HERITAGE TASMANIA TASMANIAN HERITAGE COUNCIL December 2007
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HERITAGE TASMANIA TASMANIAN HERITAGE COUNCIL December 2007 Tasmania Police and State Emergency Service Headquarters, Photographer, Travis Tiddy Strahan Minister’s message This year has been busy with many gains across the the Heritage Council and Heritage Tasmania much heritage sector. A lot of hard work has also occurred that more identifiable and accessible. It has also given us will enable key reforms and major project initiatives to be the chance to adapt an 1866 former bank building for implemented in the next 12 months. contemporary use and use it to illustrate various forms of interpretation, from modern art, photography and These include the lodgement of the World Heritage more traditional methods. nomination of convict sites in early 2008, work to complete the process of legislative reform in the Aboriginal and During 2007 we have also started to undertake pre- historic heritage fields and the development of better statutory consultations with owners before starting the customer service approaches. formal process of statutory listing. This approach has proven to be very useful in fostering understanding Working together is a key approach. This is something about heritage listing and ensuring we are engaging that will be particularly important in the future, especially with owners and learning from each other. It has been as we work to develop a clearer and more integrated trialled in implementing the Kingborough Heritage approach to heritage management, that gives greater Survey, the Penguin precinct nomination and the clarity to owners. proposed new Cascades Female Factory listing. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to ensuring The release of a Position Paper entitled 'Managing that our important historic heritage places are well- Our Heritage' consolidated years of planning, as we protected, managed and presented. work to reform our Act and the way we work. The aim of this effort is to ensure we develop a more integrated I hope that you have a happy, safe and enjoyable system that is clear and simple to understand, protects Christmas and summer break, and that 2008 is a our heritage assets and remembers the tremendous rewarding and productive year. importance of the heritage owners and managers who look after our heritage assets on a day to day basis. Paula Wriedt MP Minister for Tourism, Arts and the Environment Please call in and check out our new premises if you are in the area and watch out for updates on other planning in future editions. From the Chairperson and Director All the best for the break and 2008 As we come to the end of another busy year for us all it is timely to reflect on some of the directions we are taking. Michael Lynch, Chairperson, Tasmanian Heritage Council and Pete Smith. Director, Heritage The start of 2007 entailed a move to new premises at 103 Tasmania Macquarie Street in Hobart, but more significantly this move to a shop-front, street-level, office has made DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM, ARTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT HERITAGE TASMANIA GPO BOX 1751, HOBART TAS 7001 PHONE: 1300 850 332 (local call cost) | FAX: 6233 3186 | EMAIL: [email protected] www.heritage.tas.gov.au HERITAGE NEWS National heritage listing for Brickendon and Brickendon was built by Thomas' brother William. Brickendon is still a working farm owned and operated Woolmers Estates by William's descendents. Brickendon and Woolmers estates in Northern Tasmani a have been added to the National Heritage List. Ms Wriedt said the estates are excellent examples of private owners embracing and working with the Welcoming the announcement, the Minister for Tourism, heritage values of their properties. "I am delighted that Arts and Environment, Paula Wriedt, said the sites these two Tasmania's properties have joined other represent an integral part of the nation's convict and Tasmanian convict sites Port Arthur, the Coal Mines, pioneering history. Darlington probation station on Maria Island and The Cascade Female factory on the National Heritage "Brickendon is a remarkably intact example of a farming List," she said. property dating back to the 1820s," Ms Wriedt said. "It is of outstanding national significance for its association "I encourage all Tasmanians to visit these properties. with the convict assignment system and continuation of Both are just outside Longford on the Macquarie farming practices." River." Ms Wriedt said Woolmers is a remarkable example of The Brickendon and Woolmers estates are in a group property development using convict labour. of 11 convict sites five of which are in Tasmania. The "Some people may find it surprising that these two rural other sites are on Norfolk Island and in New South properties are being recognised for convict heritage," she Wales and Western Australia. They will form part of said. the Australian Convict Serial Nomination for inclusion on the World Heritage List. The Tasmanian Government is continuing to work with the Australian Government to have these sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Woodcutters Point listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register Woodcutters Point on North Bruny has been permanently added to the Tasmanian Heritage Register. Woodcutters Point is a key location in early conciliation efforts between settlers and Aborigines and the site of a rare post-1843 sod hut. The area played a key role in Lt-Gov Arthur’s attempt to ‘conciliate’ the Tasmanian Aboriginal population, Section of Woolmers Estate beginning with the Nuononne people, members of a wider south-east tribe, in the late 1820s. "It is often thought that the convict experience was one of prisons, chain gangs and harsh punishment but this was not always the case. The majority of convicts served their sentence under the control of private citizens in the assignment system. "Woolmers and Brickendon had a combined annual total of over 100 convicts working on the two properties, a massive work force when you think Tasmania's approximate population was 35,000 at the time. This was the second biggest pool of convict labour under private control in Tasmania." Woolmers homestead was built by Thomas Archer in 1819 and stayed in the Archer family until 1994. It is now Woodcutters Point operated by the Woolmers Foundation. Following growing hostilities within the region between settlers and the Aborigines that resulted in various 2 Heritage Bulletin November 2007 HERITAGE NEWS violent outbursts, Lt-Gov Arthur initiated a program aimed 19 properties permanently registered in at appeasing the Aboriginal population and essentially Penguin persuading them to ‘ adopt the habits of civilised life’. In its November meeting, the Tasmanian Heritage In 1828, James Jordan was appointed to distribute rations Council permanently registered 19 of 20 provisionally of potatoes and biscuits to the Aboriginal inhabitants of registered properties in Penguin. Bruny Island, in an attempt to gain their trust. Heritage Council Chairperson, Michael Lynch, said the Jordan was eventually joined by a small group of Heritage Council took into account three objections woodcutters instructed to build ‘one or two huts’ on the from the owners of properties provisionally entered in present day Woodcutters Point site. For a year, these huts were used as the base for the distribution of rations to the the Heritage Register along with eight submissions local Aboriginal inhabitants. By November three ‘steady from the Penguin community in support of the entry well-conducted convicts’ were sent to cultivate potatoes onto the Register and two submissions from the and assist in the further distribution of food rations and Penguin community opposed to the entry. blankets. “It was agreed that one place did not meet the criteria The project must have shown promise, because in 1829 for entry into the Heritage Register on a permanent Lt-Gov Arthur decided to find an individual to undertake basis,” Mr Lynch said. conciliatory missions with the Aboriginal population. Minister for Tourism, Arts and the Environment, Paula The man chosen for the task was George Augustus Wriedt, said she was pleased the Heritage Council Robinson, who was accompanied on his ‘Friendly had made its decision in relation to the 20 Penguin Missions’ to the tribes by two Bruny Island Aborigines, properties. Truganini and Woorady. Robinson visited Woodcutters “The decision provides certainty to the property- Point several times before moving operations to his owners affected concerning the heritage status of their ‘Aboriginal Establishment’ at Missionary Bay in May 1829. properties,” Ms Wriedt said. The Aboriginal ration station sod hut at Woodcutters Point “The entry of the properties onto the register follows is believed to have been ploughed away some time an extensive consultation process undertaken with between 1968 and 1977. The present remains of a sod hut property owners over the last nine months. This has are located about 140m south of the former ration station. They are thought to be from a shepherd’s hut built by been a long process, but has also been one of the Thomas Brown and William Knight, who purchased the most consultative ever used. land in 1843. “I am grateful for the patience of the affected owners, and the time spent by Heritage Tasmania and the Heritage Council to ensure the best possible outcome was achieved,” Ms Wriedt said. Valuing heritage brings additional rewards Tasmanian students have shown they have a deep appreciation for Tasmania’s heritage. Competing in the 2007 It’s your Heritage school competition, students took a personal approach to discovering their heritage. Site of a sod hut This years winners covered a range of topics – from Although these remains are not of the ration station itself, celebrating the Collinsvale Primary Schools 130 th they are nevertheless one of the very few remnants left in birthday; a hearty thank you for the builders of the Tasmania of a sod hut. Woodcutters Point itself is also Salmon Ponds and an interesting take on the significant for its association with the ration station, even importance of the Launceston synagogue.