Professor
Don Garden.
Four years after the proclamation of the 1995
Heritage Act we now have the final report of the Victorian Heritage
Strategy, a review that was initiated a couple of years ago by
Heritage Victoria. The direction of the reports recommendations
are expressed as four goals:
- 1. to increase knowledge of Victoria's
places and objects.
2. to enhance community understanding and appreciation of heritage.
3. to provide mechanisms for the strategic and practical protection
of heritage places and objects.
4. to support proactive management and sustainable use of heritage
assets.
To implement these there is a series of objectives
and annual stages for adoption of programs over the three-year
period to 2003. With some realistic pessimism, it has been allowed
that these might take up to 2005.
This is not a report given to wordy detail.
That is where the principal dilemma lies. In essence it is a good
and encouraging report and its principles and programs are excellent.
But so much is expressed in such brief, vague and superficial
terms that it makes one wonder about how fully some of its aims
can be achieved. Perhaps political realities have shaped the direction
of the report, or at least flavoured it with vagueness. Up to
page nine one could be left wondering why we have commissioned
a report, so excellent is the heritage support structure in the
state. But under the heading 'What has to be done' there are two
pages which obliquely indicate that not all is well.
Those working in the museums sector will be
pleased with its increased recognition of the importance of collections.
One of the clearest and strongest recommendations is the establishment
of a Heritage Collections Advisory Committee, timed to be established
by mid-2001. Its purpose will be to "review the management
needs of significant collections of objects in Victoria, establish
priorities for funding to address the most urgent needs and identify
ongoing sources of funding. Unfortunately there are no recommendations
for the long-overdue provision for paper-based collections of
historical and archival records.
If fully implemented, the Strategy might put
Victoria in a better position to cope with the federal government's
slowly developing heritage policy which threatens to disband the
Australian Heritage Commission and devolve nearly all heritage
responsibilities to state, territory and local governments. Adoption
of the report will need resource and possibly even legislative
support from the Victorian government. The heritage credentials
of the Bracks government are not yet clear. How they respond will
be an important indicator.
Don Garden
History Department, University of Melbourne. President, Federation
of Australian Historical Societies.