The tour visited the Devil Bend reservoir, Somers beach, Red Hill South, Shoreham, Tucks Ridge, Green's Bush, The Dunes, Rosebud, and the Arthur's Seat and Mt Martha escarpments.

The Forum was made possible by the generous financial support of Heritage Council, the National Trust and Mornington Peninsula Shire. The Shire also made available the venue for the presentations during the afternoon.

Coastal Landscape Forum - Bellarine Peninsula, 2004

The term "landscape" covers a huge variety of meanings and interpretations. The subject matter and methods of analysis are diverse ranging from the idea of the scenic view as expressed by artists to academic study by archaeologists, geographers, historians, planners and other disciplines tracing aspects of human activity and the workings of the natural environment over time.

Landscape is an intricate product of a variety of physical elements, location, physiography, geology, climate, soils and vegetation over which human activities have been interwoven, transforming and using the environment. The result is the unique and evolving synthesis of natural and human elements often referred to as the cultural landscape.

The Coastal Landscape Forum held on the Bellarine Peninsula is an examination of the interaction of these elements.