Heritage landscapes Selected forum papers 2004–08
Editors Dr John Dwyer QC Dr Janet Schapper
Heritage landscapes Selected forum papers 2004–08
Editors Dr John Dwyer QC Dr Janet Schapper
Production Editor Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
Published by the Heritage Council of Victoria 2009, Melbourne References throughout to the heritage website or Heritage Victoria website refer to: www.heritage.vic.gov.au which includes the searchable Victorian Heritage Database.
Published by the Heritage Council of Victoria, Melbourne, October 2009. Also published at www.heritage.vic.gov.au
© State of Victoria, Heritage Council of Victoria 2009.
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Cover images: From left ( back cover) to right Spray Farm estate on the Bellarine Peninsula. Image Mark Chen, Tourism Victoria The former Carlo Gervasoni homestead at Yandoit Hills is a reminder of early Italian settlement in the area. Image Heritage Victoria Macalister River bridge into Licola, the southern gateway to the Alpine National Park. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria Moscow Villa Hut, Bentley Plain on the Nunniong Forest Drive. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria Background Image: Looking down on the ferns in the Myrtle Beech forest from the treetop walk in the Otway National Park. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
ii Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Contents
Acknowledgements v Notes on Contributors vii Professor George Seddon ix Section 1: General introduction 1
Section 2: Concepts relating to landscape 7 John Dwyer and Janet Schapper 7
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 21 3.1 Introduction 21 3.2 Background planning policies relating to coastal landscapes 23 3.3 Local applications 27 Mornington Peninsula landscapes – Juliet Bird 27 The Cultural landscapes of the Mornington Peninsula – Steve Yorke 29 3.4 Planning to protect coastal landscapes 32 Planning for landscape protection in Victoria – Mike Scott 32 Visual assessment: mapping the aesthetics of landscape – Ian Bishop 35 Assessing the coastline – Richard Offen 39 So what? What are the opportunities for action – George Seddon (1927–2007) 44 3.5 Communities and valued coastal landscapes 47 Dianne Weidner OAM and Jim Gard’ner 47
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 51 4.1 Introduction 51 4.2 Background theory and policy 52 Study of small towns in Victoria revisited, and its application to heritage – Jerry Courvisanos 52 An overview of small towns in Victoria – Jeremy Reynolds 56 Towns and the tourist onslaught – survival or capitulation? – Peter Spearritt 60 4.3 Local applications 64 Growth and non-grown towns – case studies – Wendy Jacobs 64 4.4 Planning to protect historic towns in the landscape 67 Our towns as cultural landscapes – Ray Tonkin 67 What are the current planning tools for managing the landscape setting of small towns? – Trevor Budge 71 Characterisation: New ways of valuing the historic environment – Jim Gard’ner 76 4.5 Communities and historic towns 83 Walking tour around Buninyong – Anne Beggs-Sunter 83 ‘Seafarers, settlers and soldiers’ a tale of three heritage towns in search of a future – Gordon Forth 84
Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 iii Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 91 5.1 Introduction 91 5.2 Background theory and policy 93 DSE and heritage – Andrew Maclean 93 Murtoa: A government perspective – Peter Forbes 94 Climate change: Observations, projections and responses – Simon Torok 97 5.3 Local Applications 101 The Western Victorian volcanic province – a geological overview – Bill Birch 101 The volcanic geology of the western plains – Bernie Joyce 104 Healthy catchments – good landscapes – Peter Greig 105 The water supply heritage of north-west Victoria – Helen Doyle 110 Farming’s impact on the land – Ron Dodds 114 The landscapes of the volcanic plains: British vision and environmental transformation – Don Garden 117 Whither Australia Felix Now? – Timothy Hubbard 120 5.4 Planning to protect the broader landscape 123 Planning tools and solutions for cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains – Lucinda Peterson 123 An outline of the Heritage Council’s landscape assessment guidelines 129 5.5 Communities and broader heritage landscapes 130 Dry stone walls: Building a profi le – Jim Holdsworth 130 ‘A Stone Upon A Stone’ touring exhibition – Raelene Marshal 130 Volcanoes Discovery Trail Committee – Joane McKnight 132 Corangamite Arts – Josie Black OAM 133 How to create a historical village without really trying – Heather Yates 134
Section 6: Conclusions 137 John Dwyer and Janet Schapper 137
iv Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Acknowledgements
The Landscape Forums from which papers have been selected in this publication began in response to community concerns about threats to the conservation of signifi cant cultural landscapes in Victoria. With a focus on the particular landscapes of different regions, the papers and discussions at each forum sought to increase understanding of the competing interests which gave rise to the threats, and appropriate strategies and policies by which stakeholders in the landscapes might respond.
Each of the Landscape Forums was organised by a steering committee set up by the Landscape Advisory Committee of the Heritage Council. Forums were supported by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), Victorian Landscape Guardians Inc, local community organizations and local government.
Details appear in the Forum Reports published by the Heritage Council (see http://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/ Heritage-places-objects/Landscapes-and-gardens/ Landscape-forums.aspx) Coastal Landscape Forum (2004), Peninsula Coast and Country Forum (2005), Historic Towns in the Landscape Forum (2006), Cultural Landscapes of the Volcanic Plains Forum (2007) and Heritage and the Land Forum (2008). Eloise Hinkley and Jane Andrews provided administrative support and edited Forum Reports. Forum Reports were also edited by Cathy Schapper and Dr Janet Schapper. The support of all is gratefully acknowledged.
The Landscape Forums and this publication have had the strong support of Chris Gallagher during her term as Chair of the Heritage Council (2002–2008), and Ray Tonkin, the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria. Offi cers of Heritage Victoria who have made special contributions have been John Hawker, Anne Sedgley and Jim Gard’ner. Neville Wale, the Chair of the Landscape Advisory Committee, took a leading role in the Forums, and has assisted this project in many ways.
Jane Andrews has provided invaluable assistance in assembling this compilation.
JLD, JAS December 2008
Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 v vi Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Notes on Contributors
DR ANN BEGGS-SUNTER lectures in Australian History DR GORDON FORTH is an historian located at and Heritage at the University of Ballarat, and is Secretary Warrnambool. of the Buninyong and District Historical Society. PROFESSOR DON GARDEN is an environmental historian DR BILL BIRCH is Senior Curator (Geosciences- and Senior Fellow in the Australian Centre for Science, Mineralogy and Petrology) at Museum Victoria. Innovation and Society in The University of Melbourne.
DR JULIET BIRD is Honorary Fellow, School of Social and JIM GARD’NER was Conservation Manager, National Environmental Enquiry, The University of Melbourne, and Trust of Australia (Victoria), and is now Director, Strategy is engaged with Geostudies, the National Trust Landscape and Policy, Heritage Victoria. Committee, the Landscape Advisory Committee, and DR PETER GREIG is Chairman, Corangamite Catchment Landscape Guardians Inc. Management Authority, and a full-time beef and wine PROFESSOR IAN BISHOP is Director, Centre for producer in Murroon. Geographic Information Systems and Modelling, JIM HOLDSWORTH is a planner with Planning Department of Geomatics, The University of Melbourne. Collaborative (Vic) Pty Ltd, and President, The Dry Stone JOSIE BLACK OAM is an educator and community Walls Association of Australia. activist, who has worked as a volunteer with community DR TIMOTHY HUBBARD is a heritage architect and based landscape and heritage projects including the planner based in Port Fairy. His fi rm Heritage Matters Pty Corangamite Dry Stone Walls Conservation Project, Ltd acts as heritage adviser to many Western District and the Kanawinka Global Geopark. She is Honorary municipalities. Secretary of Corangamite Arts. WENDY JACOBS is an Architect and Heritage Consultant TREVOR BUDGE is a Life Fellow, Planning Institute of practising in Ballarat. She is heritage advisor to the Shire Australia and Senior Lecturer in Planning at La Trobe of Northern Grampians. University. His research is focused on small towns in Australia, and planning and development in Sri Lanka. PROFESSOR BERNIE JOYCE is Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Earth Sciences, The University of DR JERRY COURVISANOS was Deputy Director, Centre Melbourne. for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness, University of Ballarat, and is now Associate Professor of Innovation ANDREW MACLEAN was Group Manager, Land and Entrepreneurship, School of Business, University of Stewardship and Biodiversity, DSE and is now with the Ballarat. Wet Tropics Management Authority, Cairns, Queensland.
RON DODDS is Regional Manager for Western Victoria JOANE McKNIGHT is Chair of the Kanawinka Global with Greening Australia. His family has been involved in Geopark Board. The geopark is Australia’s most extensive agriculture in Western Victoria since 1904. volcanic province, stretching across South Western Victoria and South East South Australia. DR HELEN DOYLE is a freelance historian with a strong interest in local history and heritage. She has completed RICHARD OFFEN was Manager of the Neptune Coastline several studies of Victoria’s water supply heritage and a Campaign of the National Trust (UK). He is Executive municipal heritage study for Moyne Shire. Director, Heritage Perth (a joint venture between the City of Perth and the National Trust of Australia (WA). DR JOHN DWYER QC has been actively engaged in heritage conservation for more than 25 years with the LUCINDA PETERSON is Strategic Planning Coordinator, National Trust of Australia (Victoria), the Heritage Council Warrnambool City Council. and the Australian Garden History Society. DR JEREMY REYNOLDS is Manager of Demographic PETER FORBES works with the Department of Research, Department of Planning and Community Sustainability and Environment. Development.
Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 vii DR JANET SCHAPPER is a Senior Fellow, Burnley College, The University of Melbourne, and is a former Member of the Heritage Council and Chair of the Landscape Advisory Committee.
MIKE SCOTT is a town planner, and Director, Planisphere, where he works as Project Manager, Strategic Planner, Urban Designer and Facilitator.
PROFESSOR GEORGE SEDDON (1927–2008) was Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies (1974- 81) and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, The University of Melbourne (1982–88). From 1989 he was Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Studies of Australian Literature at the University of Western Australia.
PROFESSOR PETER SPEARRITT was Executive Director of The Brisbane Institute and is now at the Centre for Applied History and Heritage Studies, University of Queensland.
RAY TONKIN retired as Executive Director, Heritage Victoria, in June 2009. He has been closely associated with the development of heritage protection legislation, policies and the administration of those matters in Victoria for many years.
DR SIMON TOROK is a climate change scientist and Communication and Marketing Manager, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research in Melbourne.
HEATHER YATES, with her husband, Eric farms land that has been in her family since it was opened up for settlement in the 1920s. She is President of the Millewa Pioneer Forest and Historical Society Inc., which runs the Millewa Pioneer Village at Meringur.
STEVE YORKE is Team Leader, The Briars Park, Mornington Peninsula Shire.
viii Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Professor George Seddon
PROFESSOR GEORGE SEDDON (1927–2007), who died 16 days after his 80th birthday, was one of Australia’s best known and revered scholars of the environment and a champion of the Australian landscape. Of a wide ranging intellect, he held Chairs in four different disciplines: English, Geology, History and Philosophy of Science and Environmental Science. He was Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies (1974–82) and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, The University of Melbourne (1982–88). From 1989 he was Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Studies of Australian Literature at the University of Western Australia. His publications included A Sense of Place (1972, 2006), Searching for the Snowy: An Environmental History (1994), Landprints: Refl ections on Place and Landscape (1997), and The Old Country: Australian Landscapes, Plants and People (2005).
Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 ix Torquay beach is close to the Bellarine Peninsula and the start of the Great Ocean Road. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
x Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Section 1: General introduction
For the best part of a decade the Landscape Advisory Committee of the Victorian Heritage Council has, in a series of workshops and forums, been bringing together planners, heritage advisers, other professionals and community members, to consider principles and practices relevant to the understanding and conservation of signifi cant landscapes.
Principles and policies that underpin conservation management have been articulated. Challenges and problems that have arisen have been explored. Ways of meeting the challenges and solving the problems at different levels have been discussed. Contributions ranged from government, regional and local government Above: Dry stone wall fence at Glenormiston. authorities, non-government organisations such as Bottom Left: Exotic trees at Glenormiston homestead. Images Anne Sedgley, Heritage Victoria the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), and local community groups. been conducted at Geelong (Coastal Landscape Forum), Now selected papers from the forums are being Mornington (Peninsula Coast and Country Forum), brought together in one publication to synthesise the Buninyong (Historic Towns in the Landscape Forum), knowledge gained from the forums and to communicate Glenormiston (Cultural Landscapes of the Volcanic Plains it to those dealing with landscape heritage at all levels. Forum), and Murtoa (Heritage and the Land Forum). This publication provides a resource for landscape Each forum has included a tour of the landscapes under practitioners, urban and regional planners, heritage discussion, so participants could see the landscapes consultants, economists, local and state government and challenges to be discussed. An important feature agencies, and for professionals and community members of each forum has been the group discussion workshops and organisations dealing with heritage landscape issues. at which participants have identifi ed issues relating to Since 2004, forums have addressed issues facing various heritage conservation, suggested ways in which issues regions with different kinds of landscape. Forums have might be resolved, identifi ed additional requirements and responsibilities, and specifi ed practical steps towards constructive solutions. Individual reports have been prepared for each forum (see titles above) and are available on the Heritage Victoria website www.heritage. vic.gov.au. Selected papers from the forums have now been grouped together by reference to the underlying themes which have emerged.
The Heritage Council is an independent statutory authority established under the Heritage Act 1995. It is the state’s main decision-making body on non-indigenous cultural heritage issues. It is made up of part time members from disciplines such as architectural conservation, history, archaeology, property management and planning law. The Landscape Advisory Committee is a group of Heritage Council members and non-Heritage Council experts which advises the Heritage Council on issues surrounding landscapes of heritage signifi cance.
Selected landscape papers: 2004–08 1 The Pines Foreshore Reserve at Shoreham. Image Anne Sedgley, Heritage Victoria
The purposes of the Heritage Act include ‘to provide for The Heritage Council also works to promote public the protection and conservation of places and objects of understanding and appreciation of Victoria’s heritage. cultural heritage signifi cance and the registration of such Under the Victorian Heritage Strategy 2006–2010 Victoria’s places and objects’ (Section 1). The role of the Heritage Heritage: Strengthening our Communities, our the Council Council includes deciding what places and objects are seeks to increase community awareness of signifi cant included on the Victorian Heritage Register established by cultural landscapes and develop means whereby this the Act, providing the highest level of legal protection for heritage may be conserved for future generations. The heritage in the state. forums, as a Heritage Council initiative, have been derived from the Victorian Heritage Strategy.
2 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 The Pines Foreshore Reserve at Shoreham. Image Anne Sedgley, Heritage Victoria
At every forum the traditional owners of the land have respond to cultural and natural landscapes. In the been acknowledged. However, indigenous cultural case of coastal areas the perceived threats were heritage is dealt with by other legislation and falls outside particularly from ‘sea change’ housing development, the responsibilities of the Heritage Council. The papers wind-farm developments, recreation and tourism in this work deal with post-settlement landscapes. At the (Wale 2006). Representatives from a wide range of same time, the contribution of Aboriginal occupation to government, community and business groups the landscape is acknowledged. participated. Community associations, landscape architects, consultants, planners and archaeologists Landscape is a community resource which is appreciated also took part. The forum was supported by the Victorian at many levels. Landscape appreciation is more than an Landscape Guardians, the National Trust of Australia appreciation of the visual, and involves understanding of (Victoria), and the City of Greater Geelong. a range of complex processes. Landscape is subject to change, often incremental and over a considerable period The second forum, Peninsula Coast and Country of time. ‘Landscape heritage’ describes landscapes (Schapper, C. and Schapper, J. 2005), was held at which are considered to be of suffi cient signifi cance to be Mornington in 2005. The Mornington Peninsula, unlike conserved for future generations. A detailed discussion of the Bellarine Peninsula, has, during the past 30 years, the meaning of landscape and heritage has been included been subject to comprehensive landscape assessment in Section 2. and conservation measures under various regional and municipal planning schemes and, most recently, by Landscapes, as places of cultural heritage signifi cance, Melbourne 2030 policies of government. It is interesting may be protected under the Heritage Act. They may be to note that The Pines (Foreshore Reserve) at Shoreham included in the Heritage Register as ‘heritage places’ was one of the fi rst cultural landscapes to be placed on (Sections 3 and 20). There are many references to ‘place’ the Victorian Heritage Register by the Heritage Council in the Act. The defi nition of ‘place’ in the Act with respect (H1996). Much of the hinterland as well as the coastline to landscape includes gardens, trees, archaeological of the Peninsula has also been classifi ed by the National sites, precincts, sites, and land associated with anything Trust. Papers were given on landscape assessment specifi ed in the section (Section 3). The defi nition is in and monitoring, visual assessment and management terms inclusive. Landscape comes in any event within the issues. The papers questioned the effectiveness of policy wide concept of place (Mulvaney 2007). implementation and examined the problems of managing For the purposes of the Heritage Act, cultural heritage change and particularly those necessary to protect rural signifi cance ‘means aesthetic, archaeological, and coastal landscapes from inappropriate development. architectural, cultural, historical, scientifi c or social The forum was supported by the Mornington Peninsula signifi cance’ (Section 3). This wording follows closely Shire and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria). The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural The Landscape Advisory Committee was conscious of Signifi cance 1999 (The Burra Charter), which is the fact other landscape types besides coastal areas accepted in Australia as providing the framework for were facing challenges. Historic Towns in the Landscape the assessment and management of places of cultural (Schapper, J. 2006) was the topic of the third forum, signifi cance. Here ‘Cultural signifi cance means aesthetic, held in the Buninyong Town Hall (included in the Victorian historic, scientifi c, social or spiritual value for past, present Heritage Register H0758) in 2006. The forum focused on or future generations’ (see Section 2 below). small towns and their relationship with their surrounding The fi rst forum, Coastal Landscape Forum (Hinkley 2004), landscape. It examined ways in which historic towns held at Geelong in July 2004, focused on the coastal which are growing can develop while still protecting landscapes of the Bellarine Peninsula. The forum explored their heritage. It also explored options for managing the spiritual, artistic and practical relevance and meaning heritage settings to bring benefi t to those towns which of landscape. It also considered how all stakeholders in the are facing stagnation or decline. Many small towns are landscape can, by working together, defi ne, protect and of outstanding heritage character and most have historic
Section 1: General introduction 3 Wimmera Plains. Image Helen Hiscocks,Tourism Victoria
features that make them special places to those who live supported by the National Trust, and by the Buninyong in them. Heritage signifi cance is not limited to the historic and District Historical Society and the City of Ballarat. buildings, the town street pattern or the botanical gardens The Landscape Advisory Committee then turned its but includes the setting of the town, often with elements attention to broader landscapes. This lead to consideration that indicate how it developed in the past and why it is of the role of the underlying geology and geomorphology located where it is (Wale 2006). of a region in shaping the landscape. Cultural Landscapes This forum explored the broader social and economic of the Volcanic Plains Forum (Andrews 2007) was held factors which infl uence the rise and fall of provincial in 2007 at Glenormiston College, Glenormiston on the towns in Victoria. It examined matters such as population volcanic plains of the Western District. Participants came changes, infrastructure, services, employment, from all over Victoria, and interstate, with representatives administration, and social and community factors; all of community groups and tourist enterprises, local part of what keeps small towns viable. This far-ranging government, heritage advisors, geologists and examination addressed factors outside immediate geomorphologists, planners, architects and landscape heritage issues but which impact on them. The forum was architects. The forum was supported by Corangamite
4 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Shire, Southern Grampians Shire, Warrnambool City The Heritage Council operates under Victorian legislation, Council, Moyne Shire, Glenelg Shire and the National and the forums have accordingly focused on landscapes Trust Australia (Victoria). in Victoria. However, the principles and practices discussed are considered to be more widely applicable. The volcanic plains are a landscape unlike any other in Australia because of their highly fertile soils, derived from All planning and management of the landscape sits within volcanic activity, and good rainfall. The landscape around a statutory planning framework which operates at the state Glenormiston, with its remarkable dry stone walls and and local government levels in Victoria. This has been formal tree plantings, is very much a created landscape. dealt with to some extent as it relates to each section. It is The main threats to landscape values were identifi ed as also changing and evolving, so the details of this are not over-clearing of indigenous vegetation, reduced rainfall focused on unduly. Rather the overarching principles and and new farming techniques. practice are dealt with in the following sections.
The earlier forums dealt with landscapes of which the Janet Schapper scenic values were widely appreciated. The rolling fl at John Dwyer plains of the Wimmera and Mallee, with lower rainfall and broad-scale dry-land farming, were now considered. The References Heritage and the Land Forum (Andrews 2008) was held Andrews, J (ed.) 2007, Cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains on World Monument Day, Friday 18 April 2008, at Murtoa. forum report, Heritage Council Melbourne. The forum examined ways in which the landscape Andrews, J (ed.) 2008, Heritage and the land forum report, character of the Wimmera/Mallee is changing due to Heritage Council, Melbourne. climatic and economic forces, and the need for careful Hinkley, E (ed.) 2004, Coastal landscape forum report, Heritage and sensitive planning. The forum was supported by the Council, Melbourne. Yarriambiac Shire Council, the Horsham Art Gallery, and Mulvaney, J 2007, The axe had never sounded: place, people and the Horsham Historical Society. heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania, ANU E Press, Canberra, Chapter 14, ‘The Concept of Heritage’. The forums have considered a diverse range of landscape Schapper, C & Schapper, J eds 2005, Peninsula coast and types and have adopted an increasingly regional country forum report, Heritage Council (2005). approach and an exploration of the historical, social and Schapper, J (ed.) 2006, Historic towns in the landscape forum economic factors which infl uence the conservation and report, Heritage Council, Melbourne. management of heritage places. From these diverse Wale, N 2006, Historic towns in the landscape forum report, experiences, guiding principles, useful practices and Heritage Council, Melbourne, Introduction integrated approaches which could be adapted to specifi c Legislation: Heritage Act 1995, Act No. 93/1995. applications were sought.
The work has been organised into six sections. Section 2, ‘Concepts relating to landscape’ outlines some useful theory to underpin the forum papers. Section 3 ‘Coastal Landscapes’ incorporates papers from the Geelong and Mornington Peninsula forums. Section 4 ‘Historic towns in the Landscape’ includes papers from the Buninyong forum. Section 5 ‘Broader Landscapes’ incorporates papers from the Cultural Landscapes of the Volcanic Plains and the Heritage and the land forums. Section 6, ‘Conclusions’ draws together the work and develops guiding principles and integrated approaches which could be adapted or modifi ed for a variety of landscapes both in Australia and overseas.
Section 1: General introduction 5 A statue in the garden at Bolobek, Macedon. Image Anne Sedgley, Heritage Victoria
6 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Section 2: Concepts relating to landscape
John Dwyer and Janet Schapper As we have seen in Section 1, a series of diverse landscape types have been the subject of heritage forums. However, before examining the different landscape types in detail, there is a need to outline some background theory relating to landscape, culture, heritage and place. A discussion of landscape concepts in general and landscapes of cultural and heritage signifi cance in particular is appropriate.
Landscape The Devil’s Staircase. Image Anne Sedgley, Heritage Victoria The appreciation of gardens and landscapes can be traced back to the beginnings of our civilization. Homer, The term ‘landscape’ has evolved from several sources. in Book 7 of The Odyssey described in glowing terms the In Anglo-Saxon England the concept of landscape garden of Alcinous visited by Ulysses on the island now represented a natural unit of the land’s surface, such known as Corfu (Fagles ed 1998 p. 116). The pastoral as a river valley or a range of hills. poetry of Virgil’s Georgics shows a profound affection for Key elements of the modern concept may be traced rural cultural landscapes (Fairclough ed 2006 p. 169). The to developments in art. In the 16th century the Dutch narrative of paradise lost in the Book of Genesis includes school of landscape painters developed the concept of deep-rooted ideas about landscape. As William Cronon landscape as seen view; an area of land which could noted in discussing a group of infl uential ideas associated be perceived from a fi xed point, so that if a feature was with nature as Eden: ‘The myth of Eden describes a obscured, it was not part of the landscape, even though perfect landscape, a place so benign and beautiful and it was still physically present. These landscapes were good that the imperative to preserve or restore it could be translated into images, that is, landscape paintings. questioned only by those who ally themselves with evil’ This concept involved the observer’s view rather than (Cronon 1995 p. 37). an appreciation of the characteristics of the land.
The myth of a garden paradise continues to infl uence The later German word ‘landschaft’ which was derived thinking about landscapes. Passmore observed that, from the Dutch and from which our English word ‘Western thought has been obsessed with the ideal of a ‘landscape’ evolved, embodies both concepts, that is, garden, that Paradisiacal garden from which Adam and both the seen view and the functional land unit (Calder Eve were driven’ (Passmore 1974 p. 30). Gardens have 1981 p. 6). also been an important feature of the Eastern civilizations of India, China and Japan since ancient times (Jellicoe Three dictionary defi nitions demonstrate that the same 1998 Ch 6–8). word ‘landscape’ stands for both the thing depicted and the depiction of it. Dr Johnson in the 18th century gave The term ‘landscape’ has many meanings and two meanings, fi rst ‘A region; the prospect of a country’ interpretation, and encompasses a complex set of and secondly ‘A picture, representing an extent of space, concepts. The subject matter and methods of analysis with the various objects in it’ (Johnson 1799). are diverse, ranging from the idea of scenic view as expressed by artists to academic study by archaeologists, The Oxford English Dictionary focuses on the visual geographers, historians, planners and other disciplines, aspect of landscape; tracing aspects of human activity and the workings of the 1. A picture representing natural inland scenery, as natural environment over time. distinguished from a sea picture, a portrait etc. The background of scenery in a portrait or fi gure painting
Selected landscape papers: 2004–08 7 2. A view or prospect of natural inland scenery, such as Romantics’ vision of landscape was shaped by the can be taken in at a glance from one point of view; a works of Claude Lorraine (1600–82), Nicolas Poussin piece of country scenery (1593–1665), and Salvator Rosa (1615–73), who also 3. In generalised sense from 1 and 2: Inland natural infl uenced the English landscape painters Richard Wilson scenery or its representation in painting (1714–82), Constable (1776–1837) and Turner (1775–1851) (Byatt 1970 Ch 7). In Australia, the landscape paintings 4. In various obsolete transf. and fi g. uses: of Eugene von Guerard (1811–1901), Louis Buvelot A view, prospect of something (1814–99), Nicholas Chevalier (1828–1902) and Arthur A distant prospect; a vista Streeton (1867–1943) have been particularly infl uential. The object of one’s gaze A sketch, adumbration, outline Dictionary defi nitions seem inadequate to account for A compendium, epitome the range of meanings which we now give to landscape. A birds-eye view; a plan, sketch, map The American writer JB Jackson, in his essay ‘The Word Itself’, argued for a new defi nition of landscape The depiction or description of something in words. ‘a composition of man-made or man-modifi ed spaces Turning to a more contemporary Australian defi nition, the on the land to serve as infrastructure or background Macquarie Concise Dictionary still emphasises the visual for our collective existence’. At the same time he noted but introduces use as a verb; the persistence of the earlier defi nition: ‘A portion of the 1. A view or prospect of rural scenery, more or less earth’s surface that can be comprehended at a glance’ extensive, such as is comprehended within the scope (Jackson 1997 p. 299f). The idea of landscape as view or or vision from a single point of view prospect remains current. 2. A piece of such scenery An analysis of ‘landscape’ based on a view or prospect 3. A picture representing natural inland or coastal scenery may require modifi cation by a consideration of the countryside which opens up to the viewer as one travels 4. To do landscape gardening as a profession through it. To see a landscape from a moving vehicle such Landscape paintings are never far from our minds as a car, train or aeroplane is a characteristic modern when we think about areas of land to be spoken of as mode of engaging with landscape. That experience landscape. The way in which the countryside presents may not be essentially different to walking or riding on visually is at the heart of the meaning of landscape and is horseback through a landscape such as the mountains fundamental to understanding landscapes. In the words and valleys of Nepal, Austria, Switzerland or the Lake of Simon Schama ‘…it is our shaping perception that District of England. The unfolding of a landscape may be makes the difference between raw matter and landscape’ relevant to its defi nition. This could be seen as succession (Schama 1995 p. 10). Or as Meinig put it ‘any landscape is of single images from changing points of view, similar to composed not only of what lies before our eyes but what the frames of a movie. lies within our heads’ (Meinig 1979 p. 34). The point of view will often be from above, from a natural Our ideas about landscape have been affected not only look-out or elevated site. The extended outlook associated by our experience of observing landscapes but also by with views of a scene is facilitated by elevation above our reading of works such as WG Hoskins’ The Making ground level. William Wordsworth began his Description of the English Landscape which encapsulates the history of the Scenery of the Lakes by inviting the reader to take up of the English countryside and the resultant expression of in imagination a station in a cloud hanging midway between this history in the landscape. Great Gable and Scafell, from which the ‘vallies’ and lakes could be seen ‘stretched out at our feet’ (Wordsworth Our ideas about landscape have also been greatly 1822 p. 3). Artists have long depicted bird’s-eye views of infl uenced by the literature of the Romantic movement a landscape. Since humans have been able to rise above (Johnson 2007), by painters and by other images of the ground, in fact as well as in imagination, in balloons, landscapes including aerial photographs. The English
8 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Sunset adds serene glow to Nungurner jetty on the Gippsland Lakes. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
aircraft, or in towers, skyscrapers or other structures, aerial Human infl uenced environments are not essentially views of landscape have become common, and have different from so called natural environments. Humanity is helped to shape our understanding of the components of within nature, and human infl uences are one of the many the landscape; just as the elevation has provided further natural agents of landscape change. Human modifi cation opportunities to record it. of landscape is not unnatural.
When we look out over the countryside, images of the The binary distinction between natural and cultural mosaic patterns seen and photographed from the air are landscapes should be replaced by a whole of environment likely to be present in our imagination and to infl uence our approach. Moreover, as Simon Schama (1995 p. 7) perception. The provision of viewing points or lookouts on observed in Landscape and Memory ‘…it is diffi cult to roads demonstrates the popularity of the activity of looking think of a single such natural system that has not, for at landscapes from an elevated position. better or worse, been substantially modifi ed by human culture.’ The expression ‘cultural landscapes’ continues to Does a landscape end at the horizon? A horizon – the be useful, and some further consideration is appropriate. apparent line between the earth and the sky – implies a viewpoint from which the horizon appears or is observed. Some writers would direct attention to the ground rather Where the horizon is set by the ridgeline of hills or than the view, to the physical elements which make up the mountains, its function in defi ning a landscape seems landscape. As ‘landscape’ is a noun and a verb, the same simple enough, but in fl at country such as the Wimmera of word refers to both the activity of landscaping, and the Victoria the horizon is fi xed by the curvature of the earth, product of the activity. and will move as one travels through the landscape. The Some discussions have given a central role to the making sky itself – the clouds, the rising or setting sun, the full of the landscape. The writer Jonathan Raban (2008 p. 53f) moon – will often appear as part of a landscape. has emphasised the connection between landscape and The effects of light may contribute to our response to the shaping of the countryside ‘As the word itself says, a landscape. Descriptions of landscapes have often landscape is land-shaped, and all England is landscape referred to the play of sunlight or moonlight on the – a country whose deforestation began with Stone Age physical components of the landscape. The writings of agriculturalists…’ He contrasted this with the Pacifi c the Romantics provide many examples. In a valuable Northwest of America in the 1990s ‘Wherever the land was discussion AS Byatt (1970 p. 275) referred to Coleridge’s signifi cantly shaped or ‘scaped’, the work appeared to reference to ‘The sudden charm which accidents of light have been done just recently…’ and shade, which moonlight or sunlight diffused over a Other discussions have also emphasised the word known and familiar landscape’ as ‘the poetry of nature.’ ‘scape’ (Olwig 1993 p. 310), but the linguistic basis for a The great American landscaper, Frederick Law Olmstead, connection between ‘shape’ and ‘scape’ seems doubtful. made the point universal ‘Clouds, lights, states of the The Oxford English Dictionary does not provide any. There atmosphere, and circumstances that we cannot always are many usages and meanings of ‘scape’, but most are detect, affect all landscapes’ (Cooper 2006 p. 52). connected to ‘escape’, rather than ‘landscape’; and none The references to ‘natural’ scenery in the defi nitions set relate to ‘shape’. out above are unlikely to be intended to exclude human The German landschaft (landscape, scenery, district, modifi ed landscapes, despite the extensive literature region) could be suggestive, not through schaft (shaft, which draws or adopts a binary distinction between stock, handle, stick, stalk, stem, trunk) but schaffen natural and cultural landscapes. Although the word natural (create, produce, make, establish). Landscape as a noun may be convenient to describe landscapes that support obviously has a wider range than as a verb; landscapes ecosystems having a native vegetation cover, a more may have a greater or lesser extent of landscaping in balanced view would be to see the whole environment them, or no landscaping at all. and not just any surviving elements of pre-European landscapes as natural.
Section 2: Concepts relating to landscape 9 Winty Calder, in her book Beyond the View: Our changing Meinig, in his introduction to The Interpretation of Ordinary landscapes (1981) describes eight different concepts of Landscapes (1979), explains the meaning of ‘landscape’ landscape. A notional location of these concepts on a by describing what it is not, rather than what it is. By landscape continuum has been developed by Schapper this means he differentiates it from the related concepts (1994 p. 64), as set out in Table 1, which illustrates the of nature, scenery, environment, place, region, area and diffi culty of the ‘natural’/’cultural’ approach. geography.
JB Jackson (1984 p.147) interprets landscape as some- Table 1. Meanings of landscape and their position thing to live within. A unity of people and environment; on a notional landscape continuum We have ceased to think of it [landscape] as remote The fi gure shows the major concepts and meanings of from our daily lives, and indeed we now believe that, the term ‘landscape’, and their notional position on a to be part of a landscape, to derive our identity from it, landscape continuum, with concepts embodying landform is an essential precondition of our being in-the-world, and ecological meaning at one pole, and visual concepts in the most solemn meaning of the phrase. It is this of landscape at the other. The concepts outlined by greatly expanded signifi cance of landscape that makes Calder (1981, pp. 6–13) are incorporated into this a new defi nition of landscape so necessary now. scheme.
LANDSCAPE CONTINUUM
‘NATURAL’ ‘CULTURAL’ LAND-BASED/ECOLOGICAL
LANDFORM CONCEPT LAND-USE CONCEPT VISUAL/SCENERY CONCEPT • Based on biophysical factors e.g. • Land-use patterns • Based on the seen view mountain ranges, plains • Incorporates social factors • Visual/pictorial quality • Physical geography terrain classifi cation • Used for modifi ed land, e.g. agricultural land
REGIONAL CONCEPT HERITAGE CONCEPT • Large-scale zones e.g. world • Includes cultural/social factors climatic zones • Based on a combination of natural and cultural history
ECOLOGICAL CONCEPT PARKS AND GARDENS CONCEPT • Based on ecosystem types • Based on horticulture and the art of • Includes vegetation, water etc. garden design • May have some human infl uence
10 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 cultural construct of nature, part of the way humans think about the world around them and their relationship to it.
Culture is a term with its own complexity. A useful defi nition was provided by the anthropologist Sir Edward Tylor, who described culture as a ‘complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by an individual as a member of society’ (Heyd 2005 p. 345). Levi-Strauss wrote that the concept of culture originated in England with this fi rst defi nition (1967 p. 354).
When we speak of cultural landscapes we refer primarily to landscapes which have been modifi ed by humans as part of their way of living and which thus express their
Wallaces Hut close to the Bogong High Plains Road just out of Falls Creek. civilisation. There is a sense, however, in which natural Image Anne Sedgley, Heritage Victoria landscapes are also cultural, because our understanding of them (including the very notion of natural) is a feature According to Cosgrove (1989) understanding the ‘human’ of our culture (Heyd 2005, 2007). As Schama put it, dimension of landscapes is essential. Landscape are ‘Even the landscapes that we suppose to be most free not about the physical place and what is seen, but a of our culture may turn out, on closer inspection, to be way of seeing. Landscape, in this view, is the external its product’ (1995 p. 9). The distinction between cultural world mediated through subjective human experience. and natural landscapes, which may tend to break down Landscape is not merely the world we see; it is a on detailed analysis, may not in any event be material to construction of that world. ‘Landscape is thus a social cultural heritage signifi cance under the Heritage Act, as and cultural product; a way of seeing projected on to the discussed later. Landscapes which may be considered land, with its own techniques and compositional forms…’ to be natural, as not modifi ed by humans, may have (Whyte 2002 p. 11). aesthetic, archaeological, architectural, cultural, historical, Today the word ‘landscape’ has no single meaning; scientifi c or social signifi cance, and may also be cultural rather it represents a number of complex concepts broadly landscapes. However, often a distinction is made between ranging from that of the physiographic land unit to the ‘natural’ landscapes which are considered to be largely seen view. Landscape is an intricate product of a variety formed by natural forces and biodiversity, and ‘cultural’ of physical elements, geology, physiography, climate, soils, landscapes which have been strongly infl uenced by vegetation and location, into which human activities have human processes. been interwoven, transforming and using the environment. As Mulvaney (2007 p. 119) noted, ‘the concept (cultural The result is the unique and evolving synthesis of natural landscape) applies to landscapes that have been modifi ed and human elements often referred to as the cultural through human actions over time. Its focus is on the landscape. relationship between people and place’. He referred to the categories of cultural landscape adopted by the World Cultural landscapes Heritage Committee of UNESCO in 1992. Such categories are useful in understanding cultural landscapes. The expression ‘cultural landscape’ is, as noted above, associated with the distinction often drawn between The fi rst consists of a landscape deliberately designed cultural and natural landscapes, which is in turn based and created, such as those of eighteenth century on what has been regarded as a fundamental distinction British landscapes created for nobility by Capability between nature and culture (Levi-Strauss 1967 p. 354). Brown. A second category is an organically evolved The nature/culture divide has long been a feature of the landscape, where continuing but unintentional human
Section 2: Concepts relating to landscape 11 interaction creates a new landscape, such as typically used for such activities as subsistence Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales. The third class hunting and gathering, religious or sacred is an associative cultural landscape, such as New ceremonies, and traditional meetings. Norcia, Western Australia. (NPS Preservation Brief No. 36, Protecting Cultural Landscapes: Planning, Treatment, and Management The United States National Park Service has its own of Historic Landscapes) defi nition of cultural landscape and has developed a similar typology, which could usefully be applied in These categories are not mutually exclusive, and should Australia (Slaiby and Mitchell 2003). not be seen as exhaustive. The important aspect of aesthetic values may not be suffi ciently recognized by A geographic area, including both cultural and natural them. The association between a landscape and the resources and the wildlife or domestic animals artistic depiction of it is often involved in the identifi cation. therein, associated with a historic event, activity, or Further, as Simon Schama pointed out, ‘Before it can person or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values. ever be a repose for the senses, landscape is the work (Cultural Resource Management Guidelines, NPS-28) of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from strata of Historic site: the location of a signifi cant event or memory as from layers of rock’ (1995 pp. 6-7). activity, or a building or structure, whether standing, Brown, after referring to the National Park Service ruined, or vanished, where the location itself categories, asked in relation to the NSW conservation possesses historic, cultural, or archaeological value reserve system, whether there was any need to categorise regardless of the value of any existing structure. cultural landscapes at all, pointing out that most Historic designed landscape: a landscape having landscapes will be simultaneously ‘historic vernacular historic signifi cance as a design or work of art landscape’ and ‘ethnographic landscape’ (2007 pp. 36). because it was consciously designed and laid out by The categories are useful, however, in developing an a landscape architect, master gardener, architect, understanding of cultural landscapes, and in considering or horticulturist according to design principles, or by whether a particular landscape is of cultural heritage an owner or other amateur using a recognized style signifi cance. It has been pointed out that ‘all landscapes or tradition in response or reaction to a recognized are cultural and even nature conservation is a cultural style or tradition; has a historic association with a task’ (Fowler 2003; quoted in Brown 2007). Brown also signifi cant person or persons, trend, or event in refers to the approach of English Heritage, which has landscape gardening or landscape architecture; or a adopted as precepts the views that the whole landscape signifi cant relationship to the theory and practice of is historic, refl ecting complex inter-relationships between landscape architecture. people and the environment, and that the historic landscape is the product of change, an artefact of past Historic vernacular landscape: a landscape whose land use, social structures and political decisions. Every use, construction, or physical layout refl ects endemic inhabited landscape may be understood in this way, but it traditions, customs, beliefs, or values; in which should also be recognized that not all cultural landscapes the expression of cultural values, social behavior, are signifi cant. Malpas (1999 pp. 186–7) refers to and individual actions over time is manifested in the physical features and materials and their ….the land as carrying on its face, in pathways, interrelationships, including patterns of spatial monuments and sites, a cultural memory and organization, land use, circulation, vegetation, storehouse of ideas. Thus, in almost any inhabited structures, and objects; and in which the physical, region one fi nds the stories that defi ne the culture biological, and cultural features refl ect the customs (or the cultures) of the people that live there to be and everyday lives of people. ‘written in’ to the places and landmarks around them in a way that is reminiscent of the Wordsworthian Ethnographic landscape: a landscape traditionally conception of poetry as ‘memorial inscription…. associated with a contemporary ethnic group,
12 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 The Patch Valley, Dandenong Ranges. Image John Dwyer
Just as personal memory and identity is tied directly to so-called wilderness landscapes may contain highly place and locality, so too, is cultural ‘memory’ and identity sophisticated examples of rock art within a landscape also tied to landscape and the physical environment. that has been modifi ed by fi re for thousands of years. In Australia, a distinction has been made between Melnick (1981) sees continuity as being an important pre- and post-European settlement landscapes. attribute of cultural landscapes. ‘Cultural landscapes represent a continuum of land-use that spans many In Wind Farms and Landscape Values: Foundation Report generations. They have evolved from, or exhibit, remnants (Planisphere et al. 2007), Bryn Davies discussed the three of earlier known human settlement patterns or land-use categories of World Heritage Cultural Landscape. His practices for that area.’ analysis states:
The Australian Heritage Commission (Blair and Mahanty Common in both professional and colloquial 1987) applied the term ‘cultural landscape’ to those parts language, landscapes are described as a kind of of the land surface which have been signifi cantly modifi ed place, a place distinctive for its: by human activity and differentiated them from natural or Scale – usually large, extensive – not a single site, wilderness landscapes, which, they assert, have little or (often ‘as far as the eye can see’); no evidence of human intervention. Complexity – comprising many smaller ‘places’ The Australian Heritage Commission had diffi culty and often multiple values (natural and cultural); with Aboriginal landscapes under this defi nition, even though the connection between indigenous Aboriginal Unifying characteristics – landscapes have unifying communities and the landscape can be very strong and elements that distinguish them from adjoining have deep cultural meaning. From this point of view, landscapes;
Section 2: Concepts relating to landscape 13 Boundaries – a landscape may have boundaries Heritage (as opposed to the ‘environment’) created by the The term ‘heritage’ encompasses the concept that landform and land cover, or by how the landscape there are ideas, objects, and places which have value to is read, understood and experienced (e.g. visual particular individuals and groups. It incorporates the ideas boundaries). of inheritance, heirs and succession. Heritage can be seen Landscapes can have both natural and cultural values, as tangible or intangible, as related to place or as portable. and in many cases these will be diffi cult to separate. Heritage is related to people and their values and Since the early 1990s, the World Heritage List has is more than an unknowing response. It relies on included cultural landscapes, which are seen as some awareness of the activities or events that representing the combined works of nature and of have occurred over time and which have given the humanity. The World Heritage Committee has defi ned object or place its present characteristics and value. cultural landscapes as areas that An understanding of the meanings and values that …are illustrative of the evolution of human society society attaches to its heritage forms part of the and settlement over time, under the infl uence of culture in which we live, enriches the lives of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented present generation, and provides some continuity by their natural environment and of successive social, between past and future generations via the existing economic and cultural forces, both external and physical fabric (Schapper 1994 p. 58). internal. (cited in Coleman 2003). As heritage is related to people and their values, a There are three main categories of cultural landscapes – clear view of for whom the place or object has heritage these have also been used in Heritage Victoria’s Landscape value must be established. That is, whose heritage is Assessment Guidelines (www.heritage.vic.gov.au): it? This provides a link between the people and the object or place being valued. In effect, there is a ‘user’ 1. Designed Landscapes – such as botanic gardens, or ‘consumer’. This may be an individual, for instance parks and squares, vistas; personal memorabilia is usually the province of the 2. Organically Evolved Landscapes – such as rural individual or immediate family. It may be a small group, land use patterns, industrial landscapes, linear clan or tribe, or a larger entity such as a state or nation. features, subdivision patterns; As Aplin (2002 p.5) put it 3. Associative Landscapes – such as scenic locations, ‘Heritage is also a vital component of that which associations with historical events, important people defi nes either a social group, or a place or locality. or cultural activities. Shared heritage allows us to see ourselves as Melnick (1983) associates continuity of use with the members of a group or society, not just as an evolution of cultural landscapes ‘…these landscapes individual in a sea of individuals. It helps impart a sense represent the real, physical, tangible legacy of one of a group in the minds of both group members and generation passed down to another generation. Therefore others; in other words it helps defi ne both internal they are signifi cant reminders of the past. They are self-image and external images held by others. It refl ections of the common, everyday history of the country.’ also contributes in a major way to the sense of place studied by geographers, among others. This sense of Hence cultural landscapes are landscapes modifi ed place is defi ned by both natural and cultural features by human use and which show the infl uence of human and, crucially, by interactions between the two. activity. They are the landscapes that people have settled Similarly, heritage, through the conservation of historic and altered with time and in which people continue to live. sites and districts, helps provide a sense of time to The concept of cultural landscapes incorporates the idea illustrate past stages in history. Both locals and visitors that landscape is a dynamic entity and includes to varying use heritage items, among other things, to build an degrees consideration of natural and cultural systems. image or perception of any particular place.’
14 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Stone cottages on ‘Timber Hills’ at Barkers Creek near Castlemaine were constructed of local granite around 1850. Image Heritage Victoria
Some places are considered to be of such importance architectural, cultural, historical, scientifi c or social that they are designated as World Heritage Sites. signifi cance’ (s3). This wording follows closely The Burra Charter, which is accepted in Australia as providing the Signifi cance framework for the assessment and management of places of cultural signifi cance. Article 1.2 says The concept of ‘whose heritage’ leads to the concepts of signifi cance and level of signifi cance, that is, to whom is a Cultural signifi cance means aesthetic, historic, place signifi cant, how signifi cant or important is it and for scientifi c, social or spiritual value for past, present what reason is it signifi cant? or future generations.
‘Signifi cance’ is a fundamental concept in heritage Landscapes, as places of cultural heritage signifi cance, conservation and is concerned with why a place is worth may be protected under the Heritage Act. They may be keeping. In the heritage literature this is frequently referred included in the Heritage Register as ‘heritage places’ to as ‘cultural signifi cance’. Concise statements which (s3, s20). There are many references to ‘place’ in the summarise the signifi cance of a place have been adopted Act. The defi nition of ‘place’ in s3 of the Act is: by heritage organisations. These statements are generally (a) a building; and called ‘statements of signifi cance’, ‘citations’ or ‘listings’. (b) a garden; and They provide a distillation of the reasons why the place (c) a tree; and is considered to have heritage value and to some extent, they unpack that heritage value into its component parts. (d) the remains of a ship or part of a ship; and These statements are prepared by heritage professionals (e) an archaeological site; and and are screened by the relevant heritage organisation (f) a precinct; and before being approved. They therefore represent a (g) a site; and consensus view held by the heritage organisation (h) land associated with any thing specifi ed in paragraphs regarding the heritage of the place in question. (a) to (g)’. Signifi cance requires that a landscape be recognised as part of the culture to be transmitted from one generation Although some meanings in this heterogeneous assembly to the next. This may be because the landscape has been are unrelated to landscapes, landscapes may come within shaped by the ways of living which humans have built into several of the specifi ed meanings and are, in any event, it, or because prospects of the landscape have become within the wide concept of place (Mulvaney 2007 Ch 14). aspects of their culture. The use of the word ‘includes’ in the statute usually The close connection which we have with the world indicates that the meaning extends beyond the specifi ed around us has often been articulated. Malpas (1999 items; the defi nition in the Act is not exhaustive (Pearce pp. 192-3) argued that our very identity is grounded in 1981 paras 151f). The wide variety of landscapes which locatedness – the inextricable tie to our surroundings. come within the concept of ‘place’ should be recognised. Schama (1995 pp 18) wrote that ‘All our landscapes, from The word ‘place’ has many meanings in the language, only the city park to the mountain hike, are imprinted with our some of which are relevant. The fi rst three given by the tenacious, inescapable obsessions’. Such associations Macquarie Concise Dictionary are of a very wide ambit ‘a suggest that many landscapes will have some cultural particular portion of space, of defi nite or indefi nite extent’, heritage signifi cance. ‘space in general (chiefl y in connection with time)’, and ‘the portion of space occupied by anything’. The meaning Landscapes as places of cultural heritage extends to ‘a region’, ‘an open space, or square, in a city signifi cance or town’ and ‘an area, especially one regarded as an entity and identifi able by name, used for habitation, as a city, For the purposes of the Heritage Act, cultural heritage town, or village’. Despite the second meaning, a distinction signifi cance ‘means aesthetic, archaeological,
Section 2: Concepts relating to landscape 15 has been drawn between space and place, in which space understand their heritage values. Being able to articulate is abstract and place – ‘a locale with meaning, embedded what is valued and why is an important fi rst step. Buckley in social memory’- is created and identifi ed out of space; then referred to the defi nition of cultural signifi cance in The in, for example, the action of naming a place (Johnson Burra Charter 2007 pp. 148; Tilley 1994 p. 14 f). Cultural signifi cance means aesthetic, historic, The defi nition of ‘place’ in The Burra Charter is instructive, scientifi c, social or spiritual value for past, present or ‘site, area, land, landscape, building or other work, future generations. group of buildings or other works, and may include In relation to landscapes, these concepts may be applied components, contents, spaces and views.’ ‘Setting’ is in the following ways: defi ned as ‘the area around a place, which may include the visual catchment.’ The Burra Charter also spells out 1. Aesthetic values – include scenic values and other the relationship between ‘place’ and cultural signifi cance: aspects of sensory experience;
‘Cultural signifi cance is embodied in the place itself, 2. Historic values – relate to the layering of the its fabric, setting, use, associations, meanings, landscape – the result of interaction between people records, related places and related objects.’ and nature over many periods or phases of history;
The wide diversity of landscapes which come within 3. Scientifi c values – include archaeological and the concept of ‘place’ ranges from small designed technological aspects – and also the natural/ gardens, grander historical gardens, the Botanic gardens environmental values; which were established in so many country towns, the 4. Social values – are based on the associations and landscape of town precincts, their layout and their setting meanings to the present day community, but are not in the countryside, the mosaic of the human modifi ed necessarily related to functional/economic values, and landscapes created by the interventions which Lewis are not necessarily reliant on ‘public opinion’; Mumford (1938 p. 371) called ‘the platting and carving of the landscape’, to the natural features and vegetation 5. Spiritual values – relate to cultural belief systems. which have evoked a cultural response shaped in part by Importantly The Burra Charter also establishes several landscape painters and other artists (Hoorn 2007). steps in the process of managing places of cultural The intimate relationship between landscape and culture signifi cance, which places the understanding of is well expressed by Tilley 1994 p. 23: signifi cance (values) as the basis of the development of policy and management (including making decisions The landscape is an anonymous sculptural form about change). This means that we cannot jump ahead always already fashioned by human agency, never to debates about development, change or conservation completed, and constantly being added to, and the until the values have been clearly articulated. relationship between people and it is a constant dialectic and process of structuration: the landscape Buckley concluded that identifi cation of the heritage is both medium for and outcomes of action and values of large-scale landscapes poses particular previous histories of action. Landscapes are challenges, and there are many pressures for change – experienced in practice, in life activities. especially in coastal areas. The way forward will require an agreed way of describing the values of landscapes At the 2004 Forum, Kristal Buckley, President – Australia and the adoption of dynamic and holistic values-based ICOMOS, summarised the values of heritage landscapes. management approaches. She pointed out that before discussing the management of landscapes, and the determination of what constitutes acceptable/desirable change, it is important to
16 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Many local parks such as this one at Torquay, were planted with exotics to remind the new settlers of home. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
Protection of landscapes under the Heritage Act: But he argued that for NSW conservation reserves at the issue of boundaries any rate, boundaries of cultural landscapes were not a particular issue, as the reserve boundary could, from The protection and conservation of a culturally signifi cant a pragmatic view point, be the ‘edge’ of the cultural landscape under the Heritage Act must always involve the landscape. This is to avoid the question, which must matter of delineation or defi nition of the boundaries of the be confronted if inclusion in the register of a cultural landscape in question. An entry on the register requires landscape is proposed. A view or vista as such cannot specifi cation (s21: ‘suffi cient details to identify the place(s)’) be put on the register, but the physical elements which of the place to be included. go to make it up may be, and a view may be conserved The description of the landscape will contribute to the by protecting the buildings and vegetation by which it is task of defi nition. Various features of the landscape, constituted, and by preventing development which would such as its horizon, may delineate its boundaries. obscure it. Watercourses – rivers, canals and their associated Mayne-Wilson (Coleman 2003) has identifi ed fi ve types of vegetation – may be important features of a landscape boundaries: and defi ne its boundaries, as may lakes and reservoirs and aqueducts. Built features such as roads and railways, • Literal boundaries: A landscape isolated within a with their associated bridges, viaducts, retaining walls different type of landscape, which shares few qualities. and so on, may be similarly understood. Earthworks, Boundaries are clear and easily defi ned by cadastral quarries, mullock or slag heaps, may all serve to defi ne a features or land tenure boundaries e.g. scientifi c or landscape, as may the consequences of activities such historical sites and urban landscapes; as dredging. Vegetation, whether indigenous or exotic, • Natural (Biophysical) boundaries: Physical landscape natural or introduced, may be an important element in elements/structures maybe (sic) an appropriate a landscape. Trees will often frame a landscape as well boundary. i.e. a river gorge maybe (sic) bounded by as forming part of it; a vista seen through an avenue of enclosing walls; trees is but one example. The identifi cation of signifi cant components of a landscape may contribute both to • Ecological boundaries: Relate to the biophysical the assessment of it and the particulars required for boundaries and the ecological processes of registration. At the same time, a signifi cant landscape will importance; typically be more than an assembly of such components. • Scenic boundaries: ‘Where scenic values are It has been said that ‘unlike monuments and sites, important, the…boundary may be most appropriately landscape has no edges of boundaries’ (Fairclough 2006). placed to encompass the visual catchment containing Brown (2007) referred to this claim, but noted that ‘a those scenic qualities of heritage value…In this case recurring issue in regard to cultural landscapes has been the physical boundaries may be rather complex their extent and boundaries.’ Pointing out that ‘cultural and diffuse, and may yet extend beyond the visual landscape does not equate to curtilage’ he suggested catchment because of the likelihood of environmental that the concept of setting, as described in the ICOMOS infl uences from further afi eld altering the scenic quality Xi’an Declaration (2005) was more applicable: within the catchment’;
… the setting includes interaction with the natural • Non-continuous boundaries: ‘Examples are both environment; past and present social or spiritual ‘group listings’, where a number of landscapes (which) practices, customs, traditional knowledge, use are part of a biophysical region are amalgamated… or activities and other forms of intangible cultural and instances where a quality of heritage value is heritage aspects that created and form the space as discontinuously distributed in space, either naturally well as the current and dynamic cultural, social and or by isolation resulting, for example, from intervening economic context. land practices. In these cases, important values may
Section 2: Concepts relating to landscape 17 Fishermans Beach Torquay: many beaches have a long history of local use. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
attach to the continuity of natural, visual or historic studies; landscapes were considered not from the point values between these isolated sites. A non-continuous of view of theory but in terms of the practical issues to boundary (containing the landscape feature of note be faced in conserving cultural landscapes in different but not the intervening area) may be appropriate…’ parts of Victoria. The papers, which constitute a type of fi eldwork on landscape issues, consider the different and This typology may serve as a basis for discussion of diverse regions and landscape types covered by the fi ve this issue. landscape forums. The theoretical background provided In addition to the defi nition of boundaries, there arises the in this section sets the scene for the papers that follow. matter of landscape type; how to compare like with like. Landscape type can be dealt with by a series of detailed References categories or it can be viewed at a broader level such as Aplin, G 2002, Heritage: Identifi cation, Conservation, is adopted here. Thus the papers in this collection have and Management, OUP, South Melbourne. been divided by reference to broad landscape types Blair and Mahanty, 1987. ‘People in the landscape – cultural which roughly coincide with various regions in Victoria. landscape and the register of the National Estate’ Heritage Newsletter 10. p. 6 There is a vast and expanding theoretical literature on Brown, S 2007, ‘Landscaping heritage: toward an operational landscape. The aim of this section has been to develop cultural landscape approach for protected areas in New South from the literature ideas to serve as a common foundation Wales’ Australian Historical Archaeology 25, pp. 33–42. for the material discussed in the forums. A particular Byatt, A 1970,. Wordsworth and Coleridge in their time Nelson, strength of the forums has been their utility as empirical London. Calder, W 1981, Beyond the View: Our Changing Landscapes Inkata Press, Melbourne.
18 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Coleman, V 2003, Cultural Landscapes Charette – Background Passmore, J 1974, Man’s Responsibility for Nature, Duckworth, Paper NSW Heritage Offi ce, Sydney. London. Cooper, D 2006, A Philosophy of Gardens OUP, Oxford. Pearce, D 1981, Statutory Interpretation in Australia, Cosgrove 1989, ‘Geography is everywhere: culture and Butterworths, Sydney. symbolism in human landscapes’, in D Gregory & R Walford (eds), Planisphere, Context, Collaborations and others 2007 Windfarms Horizons in Human Geography, Macmillan, London, pp. 118–135. and Landscape Values: Foundation Report,
Section 2: Concepts relating to landscape 19 Bathing boxes on the Mornington Peninsula. Image Peter Dunphy, Tourism Victoria
20 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Section 3: Coastal landscapes
3.1 Introduction
This section of the work focuses on coastal landscapes by the community, including spiritual and artistic values, and their surrounding hinterlands and investigates some and the practical use of the landscape. It also attempted of the challenges facing those who manage these areas. to explore how, working together, all stakeholders in the landscape can defi ne, protect, and respond to the The fi rst forum, the Bellarine forum, was initiated because landscape. of the issue of windfarm siting in highly valued coastal landscapes, and the coastal development from ‘sea The second forum, the Mornington Peninsula forum, change’ development. The forum explored values held was held with a view to exploring how the pressures of
Popular Great Ocean Road attraction, The Twelve Apostles, originally named the ‘Sow and Piglets’. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
Selected landscape papers: 2004–08 21 development can be reconciled with the protection of valued coastal landscapes. This area, unlike the Bellarine Peninsula, has been subject to much planning attention and comprehensive landscape assessment and conservation measures.
The objectives for the forums are encapsulated in those put forward for consideration by Neville Wale, Chair, Landscape Advisory Committee, in the Introduction to Peninsula Coast and Country Forum (2005): • 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 • Actions necessary to achieve sensible objectives for managing the landscape, including the integration Lakes Entrance and the Gippsland Lakes. Image Tourism Victoria of cultural heritage and community values • Exploration of the concept of stewardship of the landscape.
Papers from these two forums have been grouped together under the heading ‘coastal landscapes’. Section 3.2 outlines some relevant background planning policies. Section 3.3 provides examples of local applications. Section 3.4 highlights some planning approaches to solving the problems. Section 3.5 describes aspects of community involvement and Section 3.6 offers some conclusions.
22 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 3.2 Background planning policies relating to coastal landscapes
This section is based primarily on information available Environment, Victoria; and Victor Sposito, Manager and at the time of the Mornington Peninsula forum regarding Project Director, Strategic Resource Planning Section, background planning policies of both local and state Department of Primary Industry, Victoria, who all made governments. This was provided by Alex Atkins, Director presentations at the Mornington Peninsula forum. of Sustainable Environment, Mornington Peninsula Shire; Planning occurs at both the state and local government Peter Anderson, Manager, Planning and Development, levels. There are also some broader policy infl uences: for Port Phillip Region, Department of Sustainability and
Mornington Peninsula beach. Image Peter Dunphy, Tourism Victoria
Selected landscape papers: 2004–08 23 instance, Mornington Peninsula Shire and parts of other New provisions and zones relating to green wedges and shires bordering Western Port have been designated a to rural land conservation have been introduced. These Biosphere Reserve as part of the worldwide network of limit the subdivision of land and tighten the range of uses Biosphere Reserves recognised by the United Nations that are allowed, so that uses better suited to urban Education, Scientifi c and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). areas are confi ned to locations within the urban growth Biosphere Reserves are areas of terrestrial and coastal boundary. The Planning and Environment (Metropolitan ecosystems promoting solutions that reconcile the Green Wedge Protection) Act 2003 introduced new conservation of biodiversity with sustainable use. Although procedures for amendments to metropolitan fringe both the Commonwealth and Victorian Government have planning schemes which assists control of subdivision. supported the UNESCO declaration, the latter has done Green wedge management plans are developed for each so on the basis that its planning decisions are not affected green wedge and residential development within these is by it. Generally, day-to-day planning decisions are made being managed. Access to productive natural resources at local government level and the Mornington Peninsula and to an adequate supply of well-located land for energy Shire makes particular reference to the Biosphere Reserve generation and infrastructure is being maintained. when considering development applications. Inclusion of Green wedge management plans provide the foundation biosphere principles in its Municipal Strategy during the for change within these areas by defi ning the preferred next periodic review has been indicated. future land use, environmental and natural resource improvements, and by articulating how this change will State be facilitated and managed. Change may embrace new There are a number of relevant planning policies relating productive land uses, investments and developments to landscape at the state level. One of the key policies is consistent with Melbourne 2030 and its green wedge Melbourne 2030 – Planning for Sustainable Growth. This policies. Each green wedge management plan will identifi es green wedge areas in municipal districts and respond to particular features, values and conditions the long-term land resource planning and management specifi c to its region. Implementation of these plans of these green wedge areas is a key element of this. The involves the state government, local shires, landowners, Melbourne 2030 vision for the green wedge areas is to the community and other relevant organisations. It is protect them from non-urban uses and to encourage hoped that these plans will provide greater certainty for their proper management. In particular, Policy 2.4 all stakeholders, including landowners. seeks to protect the green wedges of Melbourne from A corollary of urban growth boundaries is that there is inappropriate development. development of regional centres linked to the metropolitan Melbourne 2030 sets out a series of actions which include areas by fast train. applying the Urban Growth Boundary, introducing new The Department of Primary Industry, among others, is planning measures, providing legislation that ensures working on a system of landscape assessment which protection of green wedges, developing green wedge includes evaluation of a number of factors both natural management plans and maintaining access to productive and cultural. natural resources. At the state level, the Mornington Peninsula is recognised The Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) is a tool designed to for its landscape values, among other values, and this promote sustainable development by directing growth is captured in state planning policy and has been for into areas best able to be supplied with appropriate about 30 years. This interest has been sustained through infrastructure and services, while protecting other valuable changes of minister, government and the planning land from urban development pressures. It has been act, and landscape values are well understood by the applied to most of the fringe areas of Melbourne and also Mornington Peninsula community. to some towns and settlements in non-urban areas.
24 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 The strategic intent of the Municipal Strategic Statement (MSS) is to promote sustainable development. The shire wants development to contribute in a positive way and wants to avoid disruptive or discordant elements. Local policy provisions in the planning scheme refer to land units. These are drawn from the seminal studies of the 1970s and the conservation plan and the work done at that time. These helped the shire to develop a planning control system for the physical and cultural environment and takes account of the heritage issues.
There are a number of key issues that the shire must deal with: • Popularity of the Peninsula: This is promoted by the shire and there are tourism activities and facilities. • Access: Roads need to be managed. Walking trails have also been implemented but are used by motorbikes, so there is inappropriate use of some access provisions. Horse trails are also used by motorbikes. There are also other situations where people create tracks where they are not wanted. Clearly, access provides experience of the landscape and needs to be managed.
Point King between Sorrento and Portsea. • Safety: What can be done to improve it? Image Peter Dunphy, Tourism Victoria • Cultural and heritage assets: The shire has many. • Tourism: An issue in landscape management. The shire offers a recreational resource for people, but Local Government also needs to maintain the triple-bottom line and sustainability, which do rely on a successful economy Comments below relate to Mornington Peninsula Shire and community. Tourism is also a major employer. but may be more widely applicable. • Public-private ownership: Also an issue in managing The Mornington Peninsula is coming under increasing the landscape. There is a need for cooperation development pressure. The number of dwellings is between state, shire and landowners in managing increasing and there is increased migration into the the landscape. Peninsula. The Mornington Peninsula Shire is very interested in landscape and landscape policies and this is refl ected Strategies that help address these issues: in the planning scheme. Planning is now policy-driven and • The Urban Growth Boundary is a signifi cant state performance-based. The challenge is to manage one’s government policy that states there will be edges way through these policies on a day-to-day basis. The to towns. It is part of Melbourne 2030 (see above) shire processes about 3000 planning applications each and is a strong approach to the containment of year. With that level of development activity, impacts on the urban development. Mornington Peninsula Shire landscape are inevitable. The challenge is to interpret and has established urban growth boundaries and this apply policies for the best possible outcome. The planning means that there are only small areas of land available scheme is now highly sophisticated and embodies a very for greenfi elds subdivision. The 70/30 split – 70 per integrated approach to planning. cent of the Shire is zoned for rural purpose or green
Selected landscape papers: 2004–08 25 wedge, and 30 per cent is zoned for urban uses – will maintain the natural areas and landscape if it can be kept in place. One other strong policy platform of the shire is to keep rural land rural, and it is working hard to keep commercial uses out of rural areas to preserve the Peninsula landscape. However, there will be change on the Mornington Peninsula landscape and the key is to manage that change appropriately.
• Neighbourhood character is an issue that is dealt with in planning at the shire every day. People are interested in preserving their neighbourhood character and want planning controls strengthened to protect it. They also want to work with the council to describe their neighbourhood character. • The preservation of viewpoints and view lines is also an important issue for the shire. This is an issue on which some public control may need to be exercised over private landowner’s rights. There is an intersection of public and private interests, but there is concern to avoid over-regulation. Signifi cant landscape overlays have been applied to important areas and this may be useful in managing vistas and views.
• Vegetation controls are another useful planning tool. Over the last two years the shire has undertaken a vegetation mapping exercise, identifying areas of high- quality natural vegetation. Once this data is integrated, it can be used as a planning and management tool. Incentives may be an important part of managing these areas, as inappropriate vegetation removal is an issue for the shire.
In summary, holding the line on the Urban Growth Boundary is a priority on the shire’s agenda, as is the 70/30 split, protecting rural land for rural uses, continuing to identify areas of particular landscape value, putting them into the planning scheme and getting neighbourhood character better dealt with in the planning scheme.
26 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Mornington transport corridors. Images Dr Juliet Bird
3.3 Local applications
In the previous section some planning policies which infl uence the way coastal landscapes and their hinterlands develop have been outlined. The following two papers examine local issues and problems in detail and discuss some possible approaches to solving these. These papers focus on the Mornington Peninsula in particular but many issues are common to other areas including the Bellarine Peninsula.
Mornington Peninsula landscapes Juliet Bird Geostudies, National Trust Landscape Committee, Heritage Council Landscape Advisory Committee, Landscape Guardians Inc.
Given there is a legislative framework in which landscape choices need to be made, we must decide three things in relation to the Mornington Peninsula landscape: • What is it that we value in the landscape? • What sort of a landscape do we want? • How do we achieve that?
The landscape of the Mornington Peninsula is a major Local government may address the pressure of population attraction for tourists and residents of the area alike. and housing growth in several ways, including increasing The economic importance of the former was shown the density of existing urban areas, designating and in a survey for Mornington Peninsula tourism in 2003, confi ning growth areas, and allowing free market forces which found that there were 193 accommodation to operate within the overall planning framework. establishments on the Peninsula, taking $23.6m in the Each has impacts on the landscape, ranging from year, while the industry as a whole employed more than replacement of fi elds and farms with housing estates 4000 people. The signifi cance of the latter is shown in and related infrastructure to modifi cation of a productive fi gures for population growth in the Shire: between 1996 agricultural scene with one in which many views are and 2001 it increased by 13.4 per cent. The number dominated by lifestyle farmlets with prominent non-farm of dwellings also grew rapidly, refl ecting not only the buildings. The Mornington Peninsula Shire has promoted population increase, but also the decrease in average intensifi cation where appropriate, and set clear urban household size from 2.54 to 2.46 persons and the growth boundaries, but it has also attempted to infl uence purchase of holiday homes, which comprise more than change in non-urban areas by imposing restrictions on 50 per cent of the total homes in some coastal townships. rural subdivision through limits on lot size under the local This increase of both tourist and resident numbers places planning scheme. pressure on the very values that many seek: the benefi ts of a rural or coastal lifestyle, rich and varied landscapes, An inevitable accompaniment of population growth is and freedom from crowds and traffi c congestion. increased traffi c, much of it on rural roads that were not
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 27 a risk that some of those on the Peninsula may in future carry less water than they used to, with consequences for in-stream fauna and riparian vegetation.
Natural vegetation on the Peninsula is already much depleted, with only an estimated 3 per cent of the original cover remaining, much of it in the relatively small area of national or state parks and council reserves. Options exist for creation of new parks in several areas of land formerly under the control of government agencies, including Point Nepean and Devil Bend Reservoir, but this involves choices on resource allocation, both for purchase of the land and, subsequently, for managing it as a public asset. Both state and local governments have introduced a number of measures to encourage private landholders to conserve or expand native vegetation cover, including provision of plants from council nurseries, restrictions on clearing and the introduction of environmental rates. Non-government organisations such as Trust For Nature also encourage landholders to protect remnant stands of native vegetation. Main Creek waterway. Image Dr Juliet Bird The diversity and productivity of its fertile rural land is a major reason for the visual appeal of Peninsula designed for it. The crash statistics for the shire show one landscapes, but even within land that remains in consequence of this. Modifi cations to the road network to agricultural use there may be changes in crops or stock accommodate more cars have major landscape impacts, that may have an impact on landscape values. Some ranging from construction of prominent new freeways major changes have occurred over the past decade: an to modifi cation of smaller roads. The latter includes the example is the expansion of grape growing from 146 ha sealing of gravel roads, with loss of the rural ambience in 1994 to 1946 ha in 2001. Over a longer period sheep and often increased traffi c speed, and a need for have declined from an estimated 90,000 head in 1969 to intersection controls such as roundabouts and prominent less than 11,000 today (fi gures provided by Mornington signage. Road widening may improve safety, but it often Peninsula Shire). The changes are driven by the market requires the destruction of important roadside vegetation value of produce and escalating land costs, but also by and increases roadkill of remnant native fauna, such as landholders’ preferences and suitability for small acre turtles, birds and wallabies. cropping as rural land is subdivided and the number of Natural systems, too, may be threatened by growing lifestyle farms increases. population and lifestyle changes. Increase in coastal The concept of the Peninsula as a playground for structures, including buildings and marinas, leads to a call Melbournians as well as for its residents, many of for protection against erosion, and often the structures whom are early retirees, leads to pressure for expanded then built exacerbate problems further along the coast recreational facilities which have a considerable impact by interrupting patterns of coastal sediment supply and on landscape. Most obvious is the increasing number movement. Introduction of new forms of agriculture and of golf courses, a permitted use under the Melbourne increase in hobby farms change patterns of water usage, 2030 green wedge zoning, which covers much of the particularly through the construction of dams, which affect Peninsula. While in the past golf courses have often the amount of water entering streams. Waterways are been useful ways of protecting green open spaces and important elements of landscape attraction, but there is
28 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 The Briars homestead on the Mornington Pennisula. Image The Briars
remnant vegetation, many of the new developments European cultural landscape include prominent club houses and visually intrusive When Matthew Flinders, on the Investigator, examined residential developments. Boating, too, has changed, the land surrounding Port Phillip in 1802 he reported: the small fi shing boats moored in shallow water being “It is in great measure a grassy country, capable of replaced by larger boats in a growing number of supporting much cattle, though better calculated marina developments. Even activities such as cycling for sheep. In the woods are the kangaroo, the emu, and walking, and particularly horse riding, need to be paraquets and a variety of small birds. The climate is managed in ways which minimise impacts such as as agreeable as could be desired.” erosion of popular trails and the spread of weeds and plant diseases. Surveyor George Smythe’s maps of 1841 show that not much changed during the next few decades. He described As this review indicates, the demands on the Mornington the Briars area, then known as the Tichingoroke Run, as Peninsula landscape are considerable. This relatively small good grass with gum, she oak, lightwood and wattle trees, area is expected to provide space for residential develop- but interestingly the area that is now our Wildlife Reserve ment and associated transport, to attract the tourists who was thick scrub with grass trees. are a major source of income for the shire, to continue to supply agricultural produce, to support biodiversity and to It is a commonly held belief that Europeans immediately set offer a range of recreational opportunities to both residents about shooting the wildlife and clearing the bush, but this and visitors. To achieve this without threatening the special is only partly true. The reduction in native vegetation to only qualities of the area, will require strong and visionary 4 per cent of the Peninsula was rather a gradual process, planning, backed by a vigorous education program to as dictated by local economics in relation to the demands ensure that the community understands the issues and of an ever-expanding market. Land use originally entailed supports measures designed to protect the value of the livestock, then lime, orchards, market gardening, and fi nally landscape in which it lives and plays. grapes, olives, horticulture and tourism, including golf. Until 1975, no land was reserved as state conservation reserves under strict management. The purchase of Greens Bush The Cultural landscapes of the by Dick Hamer’s Government was a watershed in the conservation history of the Peninsula. Mornington Peninsula At the Briars, we recently discovered an aerial photo of Steve Yorke the front paddock taken in 1957 and showing a manna Team Leader, The Briars Park, Mornington Peninsula gum, snow gum woodland over pasture. It appears that Shire the Balcombes didn’t clear the land, probably because they didn’t need to. Certainly, trees were felled for fencing, UNESCO defi nes a cultural landscape as representing the fi rewood and early dwellings, but later, building timber was “combined works of nature and man”. It is illustrative of imported and used with local, handmade bricks. the evolution of human society. It seems that stock was simply run on native pastures, There are three main categories: just as kangaroos grazed. The country was open enough 1. Landscape designed, eg. gardens for emus to be hunted on horseback, a popular activity 2. Organically evolved landscape – social, economic, of the 1860s. Gradually, however, the native pastures administrative or religious activities associated with the succumbed to hard hooves and grazing to the ground by natural environment. It may be relict or continuing, eg. sheep. European and American species were introduced, rice terraces and fertilisers overcame nutrient defi ciencies. The presence of stock, introduced grasses and lack of Aboriginal burning 3. Associative cultural landscape, eg. Uluru.
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 29 • prepare a conservation strategy for implementation of conservation policies and ongoing management • prepare a condition survey and a maintenance schedule for the homestead, outbuildings, fences and major plantings.
The Plan recommends the removal and replacement of several English Elms, a single English Oak, several Radiata Pines, a single Stone Pine, a single Olive, three Monterey Cypresses, several Maritime Pines and one third of the driveway trees. There is a political and economic issue here, rather than an environmental one and public consultation has been undertaken, although only one submission, from the Peninsula Branch of the National Trust, was received. It is certain that the public reaction will occur once the chain saws start.
The following graph shows that, at some indefi nite time, the cost of maintaining a tree exceeds its (qualitative) value. A tree’s value grows as it grows – for shade, amenity, environmental values, aesthetics, climate modifi cation, etc. A point of ‘diminishing returns’ occurs Aerial of The Briars taken in 1957. Image The Briars after which the costs of arboricultural work – deadwood removal, weight reduction, control of pests and disease prevented the appearance of eucalypt seedlings and the – increase dramatically. It is suggested here that there is old gums died of old age, some as late as the 1960s and a point at which to ‘cut losses’, the defi nition of which is 70s. Farmers must have known that open paddocks are made by experienced arboricultural practitioners. counterproductive – trees protect pasture and stock, while barely reducing grass growth. With our penchant for Value straight lines, shelterbelts were introduced, some of natives, Point of diminishing returns Costs some of conifers. The Natural Resources Conservation increasing League was formed for this very purpose.
Therefore our cultural landscape is a mixture of the deliberate and the accidental. Our initial challenge is to Value determine what is signifi cant, but the far greater challenge declining is to determine how to maintain the landscape that we love. Recommended removal At the Briars, we are about to implement a Conservation Time Management Plan, recently adopted by Council and funded with $220K over fi ve years. The plan was commissioned by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), This issue is central to the preservation of cultural on behalf of the Mornington Peninsula Shire, to: landscape. Trees do not leave a will; they are not good • prepare conservation policies that take into account at succession planning. Trees age and die and, because the cultural signifi cance of the buildings, landscape of Australia’s lack of a winter, die much sooner than they and garden would have in England or the cooler parts of America.
30 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Lemon–scented Gum Eucalyptus citriodora at the Briars. Image The Briars
An oak, which would last 400 or 500 years in England, is In Victoria, responsibility for determining indigenous here deteriorating badly at a mere century. heritage lies with Local Aboriginal Communities listed in the Schedule to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Preservation, or sustainability, or conservation is very heritage Protection Act 1984. Mornington Peninsula Shire much about economics. A tree that cost one penny to lies within the land for which the Victorian Boonerwrung plant in 1930 can cost $1000 to remove. How can we Elders Land Council Aboriginal Corporation can speak. meet the cost of removal and replacement in the future? Planning Schemes must recognise indigenous heritage How can Planning Schemes address cultural landscapes? and planners therefore need to involve the Aboriginal For instance, the green wedge zone strictly controls all community in planning decisions, especially in relation to sorts of activities but has a blanket permit for crop raising, re-zoning and development applications. Environmental extensive animal husbandry and mineral exploration. We Signifi cance and Vegetation Protection Overlays are have seen the disappearance of apples and the arrival probably more useful than Heritage Overlays, as the latter of vines, and the ubiquitous bird netting. This is a major are designed more for non-indigenous cultural heritage. change, perfectly allowable under the Planning Scheme. Heritage and Landscape Overlays are limited in area Managers of sites like The Briars Park need to involve and scope – they certainly don’t cover the Peninsula as the Indigenous community in the Management Planning a whole. The shire’s strategic and heritage planners are process. Key factors are information, communication, currently working on these issues, and they are very much and consultation. aware of my interest in this important issue. All Indigenous heritage places are protected whether they are known or not. Greater knowledge of heritage Indigenous cultural landscape signifi cance leads to better management with less confl ict. Indigenous heritage is dynamic. It includes tangible Determination of policy and decision-making must be and intangible expressions of the relationships with informed by an acknowledgement of Indigenous heritage. and between country, people, beliefs, knowledge, law, At the Briars, for example, the original pastoral run was language, symbols, ways of living and objects. Indigenous named Tichingoroke or Chechingurk, often translated heritage places are landscapes, sites and areas that are as “the voice of many frogs”. The name was more likely particularly important to indigenous people and refl ect associative than descriptive, and probably described indigenous heritage values. Indigenous cultural heritage is the Growling Grass Frog, still with us today. The frog’s a fundamental and inseparable part of the cultural heritage habitat therefore becomes a crucial element of cultural of all Australians. landscape, as representing what little tangible indigenous heritage we have. Indigenous people were not nomadic; rather they were seasonal re-visitors. Their subsistence and settlement In the same way, all remaining native vegetation must patterns therefore provide important clues to heritage be conserved as representing a pre-European cultural places. Of particular importance were high points, landscape. watercourses, stone formations, scar trees and middens. Relict drainage lines and former shorelines are also important, but may be obscured by post-contact activity. Known sites are inherently important and archival material may provide clues.
A problem which can arise is that no known sites can be interpreted as ‘no sites’. Uncertainty about indigenous heritage should not be used to justify activities that might damage or destroy.
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 31 3.4 Planning to protect coastal landscapes
Planning for landscape protection and Surf Coast, and is work in progress for the Shires of in Victoria Nillumbik and Wangaratta. The Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment Study won a Planning Institute Australia Mike Scott national award for excellence in 2007. Director, Planisphere Common elements of briefs for these studies are: Management and protection of broad scale landscapes, • Assess the adequacy of current strategies and using planning scheme provisions, is being successfully measures aimed at protecting landscapes implemented across large areas of Victoria using a method • Map and provide an assessment of the existing pioneered by Planisphere. Landscape assessments distinctive landscape elements, features, using this method have now been applied to all of the characteristics, character, quality and extent of the Victorian coastline apart from Port Phillip (Coastal Spaces landscape within specifi c areas, and their value or Landscape Assessment Study 2006, and Great Ocean importance Road Region Landscape Assessment 2004, both for the • Identify signifi cant landscape types and, where Department of Sustainability and Environment), to the entire appropriate, prepare planning scheme provisions for rural landscapes of the Shires of Baw Baw, Murrindindi retaining and/or respecting landscape values.
Cape Conran. Image Paul Sinclair, Tourism Victoria
32 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Study areas are generally all the non-urban planning zones in a municipality. In the case of the coastal landscape assessment, it was determined that the study should cover all landscapes that are visible from the coast, and from which the coast is visible.
Method
Six key elements are considered in the studies: • Landscape character • Community values • Landscape signifi cance • Change in the landscape • Policy gaps • Actions (recommendations).
These key elements coalesce in the following ‘formula’: Landscape Character
Signifi cance + Change + Policy Gap = Action
Community Values Distinctive land and water features near Buchan in East Gippsland. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria Landscape character types and areas Additional ‘supporting evidence’ provides further Landscape Character Types are identifi ed, through a fi eld confi rmation that a landscape is signifi cant, including: study and desk research, on the basis of common physical, • Exemplar landscape environmental and cultural characteristics, taking into • Scarce landscape account landform, water form, vegetation and land use. Each Character Type is divided into landscape Character • Iconic landscape Areas, which are areas across which local conditions, such • Documented cultural/heritage value as the landscape features, or the pattern of viewing, vary. • Documented environmental value The landscape Character Types and Character Areas are • Established social/community value; shown on the maps, along with descriptions and photos • Visitor attraction. illustrating each of the Character Areas. The process stages vary from study to study, but Signifi cant landscapes generally include: A single criterion is used to assess whether a landscape Stage 1 Inception/Review/Method is signifi cant: Stage 2A Preliminary Survey/Analysis Character Documentation The landscape is signifi cant for its visual qualities, Stage 2B Final Survey/Analysis including landform features, views, edges or Character Area Analysis Papers contrasts, and for its predominantly natural or Signifi cance Statements undeveloped character, in which development is Stage 3 Statutory Implementation absent or clearly subordinate to natural landscape Final Reports characteristics.
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 33 Community Values Character Area Analysis Papers include photographs and maps, and cover: Studies are usually run under the direction of a steering committee and/or a reference group, with client (council • Key features etc) and community representation. Community values • Landscape characteristics underpin the identifi cation of landscape signifi cance, and • Settlements various methods are used to scope this, including: • Pattern of viewing • Community questionnaire • Community and other identifi ed values • Community photographic exercise • Landscape change and sensitivity to change • Focus groups • Existing policies • Opportunities and threats Comment on draft signifi cant landscapes brochures. • Management considerations Other research tasks contribute to the overall • Preferred future character understanding of community landscape values, including a review of previous community perceptions research, • Landscape management objectives and guidelines. tourism publications and local histories. The landscape management objectives and guidelines are primarily about how development should be sited Products/recommendations and designed so as to compliment the particular local The needs of the different ‘end users’ of a landscape landscape. For example, in some farming landscapes, assessment study are carefully considered in determining buildings have traditionally been built close to the road, the number and type of fi nal products. Interesting and in others farms are approached down long driveways. dichotomies can arise. For example, character analysis Retaining or planting vegetation appropriate to the local material and local guidelines are reproduced in brochures context is often important – in an open landscape, even a targeted at local applicants and community members, small shed can have a major impact on views. whereas policies intended for use in the planning scheme are stripped of repetition and made as concise as Implementation possible. In the case of the Coastal Spaces Landscape The Character Area Analysis Paper guidelines are Assessment Study, 20 different reports were produced, designed to be formally adopted into local planning as follows: schemes. Their purpose is to guide discretionary Background Report Detailed methodology, for use in decisions on planning applications. This means that justifying the recommendations where a planning permit is already needed, the study’s at Planning Panels etc landscape objectives and guidelines can be explicitly State Overview Report Recommendations to the state referenced in arriving at a decision to grant, refuse or government, plus a publicly place conditions on a permit to develop. accessible overview of the study’s fi ndings Where a landscape is identifi ed as signifi cant, the Municipal Reference Intended to become statutory Signifi cant Landscape Overlay (SLO) in the Victoria Documents (9) Reference Documents in each Planning Provisions is usually the most appropriate tool for municipal planning scheme protecting and managing landscape character. The SLO Municipal Toolkits (9) Explanatory document to can be used to control buildings and works as well as the councils, with a short lifespan removal, lopping or destruction of vegetation. The detailed decision guidelines and performance standards produced The study products included a Character Area Analysis in the landscape assessment study can be included in an Paper for each of the 32 Character Areas (there are a SLO schedule. further 20 in the Great Ocean Road Region study). The
34 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Incorporating the studies into a council’s planning scheme Conclusion is a time-consuming process. The proposed changes to Landscape assessment studies of the kind undertaken the planning scheme must be formally exhibited for public by Planisphere are commissioned in response to comment, and an independent planning panel must sit to development pressures. Large areas of Victoria have consider submissions. Ultimate inclusion of the proposed now been covered by these assessments, including most changes depends on the recommendation of the panel of the state’s coastline. The method is innovative in the and the views of the Minister and the council. This process sense that it is a qualitative assessment that follows a can take two years from the inception of the study. There series of logical and transparent steps from assessment can be additional delays if councils are short of staff to proposed planning controls. The methodology resources to process the amendment, as is common in incorporates and responds to community values, and rural shires. Adoption of Planisphere’s landscape study provides outputs capable of direct translation into recommendations into the planning scheme is proceeding statutory town planning control mechanisms. Studies gradually, with no serious setbacks so far. result in planning scheme-ready development guidelines, and new or upgraded ‘overlay’ planning controls for areas National Assessment Framework for landscape values designated by the studies as having signifi cance. In 2007 Planisphere completed preparation of a national framework for assessing landscape values. The project, which was federally funded, was undertaken for the Visual assessment: mapping the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT) and the peak wind energy body, now the Clean Energy Council. aesthetics of landscape It focuses on assessing the landscape impacts of wind farms, but is founded on a thorough assessment of Ian Bishop best practice in landscape values assessment, and is Centre for Geographic Information Systems and applicable to landscape assessment in general, not Modelling, University of Melbourne just wind farms. The resulting report, Wind Farms and Landscape values: a National Assessment Framework, Introduction won the national Planning Institute Australia Minister’s This project is looking at developing a mapping system to award for excellence in 2008. It answers questions like: map the aesthetic values across the landscape of Victoria, • How should community values about landscapes be that is a defensible and rigorous system. The use of GIS assessed and evaluated when a major development is to take a wealth of information about the landscape and proposed? turn it into meaningful information about people’s visual interpretation of the landscape began about 11 years ago. • How do you deal with the subjectivity of values about landscape? The current project concerns the following questions:
• What factors besides visual impact need to be • What exactly are we trying to map in this exercise? considered (eg heritage)? • What approaches are possible?
• What if the development is as large in scale as a • What assumptions are necessary? wind farm? • What approach has been chosen in the pilot study being implemented by the Department of Primary • Is it possible to arrive at a simple, consistent process Industry – and why? when some locations are apparently ‘uncontroversial’, while others face entrenched and well-organised This presentation will provide an illustration of the opposition? prototype study and detail steps towards a larger study • At what stages should the community be directly that have already been undertaken. consulted?
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 35 One of many beaches along the Great Ocean Road. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
The concept of overlays in landscape assessment is The eventual technique needs to consider both of these familiar and there are overlays that relate to various values factors. – vegetation, habitat, cultural signifi cance, etc. In this This project is limited to aesthetic considerations only. study, we are considering overlays that relate purely to Therefore the following points are important: the aesthetic values of the landscape. So, we are trying to map the contribution of each location to the scenic values • Only what can be seen is important for this mapping of the area, which depends on two things: • Results are based on public judgements of visual 1. The quality of the view from that location qualities 2. The elements present at that location that are visible • Locations, views of cultural/historical importance are from a number of different parts of the landscape and mapped independently. It is important to note here thus contribute to the view from all those places. that cultural and visual qualities may be entwined and
36 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 distinguishing one from the other can be complex public attitude to a beautiful landscape. Thus and contentious. Cultural knowledge may also affect we can map the whole shire on one set of people’s appreciation of the aesthetics of a landscape. assumptions about what creates beauty in the landscape. The following approaches have been used in the past to map visual quality across landscapes: • Some mathematical assumptions about normal distribution of responses, linearity and independence • ecological aesthetics, a philosophy which suggests which are imperfect but widely adopted by that landscapes that are ecologically healthy will also practitioners. be beautiful • judgement of professionals, where experts mark Are there similar studies elsewhere? key areas of visual beauty on a map and which • The most similar work in Australia is the SE often works very well but does not provide well for Queensland Scenic Amenity Study, which involves assessment of landscape change – eight local governments, fi ve state departments, • revealed preference, which asks where do people like etc to go? At which landscape location do they spend – 452 photographs their money? – 964 respondents • models based on public survey, which asks people This study follows very similar principles to the what they like in a landscape and incorporates that Mornington Peninsula Shire study outlined here. information into a more systematic mapping process. • Current study of the visual quality of SA coastline.
This study uses the last of these options. So, why use The prototype study models and public surveys in assessing the visual aspects of the landscape? After initial project discussions, Yingxin Wu, a Masters • Local community input and acceptance is essential student, became involved in the study. She put together to the successful adoption and implementation of an a series of maps and other materials. These are the aesthetic landscape overlay. It also gives people a underlying variables that were used in the fi rst prototype sense of ownership of the outcome, rather than the mapping using this technique of the visual fi eld, and feeling that it has been imposed upon them. include: • A scientifi c model allows for rapid assessment of • digital terrain model (the shape of the land surface) the visual effect of land use changes or specifi c • creek and coastline layer developments. • land use, especially vegetation types such as forest, • Quantitative mapping of the landscape can be used pasture and market garden layers in conjunction with other GIS landscape overlays. • building layer • Thus visual quality becomes an integral part of the • roads/streets layer. planning process, not merely a hurdle in an EES. All were mapped into 20 m by 20 m grid cells for ease of What assumptions are necessary in order to pursue this processing. path towards mapping aesthetic values of landscape? • The factors which make a view attractive are: The prototype project was time-limited, so random sample points were taken along roads, which worked out – the same in all parts of the region being mapped, well as most people see the view from the road anyway. as the landscape of the Mornington Peninsula is One hundred points were chosen to photograph, with half relatively homogeneous to be used to build the model and half to be used to test – similar across the population, such that a small the model. sample can reasonably represent the general
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 37 The processing was as follows: After averaging the rating result of each point, the SPSS statistic package was used to do a regression analysis Process 1: Viewshed of each selected point based on the factor indices of the sample points. Process 2: Distance to each selected point It is worth noting that “pasture” and “road” have negative Process 3: Calculate the seen area of each predictor coeffi cients, while indices for “creek”, ”sea”, “coast” and “slope” have positive coeffi cients. The equation provides - Use function – raster calculator ~ 50 per cent prediction of variation in ratings, but more - Calculate the extent of visibility of the predictor: sample points should produce a more reliable result. [Reclass of Viewshed] * [Predictor layer]
Process 4: Calculate a distance index based on the Conclusion visible cells of each predictor A number of lessons were learnt from the pre-study:
- Weight the visible areas by 1/distance to refl ect • More care in point selection is necessary, as several their reducing signifi cance (different options are points were inaccessible or inappropriate. The effect possible here) of the roads also needs to be carefully considered. - Sum the weighted visible areas to create • The approach will not work at those locations that a presence index are highly enclosed and/or contain nearby elements - Used for all predictors except sea and slope of unknown character (eg houses whose design may Process 5: Deal with sea and slope or may not be sympathetic). This makes the coastal towns very problematic. - Reclassify the integer distance value 0 – 0.4k = 1 • Distant elements that are apparent and important 0.4 – 1k = 2 in reality may be effectively missing from the 1k – 5k = 3 photographs. Some artifi cial enhancement of key >5k = 4 features may be appropriate. Similarly, nearby elements (light poles) may get excess consideration - Use Zonal Statistic function to count the amount of in the photos and should be avoided or removed from visible cells of each predictor in each distance range the images. and the mean value, etc. - Export the zonal statistic table • Having identifi ed the key features it would enhance the reliability of the models to do some specifi c - Determine the relevant statistic (eg total cells, mean, experiments based on changes in the scaling of range) those features by photo manipulation. - Applicable to the sea and slope prediction • The GIS derived view components could be The GIS analysis has generated a table of predictor made more precise by full 3D computation of their indicators for each sample point. In the project so far, contribution to the visual fi eld. This has been done to develop the scenic beauty estimates: in other studies but becomes less important when • 28 sample points were photographed and used foreground features are less prominent. in the analysis In the subsequent DPI project: • four photos for each point, subjectively chosen • Detailed DSM was constructed from land use to best illustrate the location mapping which allowed the digital terrain model to • people rated the scenic beauty for each point using be combined with tree cover and height estimates. one as least preferred and seven as the most • Sample points have been selected. • a multiple regression equation was developed.
38 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 • The script for the automation of the analytical process Because of its independence from government, the Trust, has been written. a UK registered charity, relies heavily on the generous fi nancial support of subscribing members (now numbering The process and results of that larger study are reported over 3.5 million) and other supporters. The Trust’s main in Wu et al (2006). sources of income are membership fees, legacies, visitor income, donations and grants from UK Government and Reference the European Union. In 2007, the Trust had a turnover Wu, Y., Bishop, I.D. and Hossain, H. (2006) Using GIS in of almost £400 million. In addition to the fi nancial Landscape Visual Quality Assessment, Applied GIS 2(3) contributions of its supporters, 52,000 volunteers http://publications.epress.monash.edu/toc/ag/2006/2/3 gave 2.3 million hours of work to the Trust in 2007.
From ancient stone circles and Victorian cotton mills, to gardens, village streets and castles, the vast majority of Assessing the coastline properties are open to visitors. In 2007, an estimated Richard Offen 50 million people visited the National Trust’s open-air properties and more than 12 million visited the pay-for- Former Manager of the National Trust (UK), Neptune entry properties. The National Trust constantly looks for Coastline Campaign ways in which it can improve public access and on-site The National Trust (UK) (http://www.national Trust.org. facilities and currently operates more than 140 tea-rooms uk/main) is Europe’s largest conservation organisation. and restaurants, which are usually located in old buildings It was founded in 1895 by three Victorian reformists – such as castles, lighthouses, stables, and even hot-houses. Miss Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Many properties also include a shop, offering a wide range Rawnsley. Concerned about the impact of uncontrolled of merchandise, much of which is exclusive to the Trust. development and industrialisation, they set up the Trust Many of the items on sale have been carefully chosen to to act as a guardian for the nation by the acquisition refl ect the character of the Trust’s superb houses and and protection of threatened coastline, countryside glorious gardens. and buildings.
Although from its inception the National Trust was The Neptune Coastline Campaign intended to be a non-government body, through the The British are an island race and the sea and its shores assiduous campaigning of its founders, it was granted its have played a very great role in shaping the very fabric own Act of Parliament in 1907, which gave the Trust the of its society. The coastline has acted as the interface statutory power to declare land ‘inalienable in perpetuity’. for trade, commerce and warfare with the rest of the This means that the properties held by the Trust for the world and has also been a source of inspiration to poets, nation are protected forever, even from compulsory musicians and artists alike. purchase by any level of government . The British coastline bears traces of man’s endeavours Today, the National Trust cares for almost 250,000 over thousands of years and its natural resources have hectares of beautiful countryside in England, Wales also provided people’s livelihood for many centuries. and Northern Ireland, plus more than 1,200 km of In recent history, this has resulted in large areas being coastline; over 300 historic houses and gardens; 49 exploited for all kinds of development, with the industrial monuments and mills; and many other sites consequent damage to the natural environment. of outstanding interest and importance. Most of these properties are held in perpetuity and so their future The coast having played such an important part in British protection is secure. history, it is not surprising that the fi rst property to come to the newly formed National Trust was coastal: with the gift of Dinas Oleu, a rocky hillside behind the Welsh
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 39 UK Coastlines. Part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in the UK. Top left: Bat’s Head from Durdle Door. Right: Durdle Door near Lulworth in Dorset. Bottom: Worbarrow Bay and Tout near Tyneham village in Dorset.
40 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Clavell Tower on Kimmeridge Bay in Dorset is part of a World Heritage Site.
seaside town of Barmouth, by Mrs Fanny Talbot in 1895 • The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland (on the strict understanding that ’it always be kept wild‘), • St David’s Head, West Wales the die was cast for the Trust to play a major role in the • Blakeney Point, Norfolk protection of the coastline. • Formby Point, Merseyside By 1965 the National Trust had acquired 300km of • Brownsea Island, Dorset. unspoilt coastline, including areas such as Blakeney Point in Norfolk, the Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim, parts An important feature of Neptune Coastline Campaign’s of the magnifi cent Gower Peninsula in South Wales, and success has been the ability it has given the Trust to the Farne Islands – one of the most important breeding protect and manage coastal landscape in the widest grounds for coastal birds in Europe. However, in the sense, not just confi ning itself to caring for a thin shoreline densely populated British Isles, it was becoming clear strip. Just as ‘no man is an island’, no landscape feature that huge tracts of fi ne coastline were being lost to badly- can be viewed independently of its surroundings. For sited industry, expanding towns, inappropriate agricultural example, a fi ne classical country house would lose most practices, or simply being ‘loved to death’ by the spread of its aesthetic value if closely surrounded by a modern of tourism. city; similarly, the impact of a dramatic rocky cliff is reduced if it is ‘topped’ by a modern housing estate. In response to this damage, the Neptune Coastline Campaign (formerly Enterprise Neptune) was inaugurated The National Trust’s philosophy is that the protection of in 1965 as a nationwide appeal to enable the National the coast is only effective if whole landscapes, with their Trust to respond to human threats to the coastline and complex of natural and man-made features, are preserved to stop the destruction of some of the most beautiful and and protected – it is therefore usually not enough to environmentally sensitive coastline in Britain. The objectives protect just the narrow coastal fringes. For these reasons for the Neptune campaign from the outset were: the Trust normally seeks to acquire and manage both coastline and land back from the coast, often to some • to alert people to the pressures facing the coastline key feature such as a farm boundary, coastal road or the • to explain how the National Trust can help protect the skyline. More than 50,000 ha of such coastal hinterland coast permanently, so everyone can enjoy it are now protected to ensure that landscapes, shaped over thousands of years by natural processes and the • to raise funds so that the National Trust can make activities of man, are safeguarded in their entirety. coastal purchases, repair damaged coastline and manage the coastline it protects, both now and in the At Studland, for example, on Dorset’s Purbeck coast, future. the Trust not only owns a very popular tourist beach, but also, just inland, an important area of lowland heath, one Since its inauguration, Neptune has helped the National of the last in Britain to support colonies of all the country’s Trust to protect, by ownership, over 1,200km of coastline indigenous reptiles (at only seven species, not many when (60,000 hectares of coastal land) in England, Wales and compared with Australia) and also home to the now-rare Northern Ireland – nearly 10 per cent of the total length. Dartford warbler.
Now in the Trust’s care are well-known British coastal In the West Penwith district of Cornwall, the Trust landmarks such as: preserves some eight kilometres of coastline around St • The White Cliffs of Dover Just, a landscape in which prehistoric fi eld systems and • Orford Ness, Suffolk settlement patterns survive to a remarkable degree in the present farmed and inhabited landscape. Here, as • Robin Hoods Bay, North Yorkshire in many other areas, the ownership not only cares for a • The Needles Headland, Isle of Wight whole landscape, but also supports local communities, • Lizard Point, Cornwall which greatly helps the Trust to undertake, and gain • Lundy Island support for, its own work on the coast.
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 41 The Neptune Coastline Campaign has also enabled the Trust to acquire buildings that are an important component of the landscape or of historic interest, such as Souter Lighthouse in Tyne and Wear (the fi rst lighthouse to be powered by an alternating current and fi tted with a prismatic light to aid navigation into the Tyne Estuary) or the remote and romantic village of Porthdinllaen, on the Lln Peninsula in North Wales.
Cleaning up
Over the years, opinions and attitudes to our coastline and its value have changed. As a result, the National Trust’s acquisition policies have changed too. This is exemplifi ed in the North-East of England by the Durham Coal Coast. Originally written off as ‘spoilt beyond Dorset coast path in the UK. Images Jo Day redemption’ by many years tipping of colliery spoil, Trust ownership and intervention has resulted in a magnifi cent The National Trust is increasingly concerned about transformation from dereliction to fi ne landscape with a activities which are beyond its ownership and control, thriving eco-system. but which have an impact upon its coastal properties. Such intervention can lead to a dramatic improvement Inshore fi shing and, offshore, oil and gas development, in landscape quality as demonstrated at Kynance Cove and aggregate extraction, could have various, not fully on Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula. The Trust has owned quantifi ed, effects on the ecology and archaeology of the the cove itself since 1935, but was powerless to prevent seabed and shore. Pollution of coastal waters from land the development of an unsightly cliff-top cafe and visitor (sewage, industrial effl uent and agricultural pollutants) and complex which grew up over a long period. Over many at sea (oil discharges, rubbish dumping) has implications years, uncontrolled access between the car park and the for the cleanliness of beaches and quality of bathing cliff edge had also resulted in severe erosion – and the waters, as well as the wildlife of coasts and estuaries. loss of vegetation, including rare plants sensitive to heavy In addition to these human pressures, the coast is trampling. In the mid-1970s a revision of the path system subject to the effects of natural physical processes, and planting of new turf began to improve the situation, such as erosion and deposition, which can lead to and in 1992 the process was completed when the changes in beach shape and size and fl ooding of low- opportunity arose to purchase the remaining cliff-top area lying agricultural land. These problems will be exacerbated and demolish the buildings, replacing them with discreet by global warming, sea-level rise and inappropriate sea- structures, which are virtually hidden from view. defence and coast protection works.
Despite heightened public awareness of the need for In a pioneering conservation project undertaken at protecting the coastline, the pressures facing Neptune Northey Island in Essex, a saltmarsh that was reclaimed Coastline Campaign continue. The campaign was in the 19th century has been re-established. An enclosing launched at a time when unspoilt coastline was primarily sea wall fronting part of the island was being damaged by jeopardised by tourist demands for holiday homes and wave attack as a direct result of the loss of the buffering caravans. Today, the coast is also under threat from other effect of the original saltmarsh. The potential cost of recreational developments (particularly marinas) and maintaining the damaged wall was prohibitive, so the pressures (such as noise and disturbance from motorised Trust agreed, in cooperation with the National Rivers water sports) as well as proposals for wind farms on Authority and English Nature, to fund a less expensive, exposed cliff-tops and tidal barrages within estuaries. longer lasting and more easily maintained alternative sea
42 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 defence which would also benefi t nature conservation. The grades, when tabulated, instantly identify and highlight The removal of the old sea wall and construction of a new areas for National Trust intervention and enable priority earth wall landward has allowed tidal fl ooding of an area decisions to be made for the appropriation of funds as land of former pasture and, consequently, a new saltmarsh comes on to the market, or is offered as a gift. habitat to establish. This regenerated saltmarsh, which In Britain, the application of a national coastal grading effectively dissipates wave energy and reduces shore system has created a consistency of approach, made erosion, was the fi rst example in the UK of ‘managed prioritisation of areas in need of protection much easier and coastal realignment’. built up an extremely valuable data base of information on the coastline and its current health. The grading system, as Assessing the situation in Victoria set out above, was however designed with a presumption A recent National Trust reassessment of the British to acquire threatened coastline in mind. coastline showed that during the last 40 years, an average The situation in Victoria is different in that there could be of seven miles per year has been spoilt in some way by many solutions other than purchase, involving a whole man (not including coastline lost to natural processes). range of partnerships between organisations to enable Don’t let this happen to the coastline of Victoria! threatened coastline to be protected. However, applying a structured assessment system to the coastline of In order to assess the situation, the Trust’s assessment Victoria will ensure that a priority list of areas in need process applied a nationally formulated criterion that of protection can be easily produced. graded the coastline according to its signifi cance and the level of threat to its continued well being. It also “So what is in it for me? Why should we worry about our introduced a system to categorise signifi cance and threat coastline?” Victorians will ask. In a speech to the National to coastline in order to assist the Trust in prioritising future Health Society in the 1890s, Octavia Hill, one of the three coastal acquisitions. founders of the National Trust said,
Each section of coast is graded using the following scale: keep those fair, far, still places for your children and your children’s children, if you can: the more cities Grade I National or international importance. Natural increase, the more precious they will be; for the more beauty or historic interest of the highest order, often with man’s soul will long for the beauty, for the quiet, international designations. which the city does not, cannot, give. Grade II Regional/local importance. Important but less It is said that we do not inherit the coastline from our exceptional. forebears, merely borrow it from our children. It is therefore Grade III Unspoilt and undeveloped but unremarkable - everyone’s responsibility to ensure that something worthy is areas only worth acquiring as buffer land or land capable handed on for future generations to enjoy. of restoration or assisting access or management. The ability of the coastal zone to sustain all human and Grade X Unsuitable for protection by the National Trust physical pressures depends on how it is protected (irretrievably developed or degraded). and managed. In Britain, the National Trust has played a crucial role in acquiring coastline for its long-term These gradings were further qualifi ed by a risk/urgency protection. But ownership and management of individual factor: sites must have regard to the wider context, and the (a) important and urgent through threat of development Trust is committed to the well-being of the coastal zone or other risk as a whole and the maintenance of naturally-sustainable (b) important but not urgent coastal systems. To achieve this requires a willingness to work in partnership with others, a capacity for listening (c) important but for secondary reasons and innovative fl air. (d) little or no threat.
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 43 Visitors to Victoria’s Open Range Zoo at Werribee take a bus to visit the locals. Image Zoos Victoria
In order to ensure the future vitality of the coastline The Mornington Peninsula and Westernport region of Victoria, action must be taken now and a strategy were given special planning status because of the developed to assess the landscape and habitat quality clear recognition of the special problems and special of the state’s shores. It is to be hoped that a coastal opportunities they faced. Both the problems and the assessment and protection strategy will gain the opportunities persist, although in slightly different forms, necessary support to ensure that future generations can so it is time for a quantum leap. enjoy the precious jewel that is the Victorian coastline. In thinking about this I have two preliminary remarks. One is that planning decisions always benefi t somebody and dis-benefi t somebody else. It is important to remember So what? What are the opportunities that, and for decent people to try and balance the benefi ts for action and dis-benefi ts. In a place like the Peninsula this is especially diffi cult because I believe it will not be long until George Seddon (1927–2007) we have to erect a ’full-up‘ sign and how you do that is very diffi cult. Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies, The University of Melbourne (1974-81), Dean, Faculty of The Mornington Peninsula, apart from a very concerned Architecture and Planning (1982-88), Senior Research electorate, has one of the best green belts I know. The Fellow, Centre for Studies of Australian Literature, other basic point I want to make is that we need to University of Western Australia from 1989 think, not of the plums, but of the pudding. Planning is about the whole, not about the special bits. It’s obviously Melbourne is the most conservative city in Australia, but important to conserve the special bits, but if you do that every now and again it realises that it is time for change. It to the extent that you lose sight of the whole, then you’re is the engine for change in Australia, in point of fact. This in trouble. This has happened to some degree with the seems self-contradictory, but it is true, whether or not you Heritage Council in Western Australia. So much has been value any of the changes that happen here. Melbourne destroyed that they are anxious to keep the little bits that saw the beginnings of the Victorian Conservation Trust are left. Any effective planning must be for the whole of and Heritage Council and the beginning of the Democrats. the Peninsula. It was Victoria that really stopped the Vietnam War. There is a whole list of things like this in a very conservative society; nevertheless, this is a place where people think. The key issues are:
It is time for another quantum leap and I believe that Water use – in all the Australian capitals and their quantum leap lead to the commissioning of the report that immediate periphery. We are not so much running out Winty Calder and I did – and let me say publicly now that of water as using it badly. We have plenty of water really. it was at least as much Winty as myself. This was assisted Water use has considerable design implications. by the government of the day, led by Dick Hamer. The Agriculture – The essence of our discussion here previous Bolte Government increased prosperity but today has been specifi c forms of land use as a scenic cut corners in order to do so. Hamer’s Government resource. The land serves two functions: a production had a much softer and greener view and I admired him and a landscape function. So we have to fi nd ways of immensely. It was Hamer’s Government which set up coping with two aspects. Many of the best-managed the Westernport region as Planning Area Number 1. The landscapes are agricultural landscapes and are often in Mornington Peninsula was Planning Area Number 2. This the hands of wealthy business and professional people was almost without precedent, except for the Fleurieu from Melbourne. They are ‘Collins Street farmers’. I have Peninsula in South Australia. Tasmania had its Landscape no objection to this whatsoever if the product is good; if Protection Board, but with limited planning powers. they manage the land well. We are very familiar with this in Western Australia because Margaret River has many
44 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Red Hill vineyard. Image Dr Juliet Bird
Ovens Valley farm. Image Dr Juliet Bird vineyards and other agricultural enterprises practically all subdivision by forbidding it, but this is quite a draconian owned by the doctors and lawyers of Perth. So agriculture approach. If you have to phase out subdivision you can; is quite critical to the maintenance of the landscape. you’ve done it before.
This is where one of the problems of equity comes up Roads – The worst changes I have seen have been in the quite keenly. In France, for example, the agricultural transport systems. A few horse trails are fi ne, but we must landscape is highly valued and subsidised. This is a remember that too many can generate problems. A dual possibility here, but the problem is that some farmers use between pedestrians and horses is not satisfactory. don’t need subsidising and some do, and so the issue is Walkers and runners on the same track are not very how to distinguish between these. Real farmers who are satisfactory either. The number of horse trails should be farming for a living are under pressure to subdivide and restricted. There are other problems with horses: they sell up. In any case, if we value this as rural landscape have an output that spreads all sorts of undesirable we’ve got to maintain rural land-use by whatever means plants, depending on what they’ve been eating. What is we can. This is neither easy nor straightforward. important is to encourage well-surfaced and maintained walking and running trails and bicycle trails to encourage Metropolitan Melbourne to some extent has to pay for access around the Peninsula. the privilege of having the Mornington Peninsula – more than it does now. This can be done in various ways. But the real transport problem is the proliferation of Rottnest, for example, maintains a recreational landscape freeways. Cars do not have to be travelling at speed all by a tariff on the boat fare or airfare to travel there. Thus the time. Roads can be designed for different speeds in a substantial amount of money is collected from visitors – different places. It is still appropriate to have low-speed most of whom don’t know they’re being taxed – to pay for roads in certain areas. You do not need to make these facilities. The essence is that farming, if you want farming, roads wider to make them safer. So, it is important not has to be made more profi table than the alternative; to build more freeways and we should consider digging certainly more profi table than subdivision. You can handle some up, as they take up valuable land. The further they
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 45 go into the Peninsula, the more places are crowded out and therefore we are destroying a lot of the things we with cars. So here’s a suggestion that you’ll think is quite also value. We have two incompatible sets of values outrageous. Dig up a few freeways and put the land to and we should be mature enough to recognise that you more profi table uses: some to paved pedestrian, running can benefi t the whole by having some logical, plausible, and bicycle paths. Then you do what we’ve done in well-articulated restrictions. Also – but I don’t think we’re Fremantle and Rottnest, and more so in the Peak National capable of doing this – we should start learning to design Park in Derbyshire. What happens there is that there towns. Everyone wants their own little cottage and we is a big car park that is well-hidden and planted with now have some of the worst form of urban development. concealing trees. Tourists are bussed around the area I think there are better models of doing things, eg row and you can get out at any point you want to, walk, and houses have a lot to offer. There is also a case for more then catch the next bus or whatever. The buses are small apartment buildings. In any case, the present situation is but frequent. They give people choices; tourists are very most unfortunate, and I think also there should be some happy with it and works for the National Park. A similar design criteria for houses built here. Many places, for one system is in place at the Werribee Zoo and the Cat Bus in reason or another, have consistency in design such as Fremantle, where there is little parking and the streets are Margaret River. I’m very disappointed in the standard of very narrow. The bus system is much cheaper than trying architecture and the lack of homogeneity, the lack of any to provide car parking. sense of total design, or a sense of total design values. If you ask me what is the worst thing I’ve seen since I’ve This suggestion raises questions of equity: Fremantle come back, it’s that. residents’ vehicles are allowed in, but visitors’ vehicles are not. Thus Peninsula residents could get a parking permit, while visitors are bussed in to the Peninsula on this proposed system. No matter what the solution, there must be adequate planning solutions for traffi c, as the present situation is destructive of the asset.
Defi nition – which means boundaries. The growth all along the Port Philip coast is better than expected in one sense: there are so many trees that you cannot see much. But it is very boring and there’s no defi nition. In England, for example, towns and surrounding rural areas are clearly defi ned, eg Coresham and Bath. We have no feeling of defi nition here at all. There has been an attempt on the Westernport coast and it seems to be working fairly well. But defi nition is something that is very important and is something that Australian planners need to understand.
Design Issues – A lot of the housing, particularly new housing, seems to be working to the principle ‘the smaller the block the bigger the house’. This has unfortunate results. We should do what lots of other people do. For example, in Anglesea in the UK, you can build any sort of house you like provided it has a slate roof, that it’s white and provided that it’s no more than two storeys; otherwise you have quite a lot of freedom.
The Peninsula (and Australia in general) still behaves like a pioneer community in that it is hostile to regulation
46 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 3.5 Communities and valued coastal landscapes
Dianne Weidner OAM and the Victorian Landscape Guardians have been key Chairman, National Trust of Australia (Victoria) participants in the coastal forums. The following account of the work done for the protection of coastal landscapes Jim Gard’ner by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) is taken from Conservation Manager, National Trust of Australia notes made from the presentations by Jim Gard’ner at (Victoria) the Geelong Coastal Landscape Forum (2004) and Dianne Weidner, OAM at the Peninsula Coast and Country Forum One of the key ways in which the public has been (2005). involved in protecting coastal landscapes is by being involved in community organisations. There are a The National Trust movement in Australia recognises the number of organisations doing valuable work protecting term landscape in its broadest meaning, to incorporate landscape values. The National Trust of Australia (Victoria) urban landscapes, rural countryside, coastal areas as
Loch Ard Gorge on the Great Ocean Road. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 47 Point Nepean. Image Dr Juliet Bird well as the natural landscapes. The Trust contends that transmissions from one generation to the next and are all landscapes have cultural value, even those with little part of our living culture and heritage. Coastal landscapes physical evidence of human occupation. As an Australian refl ect this through physical evidence. heritage body, the Trust has also recognised the shift From its beginnings, the National Trust has been from the Western tradition of separating built and natural aware of the importance of landscape and the natural heritage to the Indigenous approach in which natural and environment. In the early days of the National Trust, a cultural landscapes are integral to the sense of place and group of committed conservationists looked to the Trust spiritual wellbeing of all peoples. to preserve areas of natural beauty that were under threat. Landscapes are not unchanging and should never be The National Trust in Victoria formed the Landscape considered so. As well as the forces of nature, each Preservation Council (the forerunner of its current generation leaves its mark on the landscape and we must Landscape Committee) in 1960, and since then has respect that. These changes form tangible and intangible campaigned for the protection and better management
48 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 of cultural and natural landscapes. The Landscape agencies, respond to development applications, and most Committee of the National Trust developed its landscape importantly inform and inspire the community. This is done classifi cation process, which continues today. centrally, through the Trust’s regional branch network and via its expert committees. The National Trust operates a register and a wide variety of places, including landscapes, have been classifi ed and The roles of other state and territory Trusts vary. Some included on the register. The 300 classifi ed landscapes (like the National Trust in England) were founded to include urban parks, rural properties (e.g. The Briars), campaign for the protection of landscapes. The Australian former industrial sites (e.g. Altona Explosives Range), Council of National Trusts (ACNT) acts as the liaison body Indigenous sites (e.g. stone axe quarry, Mount Williams), for the State and Territory Trusts with the Commonwealth as well as broader landscapes, for instance, the Western Government and other national bodies. Basalt Plains Grassland, lakes and coastlines. There is a diversity of views about the value of cultural Issues on the Mornington Peninsula were at the heart of landscapes and there is a need to acknowledge and much of the Trust’s work of the mid-1960s and 1970s. respect the views of all stakeholders in the decision These included the Westernport Regional Authority’s making process. Landscapes are recognised as being conservation plan of 1975 which was based on expert a dynamic interface between generations, with each information provided by the Trust. contributing its own unique layer. Conservation and management must be balanced by sustainable use Twelve per cent of the National Trust landscape and development by future generations. classifi cations are on the Mornington Peninsula, including Point Nepean, Cape Schanck, Mt Martha and Collins Settlement Site at Sorrento. Most of these classifi cations were undertaken in the 1980s, a time of emerging concern regarding cultural heritage values and landscape. The Trust has taken a prominent role in understanding and interpreting these values and advocating for their protection. These landscapes encompass a wide range of values, including natural, ecological, cultural, indigenous, historical and visual values. Our understanding of the interplay of natural and cultural forces that shaped and are still shaping the Mornington Peninsula are informed by cultural landscapes.
The criteria used to assess landscape values by the Trust’s landscape committee were established in 1982 and were based on the Australian Heritage Commission’s criteria of natural (scientifi c, aesthetic, historic and social) signifi cance and cultural (aesthetic, archaeological, architectural, scientifi c, social and historical) signifi cance. It is now recognised that all landscapes have both natural and cultural values. Criteria are now being reviewed in the light of more recent thinking and the work of agencies such as Heritage Victoria and the Countryside Commission in the United Kingdom.
The Trust’s role is not just to identify, assess, and classify landscapes but also to nominate these to government
Section 3: Coastal landscapes 49 Traralgon Post Offi ce. Image Heritage Victoria
50 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape
4.1 Introduction
The Landscape Advisory Committee was conscious of the fact that landscape types other than coastal landscapes were also facing challenges. Towns across Victoria were facing both decline and development challenges. Thus the third forum, held at Buninyong in 2006, focussed on Historic Towns in the Landscape. This forum focused on small towns and their relationship with their surrounding landscape; the pressures on them, such as tourism and development; and some possible tools and approaches to dealing with these pressures. Methods for assessing, characterising and valuing historic towns were outlined.
An overview of the broader social and economic factors provided a foundation for understanding the reasons for both the decline and the development of small towns. Population changes, infrastructure, services, employment, administration, and social and community factors are all part of what keeps small towns viable. Papers examined ways in which heritage could be seen as an asset to bring benefi t to those towns which are facing stagnation or decline. The forum also examined ways in which historic towns which are growing can develop at the same time as protecting their heritage. Many small towns have historic Buninyong township including hotel (top). features and heritage character that make them special Images John Hawker, Heritage Victoria places to those who live in them. Heritage signifi cance is the recognition of cultural heritage and community not limited to the historic buildings, the town street pattern values into the process or the botanical gardens but includes the setting of the town, often with elements that indicate how it developed in • understand how heritage and landscapes can the past and why it is located where it is (Wale 2006). contribute to the viability of historic towns • promote policies that can protect rural landscapes The objectives for this forum were outlined by Neville from inappropriate development and assist policy Wale, in the Introduction to Historic Towns in the makers, landowners and other stakeholders explore Landscape Forum (2006), as: the concept of stewardship of the landscape • highlight the signifi cance of landscape settings to the • indicate how an understanding of heritage values can heritage of Victoria’s historic towns and encourage be integrated into decision making and contribute to understanding of signifi cant cultural landscapes the economy of small towns. • understand the pressures which lead to change in the landscape settings of historic towns Firstly the general context of small towns in social, economic and environmental terms, with reference • examine the existing and possible options for to history was developed (Section 4.2), then some managing change within the landscape case studies of historic small towns were outlined to • identify gaps in policies, strategies and resources for understand the pressures and opportunities heritage landscape conservation and management issues present (Section 4.3). This was followed by • identify ways landscape management tools which examination and evaluation of strategic options for allow development but protect heritage values conserving the settings of historic towns and an can be improved. This includes methods by which exploration of the role communities play in achieving landscapes may be assessed and may incorporate this (Sections 4.4. and 4.5)
Selected landscape papers: 2004–08 51 4.2 Background theory and policy
Study of small towns in Victoria the late 1990s and into the beginning of the new century. The crisis that affected these towns throughout Australia revisited, and its application to led to concern about the sustainability of small towns with heritage the decline of agriculture as a job-sustaining economic activity. This concern was evident in June 2000 at the First Jerry Courvisanos National Conference on the Future of Australia’s Country Deputy Director, Centre for Regional Innovation and Towns (see Rogers and Collins, 2001). By the time the Competitiveness, University of Ballarat Second Conference came around in July 2005, it was evident from the presentations that small towns had come Introduction out of the slump with renewed energy and confi dence to meet any future occurrences (see Rogers and Jones, Sustainability of small towns has become a signifi cant 2006). Of interest for future policy, and for understanding area of investigation, especially after the recession of the towns themselves, are the mechanisms that brought early 1990s and the long drought that followed through about this changed dynamic in country towns.
Beechworth streetscape. Image Peter Dunphy, Tourism Victoria
52 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 The Victorian Department of Sustainability and evident. The number of small towns has grown over this Environment (DSE) set out to research this issue in its period from 261 to 291 places, with population actually Towns in Time project. Identifying the elements that growing from 284,227 to 293,805; this represents a contribute to changes in towns over time has been 3.3 per cent growth compared with Victoria as a whole the objective. DSE began by analysing the available growing at 17 per cent. Towns of less than 1,000 people demographic data on small towns in Victoria and have seen resident population grow from 2 per cent to appreciating the changes that accompanied the patterns 6.8 per cent of the state’s population. evident in the data. Quantitative data can only take you Increased regionalisation of services away from the so far in making meaningful statements, especially when small towns, amalgamation of local governments and the data is limited by distinct points in time (e.g. fi ve-yearly merging of farms into larger holdings have all contributed census) or areas they cover (e.g. regions can be too large, to the problems faced by small towns, as services and or the smaller regional breakdowns lack scale). community activities become harder to sustain. It has also To better understand small town dynamics, DSE resulted in increased mobility in and out of these small approached the Victorian Universities Regional Research towns, leading to a signifi cant ‘churn’ factor in the towns, Network (VURRN) to update and revisit a study of six despite relatively stable population fi gures in most rural Victorian small towns conducted in 1987 (see Henshall and regional areas. Hansen Associates, 1988). The mid-1980s were boom years for the economy on the back of resources demand Six towns under study and fi nancial deregulation. The mid-2000s are also strong resource-based boom years. In between, the recession The original study selected six towns because they were (‘we had to have‘) and the drought created a need for representative of particular types of small towns, with small towns to ‘do something or perish’. By revisiting different types of economic activity that characterise the same six towns, the aim was to understand how the the diversity of Victorian regional small towns. Initially quantitative data works through in the qualitative changes the original study identifi ed some 30 types, which were that could be uncovered in each of the towns. Then, summarised into six general activity types. The six towns similar patterns across the towns could be identifi ed that selected represented these six general activity categories: imply important elements of survival and regeneration. • Beechworth: Tourism/Resort Base Also, unique elements to each town could also be • Camperdown: Government/Private Sector appreciated as contributing factors. In this context, Services Base heritage is a major contributing pattern to small town • Murtoa: Commuter/Dormitory Base sustainability and, as a unique feature to each town, is the special feature that is highlighted in the discussion below. • Ouyen: Dry-Farm/Services Rural Base • Stanhope: Irrigated-Farm/Processing Rural Base Small towns in context • Swifts Creek: Manufacturing/ Resource Base
The demographic analysis of population changes in The aim of the original study of these six towns was to: Victoria’s towns and rural areas, as well as the update of (i) examine economic linkages between the government, the 1987 study of six small towns in Victoria, has been commercial and farming sectors published by the Victorian Government Department of (ii) analyse the perceptions of people in small towns as Sustainability and Environment (2006). In the Towns in they respond to changing economic circumstances Time project, small towns are defi ned as an urban centre (iii) identify strategic issues regarding the problems and with a population of between 200 and 5,000 residents. prospects of small towns Using the census data from 1986 (just before the fi rst study) and from 2001 (before this 2005 update), the (iv) prepare an agenda for continuing state government and following general features of small towns in Victoria are community involvement in small town development.
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 53 From that study some policies were introduced, notably • Employment creation is the lifeblood of a town as it the Regional Assistance Program for small towns. results in income that supports services and provides self-esteem for the workers and their families. Heritage In the follow-up study the six small towns were not can provide employment opportunities. re-categorised. The aim was fi nd out the state of the towns in 2005 and how they managed through the • Location matters for services and housing, so that intervening 18 years. This was done by a researcher proximity to major urban centres can be a drain (e.g. producing a socio-economic profi le of each town from ‘sponge city’) and an opportunity (unique attraction). the demographic and other data available, raising Towns are developing unique combinations of issues of concern about the town. These issues were local services and geographical relationships investigated in visits to the town, involving interviews, with neighbouring towns and regional centres for meetings and general socialising. Forums were conducted sustainability. with state government regional offi cers and community • Disengagement of local government, despite well representatives, before the fi nal report was produced in intentioned efforts. Large shires and contracting-out February 2006. have tended to lose ‘connectedness’ that weakens ability of small towns to gain local government support Findings of the study in brief for their uniqueness. • Top-down (by State Government, SG) versus Below is a summary of the fi ndings. Where appropriate, bottom-up (by Local Councils, LC) programs leads to the role of heritage is identifi ed within these fi ndings. confusion as empowerment and accountability clash. Heritage can be historic, but it also can be cultural, SG tries to drive the local community development sporting and natural. In a sense, all the latter three agenda through LC without empowerment and become part of the ‘historic’ heritage of the town. resource commitments for LC. History does not reside only in old buildings, but also in what defi nes the town over time. • Heritage is a powerful regional development driver - to live, visit and innovate through historical, natural, • Population change is only part of the story: built and indigenous heritage. The bed and breakfast threshold levels are crucial for survival, but ‘churn’ industry in Beechworth feeds off heritage values and relationships matter. Towns with low ‘churn’ and then the B&Bs work together to accommodate and strong supportive relationships fare better in large conference and tourist groups to diversify the the sustainability stakes. ‘standard’ tourist travel. • Self-image is crucial to resilience, as it is a catalyst • Farming is still important, but structural change has to the development of local committees. Heritage seen larger farms with ‘absent’ owners from town. is a crucial element that can defi ne self-image. Annual fi eld days are diversifying to show farming • Infrastructure matters, but standards of facilities vary heritage to tourists and hobby farmers. widely, with broadband communication generally poor. • Housing costs and availability of services are both Heritage needs to be communicated electronically constraints on viability of expansion of housing areas to the world for the town to maximise its potential. in towns. Strategy is needed for towns’ housing • Local retail services are required for viability, but to adjust to the myriad of demographic changes, threshold levels mean that when a service is non- including ageing and ‘lifestylers’. economic, the whole town suffers in a social sense • Transient residents are the invisible ’churn’ residents as well. which pose a serious challenge to the established • Main street refl ects local pride and history, with an local, and strongly connected community. invitation to stop. This is a signifi cant heritage element • Social exclusion from the town community of youth, that drives many a ‘historic town’, but which can also transients, indigenous, alternative lifestylers. This means drive other towns with different heritages (e.g. sport). it is no longer acceptable to be ‘invisible’ (i.e. sport
54 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 The Midland Private Hotel in Castlemaine, constructed between 1879 and 1892, continues to provide accommodation in the centre of town. Image Heritage Victoria
is not everything). Need heritage values to be much towns have become more dependent on innovation as the more inclusive. driver, as agriculture has faded. Heritage (and the historic • Bureaucracy through infl exible contracting procedures connections) has become a signifi cant innovation driver in leads to frustration, complexity and hostility by the all the towns. This important element of the resilience of all local community. This is especially the case with the six towns has only emerged since 1987. preservation of heritage values, which can take much time and energy out of the community. Questions that need to be asked: • Leadership is crucial. The creative and innovative • How to empower local communities in the face of leaders are able to pull together committees, governments who want audit, control and kudos? grant submissions, and institutional support for • Are rural shires equipped to deal with many diverse the sustainability of the town, whether it is getting small towns? a butcher (Stanhope) or improving streetscape • How to develop reciprocal relationships with major (Swifts Creek). These efforts are uncoordinated and regional centres? sometimes in confl ict with SG and LC initiatives. • How to facilitate a community enterprise model (CEM) • Volunteerism is a source of strength to all towns, but of development and renewal? it is facing the ageing problem. The younger people are less inclined to volunteer, unless it affects them • How to set up a resourcing strategy that allows directly. This particularly affects heritage assets that creativity and innovation in such a CEM? More than depend so much on volunteerism. just time-limited (one year funding) demonstration projects are needed. • High social capital is not everything. Knowledge-based (skilled) residents and workers with strong networks • How can a small community better handle social are important to a town, but it is the ‘social glue’ that exclusion and transient residents? connects these networks of skilled people that adds a • What sort of joined-up model of government is strong sustainability dimension to the town. needed to support such a strategy? • Isolation is a complex factor. Mobility overcomes • Many positive lessons fl ow from the study that help geographical isolation but also weakens the guide us to possible answers. community links if travelling is time-consuming. Isolation can also provide rural tranquillity and security. Economic prospects for small historic towns • Small towns in crisis! This statement ignores the From the study, the following points of specifi c application positive and negative experiences in towns that to small historic towns are relevant: empower the townsfolk and determines their unique future – their community heritage and historical place • Identify heritage potential, but be specifi c. Underlying in the world: ‘Seen one town...seen one town!’ this must be a strong self-image. • Self-image refl ecting this potential needs to be Comparisons: 1987 and 2006 genuine. Tourists recognise ‘spin’ in which the marketing distorts the heritage into some empty In many ways, problems in small towns have not altered, stereotype. only their manifestations alter. Sustainability, as always, • Catalyst role of locally based historic committees depends on viable communities. All the towns faced is crucial as leaders with the ‘social glue’ that unites crises of economic downturn and drought and all have the community and exhibits social inclusiveness. survived to some degree. Prosperity has varied from The CEM approach can create an innovative heritage steady-state (Stanhope) to signifi cant (Beechworth). niche for the town that is commercially strong. Sustainability is a multi-faceted concept that makes it diffi cult to plan, but elements of it are known. Increasingly, • Local rural shires are often not able to discern potential. Often communities have been able to
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 55 by-pass shires and gain support from state An overview of small towns in Victoria government and, even, the private sector. • Resourcing strategy for infrastructure and marketing Jeremy Reynolds is required in any heritage endeavour. This is where Manager of Demographic Research, Department of access to funding and advice matter. The above four Sustainability and Environment points can help in this direction. To gain insights into the character and prospects for small towns in Victoria, a mix of quantitative and qualitative The 2005 research team evidence needs to be called on. This fi rst section is an Leader: Prof. John Martin, Director, Centre for Sustainable overview of the statistical data about trends in small Regional Communities, La Trobe University, Bendigo. towns. It therefore needs to be read in conjunction with the paper by Jerry Courvisanos which uses observations Consulting advisor: John Henshall, Essential Economics. and interviews to assess the welfare of towns. Both these Beechworth: Dr Maureen Rogers, Centre for Sustainable chapters are summaries of parts of a report, Towns in Regional Communities, La Trobe University, Bendigo. Time 2001 – Analysis, published by the Department of Sustainability and Environment. Camperdown: Assoc. Prof. Kevin O’Toole and Dr Anna Macgarvey, Deakin University, Warrnambool. A brief history of settlement change in Victoria Murtoa: Trevor Budge, School of Social Sciences, La Following the fi rst European colonisation of Victoria in Trobe University, Bendigo. the early 1800s there was a period of rapid development Ouyen: Dr Robyn Eversole, Centre for Regional and Rural which was spurred by gold rushes of the 1850s. At this Development, RMIT University, Hamilton. time 80 per cent of Victoria’s population lived outside the Melbourne, a proportion that was to decline continuously Swifts Creek: Dr Helen Sheil and Neil Smith, Centre for to 1970, when it stabilised at around 28 per cent. Rural Communities and Monash University, Gippsland There are perhaps two things to note here. First the rapid Stanhope: Dr Jerry Courvisanos, Deputy Director, Centre growth of population in regional Victoria, and this, in most for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness, University parts of it, has left an extraordinary heritage of towns, of Ballarat, Ballarat. built upon the wealth of mining and agriculture and the I would like to acknowledge the work of the whole pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit of communities. research team. It is their work that provided the basis for Secondly, the focus of both population and economic this discussion. Interpretation of the combined work for growth in the 20th century, particularly since the end of the purposes of this discussion is the sole responsibility World War II, has been fi rmly on Melbourne. Well over of the author. one million migrants have settled in Victoria since 1945, with around 90 per cent of them choosing to settle in References Melbourne. Melbourne’s strength in a post industrial or Henshall Hansen Associates 1988, Small Towns Study in Victoria, information economy has now reached a higher level with Victorian Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Melbourne. the growth of high order business and personal services. Rogers, MF & Collins, YMJ (eds) 2001, The Future of Australia’s Furthermore, family reunion migration programs further Country Towns, Centre for Sustainable Communities, La Trobe entrench Melbourne and Sydney as the two foci University, Bendigo. of overseas migration. Rogers, MF & Jones, DR (eds) 2006, The Changing Nature of Australia’s Country Towns, VURRN Press, Ballarat. Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment (2006), Towns in Time 2001 – Analysis: Incorporating the update to the Study of Small Towns in Victoria, Demographic Research Unit, DSE, Melbourne.
56 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Population change, Melbourne and regional Victoria, experienced many ups and towns. The loss of the UK 1841–2001 butter market when the UK joined the EEC in the early 1970s was a blow. Deregulation in the 1990s, however, Regional Victoria, however, has both strong population was a boon allowing Victoria’s natural advantages for and economic growth which is resulting in an overall dairying to come to the fore. By the end of the century the expansion of towns and settlement in rural areas. What number of Victorian dairy farms had declined by 20,000. stands out about regional Victoria is its sheer diversity. At Average herd sizes were now nearing 200 and overall the heart of it is a diverse physical environment. Rainfall production was three times its 1950 level. in the parts of the Alps is 12 times the annual rainfall of The location of a town, the region it is in and its proximity to regional centres, strongly infl uences the development pressures that it faces. Small towns’ relationships with regional centres have also been changing due to a number of factors. Increased personal mobility has been brought about by higher levels of car ownership, cheaper and more reliable cars, and better roads. Government and commercial services have regionalised away from small centres into the larger regional centres, a trend that most noticeably occurred in the 1990s. The larger centres have become nodes for an expanding employment sector – higher education – as well as a new range of business services and big box retailers. Technology has also played the Mallee. Victoria’s geology and soils vary considerably its part – telecommunications and television now reach from one part to another. Proximity to Melbourne and its out into rural communities like never before. The continual hungry consuming population, its port and to government mechanisation of agriculture has led to larger farms and and to the services that the big city dispenses, has also smaller labour forces across the state. Servicing of this had an enduring infl uence on Victoria’s settlement. still-important sector relies less on skills in nearby towns; parts and services often have to be sourced outside the Structural changes and impacts region and sometimes overseas.
It is therefore hardly surprising that regional Victoria’s This regionalisation has surprisingly not led to a economy and settlement patterns are diverse, with widespread decline of the small town. The Towns in distinct regional differences. Contrast the Barwon region Time – Analysis study shows from both a quantitative or around Geelong with the Wimmera region centred on qualitative perspective that towns are both resilient and Horsham. Barwon’s strengths are around manufacturing, dynamic. In fact some data show a resurgence of the shipping, education and tourism. The Wimmera’s are small town. Between 1981 and 2001, towns with 2,000 more to do with wheat and a greater range of other dry to 6,000 people had higher growth rates than larger land crops and with mining. The Barwon region centred towns or rural areas. Just behind were towns with on Geelong has a population more than fi ve times that populations in the range of 500 to 2,000 people. Towns of the Wimmera. are clearly adapting to changing economic and social circumstances. The number of people living in towns As changes occur to our economy, it is inevitable that the but working in agriculture has increased. Commuting spatial impact is uneven. A classic example of structural to regional centres has also increased. With higher change in Victoria is that experienced by the dairying personal mobility, lower housing costs and some industry over the last 60 years. In 1950 there were over ‘lifestyle’ advantages, towns are often attractive dormitory 28,000 dairy farms in Victoria with an average herd size settlements for regional centres - ‘small town living but of 17. Between then and now the industry has close to all the services’ being the estate agents’ banter.
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 57 Population growth of towns, 1947-1981 • Commuter towns, particularly those to the north-west and 1981–2001: and south-east of Melbourne also showed strong population growth
2.50 • Most coastal towns, from Port Fairy in the west to Mallacoota in the east, grew strongly. Furthermore 2.00 their summertime and day tripping populations (neither 1.50 collected by the ABS) add to the growth pressures and
1.00 issues being experienced by these towns Average annual change
0.50 • Some inland tourist towns such as Daylesford, Halls Gap and the Alpine towns showed growth 0.00 Tow ns greater than Tow ns of 6,000 to Tow ns of 2,000 to Tow ns of 500 to Tow ns less than 500 20,000 people 20,000 people 6,000 people 2,000 people people and rural • Murray Valley towns experienced similar growth to areas coastal areas Tow n size at 2001 1947-2001 1981-2001 • ‘Sponge’ cities such as Mildura, Horsham, Warrnambool and Bairnsdale all captured population Regional Differences out of their hinterlands • Small towns in dry land farming areas mostly A map of population change across Victoria during the experienced population loss. Nevertheless ageing and 1990s shows a mixed pattern of population growth and declining population size often meant there were still loss in towns: pressures for extra housing • Large regional centres with populations of 30,000 all • Finally, there were towns that were ‘odd’ in that they grew strongly, with the exception of the Latrobe Valley were heavily dependent on one industry or institution. which was undergoing major structural change within Beechworth, Sale, the Latrobe Valley, Ararat, Seymour its principal industries and a few others come into this category.
Population change in Victorian centres* 1991 t0 2001 Number of persons
3,000 1,500 300 -300 -1,500 -3,000
*excluding Melbourne
Source: DSE Towns in Time unpublished database
58 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Historic Maldon, Victoria’s best preserved gold rush town and the fi rst ‘Notable Town’ classifi ed by the National Trust, has made the most of its intact historic streetscape to attract regular tourist trade. Image Peter Dunphy, Tourism Victoria
The future The household projections show an even sharper upward curve of growth. The continued decline in household The 1990s situation described above is clearly different size should lead to a 50 per cent growth in the numbers to the environment that towns now fi nd themselves in. of households between 2001 and 2031 in regional The level of restructuring has clearly slowed and the Victoria. Translate that into dwellings and then add on the ABS’s building indicators and population and employment increasing demand from Melburnians for second homes estimates all show a resurgence of growth. When the and we have a major planning and development task in 2006 census is published in mid 2007, we will be able to front of us. The largely unquantifi ed seasonal and even see how this has impacted on towns. weekly fl uctuations in town populations need to be built Population projections undertaken by DSE show strong into the planning equation. population growth for regional Victoria over 2001–2031, The ageing population is and will continue to be an the amount of growth being more than the current issue for towns. Although people are becoming healthier combined populations of Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. and more active in old age, the demand for goods and With ageing populations, less growth in the future will services will shift. Fewer children (the result of long term come from natural increase (births minus deaths) but decline in fertility rates) plus a lot more people aged in more from migration from Melbourne (fewer young adults their 50s, 60s and 70s will have to be managed by towns. migrating to Melbourne but more older adults and retirees The qualitative evidence shows that towns are generally moving out). adapting well but they need help to move forward.
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 59 Port Fairy Folk Festival brings many visitors to the town. Image courtesy: Getty Images/Tourism Victoria
Towns and the tourist onslaught Caves (Jenolan, Buchan), spas (Daylesford) or some other – survival or capitulation? natural attraction (Davidson and Spearritt 2000). Until the l960s, most Australian-born citizens probably Peter Spearritt still had one relative on the land. This is no longer the Executive Director of The Brisbane Institute case. Australians over 50 still have nostalgic memories of country town life and have probably lived for at least Ever since the Tasmanian government began to take a few months in a country town. Younger Australians tourism promotion seriously in the l890s, country towns in and immigrants may or may not discover the delights of Australia have been conscious of the potential of tourists country town Australia, a discovery largely dependent on and holiday makers for their local economies. Some their own travel habits. But they are much less likely to town’s commitment to the holiday trade even predates have relatives to stay with. that decade, including the guesthouse capitals that developed in Katoomba and Queenscliff, and the seaside The attractions of the country town for those of us who resort towns to be found around the continent. Apart from have lived in one can be summed up technically in terms beaches within easy reach of the capital cities, notable of their legibility, their morphology and their heritage. But early rural coastal holiday settlements included Lorne it is also their convenience, and in this we are grateful and Coolangatta. For inland settlements to develop a escapees from the gargantuan car-based shopping tourist trade they needed mountain scenery (Katoomba), centres that now dominate Australian suburban life.
60 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 The Empyre Hotel in Castlemaine refl ects the gold wealth that built the town. Image Peter Dunphy
When I visit a medium size country town – and the range Canberrans. Gilgandra, on the other hand, has withered of services is obviously critical – I visit the hardware in the shadow of Dubbo, and its main street is now store that isn’t a Bunnings, so I can get answers, I do mournfully dominated by empty shopfronts in what my Medicare refunds and I buy my Collins diary each was, even 20 years ago, a major regional centre. year in Murwillimbah because the newsagent there The car and the truck have been the ruin of many a has a better range than Dymocks. I am putting this country town and the making of some, particularly the aggressively consumerist position because I am one of medium-sized regional centres, large enough to sport a a growing proportion of males prepared to admit that Woolworths or a Coles. What a sign of our civilization! we like shopping. I’m still devastated by the move of the Why the good citizens of Maleny didn’t immediately antique market in Ballarat from the Mining Exchange to embrace the offer of Woolworth’s to put their town on the old public school up the hill because I can’t savour the map, even if it meant eliminating the last bit of my purchases over a decent cup of coffee. At least in the remnant green space in the town, I simply can’t imagine. Maryborough railway station the ladies in the refreshment rooms look after you, post-purchase. There are plenty of examples of country towns that have survived, with little tourism, because they remain regional Last year I purchased a large mirror at the Maryborough centres with an agricultural base – and for cultural or station antique market. The only way to transport it back travel time reasons they have not been swamped by a to Brisbane by air, as accompanied baggage, was to larger regional centre or, the worst threat that any medium visit the local Salvos warehouse and buy a huge second- size town can face, a free standing shopping centre on hand suitcase that would fi t the mirror. There aren’t many the urban fringe, rather than within walking distance of suburbs in Australia in which you can do that. And just to the main street. Thankfully town planners and economic think, that despite the decline of many of Maryborough planners in local councils have become much more industries, almost all the books published by the strategic about these issues in recent years. University of Queensland Press, who’s Board I chair, are printed in Maryborough, Vic. Until the l980s there was a standard way in which you absolutely ruined the city centre of a major town. It only Eighty-fi ve per cent of us now live in just six cities, required two things – the car based shopping centre including what I dub the 200 kilometre city from Noosa on the fringe and turning the main street into a mall – to the Tweed. We have all seen villages and towns Townsville and Rockhampton are tragic examples, where subsumed into urban sprawl, especially on the fringes of the problem was exacerbated by putting the universities our huge, land-hungry cities and their equally back-yard on the very fringe of the city, away from accommodation, hungry citizens. Other towns, including the marvellous shops, pubs and all the other things that staff and array of goldfi elds towns in Victoria, have retained students apparently don’t need. Putting Deakin University separate geographical, social and landscape identities. at Waurn Ponds, rather than in the Geelong CBD is Castlemaine is one where the population remained another classic example. At least the University now remarkably stable over the 20th century. Others have occupies some of the former woolstores. continued as regional centres (Ballarat, Bendigo), grown into regional centres (Wodonga), or withered, and in some The gutting of the main streets of our great regional cases, are in terminal decline. Nothing of course could be towns has real parallels with the way they, in turn, have more terminal than the destruction of Yallourn, surely the often gutted the commerce of other towns within an world’s only true Art Deco village. hour’s drive of the big centre. But nothing is worse than the gutting of landscapes that surround these towns. It is As other speakers today have mentioned, the sense those landscapes that are crucial to maintaining a sense of decay in some country towns is so palpable that it of identity – the landscapes and the green space between is diffi cult to see how it can be turned around. Yass settlements, so you know you’ve gone from one place survived being bypassed and now thrives again, but to another. partly because it is within 45 minutes drive of 350,000
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 61 The imposing Maryborough Railway Station now houses an antique emporium, cafe, wine bar and gallery. Image James Lauritz, Tourism Victoria When do towns turn to tourism, when do they just And I remind you that the Cumberland Resort, a pink gradually become partly tourist sites, and when should excrescence, can’t use its landmark chimneys – designed they reject tourism? Victoria has successful towns where to market cosy winter weekends – because the apartments tourism is just part of the economy, grafted onto pre- above get fi lled with smoke. Why don’t the architectural existing settlements that retain some core industries and town planning professions, potentially honest trades, or get new ones. Castlemaine, born of gold, still has spend more time giving out citations for really bad the bacon factory, but the jail provides just as much mistakes? employment, and more mouths to feed. The commitment to maintaining streetscapes has had Lorne, always a holidaymaker’s establishment, is at the a benefi cial impact. Bangalow, a sweet village born of other end of the spectrum, having catered to tourists dairying in the Byron Bay hinterland, boasts a fantastic virtually since its inception. In Lorne the heritage good beaten metal agricultural hall, a main street of the luck seems to me to have a lot to do with most of the l920s shops, an l930s post offi ce, a late deco Pub and settlement being on only one side of the street, with the marvellous showgrounds. Of course, now that it is in the notable exception of Erskine House, saved crucially by orbit of Byron Bay, it is allowed to retain all its heritage Premier Hamer in those years when it would have been architecture, but what happens in the shops has certainly demolished. Now it has been turned into an ocean-front changed. You can’t buy hardware or cheap soap, but you condominium estate, much like any Queensland golf can buy designer clothes, pseudo antiques, books (but course with instant heritage town houses. only if they are called ICON something or other), lingerie and all the other necessaries for consuming coffee and
62 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 trading in macadamia nuts. Mercifully, the post offi ce where investors come fi rst, and tenants, owner-occupiers is still a post offi ce, with the addition of a second-hand and holidaymakers come a fi rm second. How else can bookshop. What a tragedy that Bendigo’s post offi ce, you explain the penchant of the development industry to with its magnifi cent postal counter, has been given over to destroy the very environment it wishes to capitalise on? tourist promotion, rather than postal services. There are a number of key questions which may not be The towns in Australia most under threat from tourism resolved at this landscape forum, but always need to are those that have been swamped by day-trippers and be uppermost in the minds of heritage advocates. Once the demand for overnight beds. Our greatest tourist we’ve secured the main street through legislation, how do establishments ooze beds – Cairns, the Sunshine Coast, we protect the landscape setting. That is central to not the Gold Coast and the capital cities. Montville, in the only the continued attractiveness but also the sense of Blackall Range west of Noosa, doesn’t have many beds identity of all towns. but it does try simultaneously to be a French, Irish and Rural Victorian towns have some great advantages Scottish hill station. The result; its original agricultural and over towns in other states. The distances are smaller residential architecture is tarted up and compromised and, despite petrol price rises, they are cheaper to get beyond belief, and it doesn’t even have the solace of a jail. to than elsewhere, especially from their state capital. That’s what has saved Berrima, where the streetscape is You don’t have to worry about a reliance on regional given over to boutique commerce, but the jail, mercifully, airports, so important to northern NSW and north has not yet been commercialised. You can wander around Queensland. You have a rich built-heritage preserved by it and still imagine Berrima 100 years ago. It is increasingly a combination of Victorian conservatism and advocacy hard to do that in most self-styled tourist towns in Australia. from Heritage Victoria. You exported your crassest Byron Bay is a most instructive example because, with a developers to Queensland and with it your opportunity population of 6,000, it gets almost two million visitors a to have beachfront high-rise and canal estates as good year, one-third of them day-trippers from SE Queensland. as any to be found in Florida. Don’t let your towns and Until the l970s Byron Bay consisted of a dairy your landscapes be compromised by the developer and establishment and abattoirs – good honest, god-fearing investor-led buildings. When they don’t like what they’ve businesses. Intriguingly, it never became a major port, created, or they are no longer making money from it, they because it got rail access from Lismore early on. It is one sell out and move on to the next target. of the few spots on the NSW coast where the fondness of engineers for building stone abutments and groins was References not exercised, unlike Brunswick Heads to its north, or Davidson, J and Spearritt, P 2000 Holiday Business: Tourism in Ballina and Nambucca Heads to its south. Australian since 1870, University Press, Melbourne. Spearritt, P 2004 The 200 kilometre city: Noosa to the Tweed, The irony today is that most of the Byron Bay trade comes Brisbane Institute. from SEQ, escaping their rampant coastal development to see Mt Warning – some even climb it – or to admire the fact the Byron to Brunswick is held in a nature reserve, a term, a concept and a practice almost unknown in SEQ, where the Glasshouse Mountains National Park protects only the volcanic plugs, with neo-Tuscan mini-mansions running rife between the great peaks (Spearritt 2004).
One of the reasons why Byron Bay has been less scarred by the tourist onslaught than many other coastal boom towns is that 40 per cent of the 10,000 beds in the region are in camping grounds, not in high-rises overlooking the beach. What a contrast to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts,
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 63 Halls Gap. Image Tourism Victoria
4.3 Local applications
Growth and non-grown towns – case the gold was further up the hill, so the townspeople just settled up near the mines. Stawell has a fascinating studies landscape conundrum always on the agenda. It is a town Wendy Jacobs built on gold and has an operating gold mine – one of the reasons that the town still prospers. Crowning the Heritage Consultant, Heritage Advisor to the Main Street of Stawell is the aptly named Big Hill. Next Shire of Northern Grampians to Big Hill is a big hole where the mine is. There is a lot I am pleased that the forum is looking at the landscape of gold under Big Hill and the mine would like to get at because this is an area I have found diffi cult to grapple it by the cheapest possible way – open cut mining. This with over the years. The general public now agrees with would mean digging up Big Hill and moving it just a little retaining the heritage of a town as long as you do not to the east as a mullock heap. Now, I personally like place any restrictions on them. This appreciation of the Big Hill where it is. I think it has historic signifi cance and cultural heritage has slowly radiated out from Melbourne is a major component of the landscape but historically to reach even areas such as Sea Lake and Edenhope. Stawell was built on gold and the people who shaped Landscape qualities and protection are an area which has the way we see Stawell now did not let much stand in lagged behind and its time is well and truly overdue. their way – historically they would have mined the hill if they had those really big trucks to do it with. Which is Having grown up with the heritage conservation more important – continuing the heritage of gold mining movement I hope I have developed, along with it, from or retaining Big Hill? We retain mullock heaps in the just acknowledging the crème de la crème individual landscape, so would a new one be acceptable? Feel free building to seeing the signifi cance of areas, gardens, to discuss in the forum. industrial sites and ruins. The setting has always been part of the whole signifi cance. In the early days, the setting Halls Gap is nestled in the foot of the Grampians. The may have been referred to but not included generally in place is dominated by its landscape (albeit a little charred recommendations, as the main objective was the building at the moment). While undertaking the heritage study, and things had to be kept simple at the start. we came to the conclusion that the township as a whole did not meet the criteria for a Heritage Overlay, but richly It has always fascinated me that one town blossoms and deserved protection of the landscape. This is a more grows when another just withers away, even though their diffi cult issue to manage than heritage overlays. The place history was very similar in the fi rst place. During the gold is popular and under pressure to develop as a tourist rushes, the seeds of a town were sown at each river/ destination. Gradually, larger and larger developments creek crossing and about every 10 miles along a track are taking the place of the shrub surrounded minimalist and usually where these two requirements coincided. holiday houses. The shire is caught between encouraging The watercourse gave necessary water and, with gold, economic development and retaining the very aspects was often the source of wealth and the means to unlock that draw the tourists. Most of the adjacent land in it. There fi rst came a pub, then a store and this attracted controlled by Parks Victoria, which helps retain the prized others. If the water held and the gold or passing travellers landscape but also limits the amount of land available for kept coming, the town grew. Finally a government development within a narrow valley. surveyor would arrive and set out the town: sometimes this survey is all that is left of the grand aspirations of the Newstead is a small town within the catchment of settlement. Castlemaine and Bendigo which, like Maldon, is a bit of a Snow White, moribund for many years. The instigator All I can offer are some observations of places that of pressure on Newstead is the advent of a sewerage I have worked in and you can perhaps use these as system which has now allowed the development of springboards to dive into discussion. many sites which could not sustain a septic tank. One Stawell is a town built on gold and, although government of the characteristics of the town is its spread-out deemed that the town should be near the Pleasant Creek, development and abundance of vacant lots – many of
64 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 The You Yangs Regional Park is a popular destination for cyclists. Image Mark Watson, Tourism Victoria
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 65 which have never been developed. People have owned the allotments and have separate titles to them. There is not a mechanism to retain the vacant lots – and I even have qualms about having such mechanisms. But the development of these blocks of land is changing the face of the town and causing disquiet amongst the residents.
As a sub-consultant to some further heritage studies in Ballarat a few years ago, the brief asked for assessment of heritage landscapes and the head consultants, Hansen Partnership, undertook assessment in the area around Learmonth. The mammaloid hills that gently roll around the town as mainly grazing land were assessed and recommendations for their protection presented to a Public Meeting. The recommendations were not well received and, as a result, the landscape recommendations were not included in the fi nal report. There is now a proposal for abattoirs and saleyards adjacent to the town, supported by the City of Ballarat to bring economic development into the area. I have had a number of locals on the phone asking how they can use the heritage of the town and the landscape to prevent this happening.
Asking others about why some towns prosper and some just fade away, gave the following insights – towns with good built infrastructure retain their appeal. So, the ones that were prosperous and built the grand town halls and libraries, retain this appeal. The other comment was about the baby boomers who are moving back into some of these areas – they need to be near services and not too far from the attractions of Melbourne, so people will visit and they can go to town for the day. Taradale, a small straggling community outside Castlemaine, has a walking group of 140 people. It is functioning as the meet and greet apparatus to the town. Most are retirees, many with no former ties to the area. In the early stages, these are the ones that retain the town, the signifi cant built infrastructure, the landscapes and the love of the place. It is the next stage which puts the pressures on.
In conclusion, I am still not sure how you retain a landscape against development, changes in agriculture and good old bushfi res. I will go back to trying to protect the built heritage and hope that I can pass that baton onto the next generation.
66 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 4.4 Planning to protect historic towns in the landscape
Murtoa Stick Shed. Image John Gollings, Heritage Victoria.
The answer is quite simple. Our towns and cities are Our towns as cultural landscapes cultural landscapes just like most of our rural landscapes. By cultural landscapes I mean more than the trees, Ray Tonkin plantings and visual aspects of a botanical landscape. Executive Director of Heritage Victoria In 2005, I spent three months at the Humanities Research This seminar is sponsored by the Landscape Advisory Centre at ANU. During that time I set out on a research Committee of the Heritage Council of Victoria . project to examine the role played by professional architects in the creation of Victoria’s rural and regional One might ask why is a landscape committee concerning towns and cities during the second half of the 19th century. itself about towns?
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 67 The research theme for the HRC during 2005 was Cultural Landscapes and, rather than pursue a straightforward architectural history project, I fi rst of all set out to examine how urban settlements were seen by those interested in cultural landscapes.
Australia’s students of cultural landscapes have largely avoided the subject of urban settlements and have focussed their attention on rural landscapes with particular reference to geographical, geological or botanical elements.
So, what is important about our small towns? • To some it is about their social history and the important people that lived there • To some it is their buildings and the specialness of Fishing at Marlo. Image Brian Gilkes, Tourism Victoria their architecture • To some it is the physical layout of the place and its It is the same process as establishing the cultural contribution to a story about land surveying and town heritage signifi cance of a place for inclusion on a heritage planning register. In fact, if we are to acknowledge our towns • To some it is the topography and geology, the as important cultural landscapes, then that is what we traditional pieces of physical geography have to do. But we will not succeed in defi ning the true importance of these places if we fail to acknowledge • To some it is about the trees and plantings – the more the interdependence of the wide variety of elements of traditional botanical view of landscape signifi cance. • To some it is about the way the places are used I will use the case of Beechworth to illustrate my point. • To some it is the economic activity and vitality of the place In 1972, the National Trust declared that Beechworth • To some it is the opportunity that the place provides was a historic town. The Trust’s citation was about its for improvement or ‘townscaping’. interesting history as an important gold rush town and the fact that it had retained some nice buildings from that What often happens is that the importance of the era, several of which would stand up well in a state wide place is defi ned by one measure alone or at best by assessment of architectural design. There was no real several acting independently. The social historians acknowledgement of the topography or geology, the trees struggle to acknowledge the role of architectural design and landscaping nor the economic dependence of the or engineering ingenuity, the architectural historians town on major public institutions. For much of its post- fail to acknowledge that the trees and landscaping is gold era history, Beechworth’s economy had relied on the as important as the buildings, the economists fail to psycho-geriatric hospital Mayday Hills, the prison and the see that the economic vitality is not solely due to the Ovens and Murray Home and Hospital for the Aged. entrepreneurial nature of the local business people and the townscapers fail to see anything much other than a When I visited Beechworth in 1980, as a precursor to the clean slate for some new design and building government establishing a heritage advisory service for the then United Shire of Beechworth, I found a town with This is particularly the case when a town manages to some interesting goldrush era buildings, a lot of modest become a successful tourist destination. 19th century domestic and commercial buildings of no What makes a place important and how it is great individual importance, a physical landscape that acknowledged and interpreted is the key. was not recognised as all that special, a social history
68 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 that focussed on names like Ned Kelly and Robert O’Hara that grow from its social history (not just the Kelly and Burke and a streetscape of empty shops and vacant Burke stories), as are the economic ventures that make it blocks of land. a comfortable place to stay in or, for that matter, even the opportunity to carry out urban improvements. Fifteen years later I sat quietly as I was told by an ‘economic regenerator’ (or something like that) that But then how do we integrate all of those elements so Beechworth’s signifi cance was all about the economic that there is an understanding of what is valued and what wonders of its bakery and the entrepreneurship of the we are trying to conserve. person who had established it. After all, our ultimate objective is to plan and manage the In one sense, Beechworth had come a long way. It now place to conserve its signifi cance. So we fi rst of all must had tourist coaches lined up in the main street disgorging defi ne that signifi cance. their passengers into the highly successful bakery. There is another paper on the subject of statements of In another sense, it was no further advanced in signifi cance which we haven’t got time for here, however comprehensively defi ning its true signifi cance as a it must be acknowledged that describing signifi cance cultural landscape – even though the visitors arrive across a wide range of values remains a challenging in their thousands to take in something that they could prospect. see was important. It was visually attractive. It wasn’t just The traditional way of coming to these statements is to the old buildings or the fact that Ned Kelly was tried in the undertake studies or analyses and, from there, extract the Courthouse or that Robert O’Hara Burke was a policeman elements of signifi cance. there and there was a museum named after him. Nor was it just the presence of the bakery and its jam donuts and coffee. Back to Beechworth
The whole physical ensemble (buildings, trees, The town planning version of the conservation of the town topography, geology) is important, as are all the stories commenced on the basis of a National Trust citation and an amazing University of Melbourne Architecture School study reconstructing the architectural form of Ford and Camp Streets at various stages of their history.
Now, as Liz Vines, the fi rst heritage advisor in the town found, whilst it was an amazing piece of academic research, it was of very limited use when people walked through the doors of the shire and wanted approval to build something in Finch Street. It was also of limited use if there was a plan to put a new building in Ford Street. I remember one example in Camp St where Liz was able to promote the re-creation of an architectural façade that had existed there at a previous period, but this was a rare occasion.
In 1986 a study of trees was undertaken, so some sense of that element was acknowledged, and more recently the Shire of Indigo has completed a more traditional heritage study which has provided signifi cance assessments of buildings and areas throughout the shire. In between
Beechworth justice precinct with the police station in foreground and times there has been a substantial investment in and courthouse behind. Image Peter Dunphy, Tourism Victoria around Lake Sambell and a signifi cant investment in
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 69 Beechworth hospital ruins. Image Heritage Victoria
improving the presentation of the central government But is this suffi cient to guide the town into the precinct (both townscape-type projects). future?
It also must be acknowledged that the former United How long is it before the reliance on ‘feeling’ fails in the Shire of Beechworth and the current Shire of Indigo have absence of a clear statement of what makes the town done rather well in managing to conserve the town, whilst signifi cant as a cultural landscape? allowing the economic development of the place. It seems to me that Beechworth has skirted around the I guess that this has been as a consequence of a analysis of the total signifi cance of the place, in the eyes ‘feeling’ for what was good for the place and an inherent of its buildings, its landscape, its social and economic conservatism about allowing any of the old buildings to history, its topography and geology, its layout and urban be demolished or for any grand architectural gestures to form, its economic base and its potential for future be made anywhere in the town. The latter, of course, has development been achieved in the face of other desires and through the application of a ‘feeling’ as to what is right. A revisiting of the signifi cance through cultural landscape eyes would lead to a statement of its signifi cance as a Its planning policies do provide some sense of that ‘feeling’. cultural landscape rather than as a series of things.
Beechworth developed following the discovery of gold From that point the management of the place should be at Spring Creek early in 1852. By July 1853 Beechworth easier and carry it into the future. had been declared a town. The original surveyed town plan of 1853 is still largely evident and this includes the Now the fact of the matter is that Beechworth has been size of blocks, laneways, and designated land uses well looked after and continues to be in good hands and it (churches, public buildings, parklands). Beechworth is not the purpose of this paper to suggest otherwise. was the major administrative centre for the whole of the However, many other towns in this state are not so well north-east throughout the 1850s and 1860s. Most of looked after and, more importantly, their managers have the government buildings from this period are extant. A little understanding of what their cultural signifi cance is or bylaw introduced in 1856 prohibited canvas tents and this for that matter any substantial inherent ‘feeling’ about the has ensured that there are a number of buildings, both place. Consequently there is little consensus about what commercial and residential, that have survived from this should be cared for and conserved. relatively early date. A study of the botanical landscape of Murtoa will The aesthetic qualities of the streetscapes and their recognise an avenue of Kurrajong trees and a heritage intactness are remarkable. There is little to compare with study of its buildings will identify a water tower and the the scale, uniformity and quality of these streetscapes. ‘stick shed’ and a study of its economic history possibly Beechworth is unusual for its intactness and integrity, the importance of the meat processing works. But none as the 20th century has only lightly touched most of of these things separately will reasonably describe the the township. There is an appreciable and tangible cultural landscape or character of the town. Without relationship between Beechworth’s 19th century raison such a description, Murtoa may just be destined to be d’être as a gold mining town and extant mining sites and managed by a means of independent decisions about artefacts in the surrounding areas. specifi c aspects of the town.
During the 20th century the economy of Beechworth was Then take a place like Marlo on the Gippsland coast. stimulated by the presence of government departments The normal social history will tell you little about the place such as the Beechworth Gaol and Mayday Hills. These that it is today, nor would a traditional heritage study give buildings were built during the 19th century and retained you much to work with. But Marlo is a cultural landscape their use until relatively recent times. Despite functioning no less than all other settlements around the state. during the 20th century, the 19th building fabric, design and Without consciously understanding the importance of its intentions are strongly evident. topography and physical geography or its vegetation or
70 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 its economic history, one could not adequately establish What are the current planning tools a statement of signifi cance for that town. Nor could you for managing the landscape setting of establish good management policies to guide future development. small towns? Other terms for what I have been describing are urban Trevor Budge or neighbourhood character. These are relatively new Victorian President, Planning Institute of Australia, terms in Australian planning jargon and I agree that they Senior Lecturer Latrobe University Bendigo are an alternative way of defi ning the cultural landscape of a place. Equally we could be talking of the heritage of When we look at our country towns and the physical a place: a broadly defi ned heritage which goes beyond expression of their cultural heritage and landscape setting, buildings and trees, the physical remnants of history. we need to realise that such a context is overlayed by all sorts of other settings, changes and contexts. One of the What is important for our small towns is that the most important to understand is just what is happening to landscape historians, the social and economic historians, these towns in a social, cultural and economic sense. the architectural historians, the physical geographers, the economic entrepreneurs and the townscapers all put their My fi rst point is that if you use statutory planning tools, and heads together to analyse and describe place in a manner apply them clone-like to towns, then you have failed to which is more akin to historical geography. Using such understand a critical principle we must recognise - statutory a model, all of our towns can successfully establish their planning response must be derived from an understanding cultural landscape signifi cance and pursue management of not only the individuality of the town and its physical policies accordingly. appearance but you must know the story of the town. A major shortfall of the Victorian planning system is that the State Planning Policy Framework says almost nothing about provincial Victoria and our country towns
Mount Elephant. Image David Scaletti, Tourism Victoria
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 71 Mount Buninyong. Image John Hawker, Heritage Victoria as having any sort of identity. It doesn’t recognise, for subdivisions which extend across that landscape setting. instance, the central Victorian goldfi elds are a unique Peripheral development in many towns is a major threat to built landscape of national and international signifi cance. their landscape setting. Victoria, in a relatively small area of Australia, has the There are just on 100 towns in western Victoria with greatest collection of heritage towns in heritage landscape between 200 and 5,000 people. If we exclude those settings. Municipalities need to be told at the state level places that are commuter places to Melbourne or the what they have, because familiarity often breeds neglect. regional centres or are coastal towns, which have their There is an understandable goal of getting the list of distinct patterns, there are essentially four types of town heritage buildings and precincts into the schedule of the layouts and landscape settings. These four regional scheme and of course this is vital to protecting buildings landscape groupings of small country towns found and places. Buninyong has a strong separate identity that within western Victoria are: was in danger of being overtaken by the outward growth • the pastoral lands of the western district of urban Ballarat. The community saw the importance • the central goldfi elds of the non-urban break between here and Mount Helen, but that non-urban break is also important because it • the irrigation areas of northern Victoria preserves the edge of the historic original survey of the • the dry land farming areas of the Wimmera and town. The non-urban break provides the open views to the Mallee regions in the State’s northwest. Mount Buninyong. The landscape setting of the town The fi rst group comprises towns that were generally is under threat because those on the rural edge of the settled in the early years of Victoria prior to its town want to extend the town with low density lots and
72 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Daylesford streetscape. Image courtesy Daylesford and the Macedon Ranges. establishment as a colony. The topography of this area the gold ran out, many of these towns managed to take is largely fl at to mildly undulating, rainfall is generally on a rural service role. Such roles usually had limited reliable, and the necessity for access to fresh water is capacity because the surrounding agricultural land in gold not as critical as in some other parts of the state. Initial mining areas was generally not highly productive. Most wealth was well refl ected in the small-scale grandeur of of the goldfi elds towns in western Victoria are located the towns. Many of these towns are characterised by an within about two hours travel time from Melbourne. This, expansive town layout refl ecting strong civic ambitions. combined with the quality of the built heritage features of Towns such as Camperdown, Mortlake and Terang typify the towns, has generated tourist interest and supported this group. They boast wide avenues and extensive grid the weekend rural retreat market. street layouts. They often evoke images of order and In some cases this feature has now become a major vision. Many of these towns have common features in element of the town’s economy and function. Towns such their appearance, layout and dimensions. Many of the as Clunes and Daylesford epitomise this development. smaller towns such as Lismore, Derinallum, Noorat and The nature of gold mining often produced a characteristic Cressy follow the grand plan of the larger towns with jumbled layout of roads and streets that followed the wide streets and extensive tree planted medians, but they higher ground and linked the creeks and gullies. This remain unfulfi lled in terms of the level of development. form of development also characterises larger cities like The second group has been titled Goldfi elds – Central Bendigo. The goldfi elds towns present as all shapes and Victoria. This group encompasses a broad sweep of sizes and there is little by way of pattern except their very central Victoria where the origin of settlement was gold lack of regular and consistent form. Linear settlements mining. While the gold lasted, these towns thrived. When are often found hugging roads or a creek such as in
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 73 Olive Hills homestead and vineyard was constructed in 1886 for Hugh Fraser, an early Rutherglen pioneer and the fi rst Shire President. Image Heritage Victoria
Heathcote or Wedderburn. Their commercial and civic largely eroded. Open-ended, widely discretionary zones, areas and their buildings are often grand and extensive such as the Rural and Rural Living zones, have allowed, if refl ecting their former size and function or their hopes not encouraged, this process. and ambitions such as in Dunolly, Clunes, Creswick or The use of overlays has limited values because they only Inglewood. deal with development, not use. The Heritage Overlay is The third and fourth groups have some common not really equipped to deal with the rural edge of towns, attributes but in other characteristics they are quite while the Signifi cant Landscape Overlay is essentially distinct. These two groups can be termed the Irrigation dealing with the visual aspects of the landscape, not its Areas of Northern Victoria and the Dry Farming Areas of heritage qualities which may now be considerably diluted. the Wimmera and the Mallee in the State’s northwest. Zone boundaries at the edge of towns provide limited They are relatively uniformly distributed across the scope to manage the heritage landscape setting. The landscape and they have clear service roles. In the dry use of an urban growth boundary concept is much more farming areas, these towns are more widely dispersed relevant to an urban development scenario, country towns than they are in the irrigated areas refl ecting the lower rarely had ‘hard edges’ to their appearance. density of rural settlement. The towns in the Wimmera The fundamental issue a community must face in applying and the Mallee are nearly all in decline in population the current Victorian planning system is determining what terms. In contrast the towns in the irrigation areas are zones to use and where to apply them. It is mandatory holding or increasing their population. Even very small under the Victorian Planing Provisions (VPP) to zone towns in the irrigation areas have been able to attract and all land. There is nothing like drawing lines on a map support the expansion of processing plants on the basis to focus the attention of a community. The common of horticultural and dairying production such as in Girgarre land use pattern for many small country towns is a fairly and Stanhope. haphazard arrangement of mixed land uses around a In form and layout towns in both these groups generally commercial core usually focussed in a linear pattern along refl ect settlement characteristics of a later period than the the main street. In the smaller towns, the main street fi rst two groups. The town layouts are less pretentious and other areas often become even more mixed in their than those often seen in the early to mid-19th century land use characteristics with various residential, business and they often tend to a utilitarian appearance in their and small-scale industrial uses. In many cases it is not presentation and in their civic buildings. The towns serving practical or relevant to seek to separate all these various the irrigated areas are generally much more compact uses by different zones, as would be the objective in a in their urban form. The productivity of the surrounding metropolitan area. area has discouraged the town from sprawling onto the The options that are available in the application of the VPP surrounding farmland. system to a small country town are essentially to apply Historically, in areas of closer settlement and in the gold the standard Township zone across the town; to apply a mining regions, country towns tended to sprawl into the narrow suite of urban zones, specifi cally the Residential surrounding landscape with small farms and holdings. In 1, Business 1 and Industrial 1 zones; or to apply a recent years, the area surrounding many towns has been combination of township and specifi c zones to each town. viewed as a real estate opportunity for rural residential, It would be possible to develop additional Township zones rural living and hobby farms. Often the development or to develop specifi c purpose zones to accommodate of such properties has been out-of-character with the common characteristics of small towns. Such an relatively modest appearance of the towns themselves. approach would cope better with the needs of country New residential development on the edge of towns is towns that are at odds with the narrow range of zones often characterised by large modern houses, extensive provided. Another potential approach within the spirit vegetation planting, large dams and shedding. The of the VPP is for each town to strengthen its strategy heritage landscape setting of many towns have been and policy framework within the Local Planning Policy
74 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Framework (LPPF). The weakness of this approach is that very open-ended in the range of discretionary uses that neither strategy or policy can be so specifi c as to over- are allowed; generally only the rural zone has greater ride the zone provisions – the absolute provisions within discretion and fewer prohibited uses. the zone will prevail. The reference in the purpose of the Most large scale or substantial processing-type industrial Township zone to small towns is the only reference in the uses are prohibited in the Township zone and would whole VPP to the term small towns or for that matter the require a specifi c Industrial zone or a Rural zone to term town. establish. Because of the buffer distances for various While a council is at liberty to choose from the whole industrial uses that are incorporated within the VPP, suite of zones provided by the VPP, there is only a limited a large number of existing industries in small towns range of zones that could realistically be applied to small would not now be permitted to establish in their current towns. Other than the Township zone, the only relevant locations. Expansion of these operations on the current provisions are to be found in the Residential 1, Low site may be very diffi cult or prohibited because they are a Density Residential, Business 1, (possibly the Business 4) non-conforming use under the Township zone. In respect and the Industrial 1 zones. The remaining zones are fully to business or retail uses, it is ironical that all commercial geared to complex land use situations only found in large uses are discretionary within the Township zone that is scale urban areas. more open ended on commercial development than any of the actual Business zones in the VPP. The essential problem with applying zones other than the Township zone, is that zoning assumes that relatively This potential for lack of recognition of differences is large areas are devoted to a particular type of land use illustrated in the application for use and development in such as residential or retail. This is rarely the case in small the Township zone. country towns. Consequently, councils chose to avoid the ‘The responsible authority must consider, as dilemma of a patchwork of zones by using the generic appropriate, matters such as the protection and Township zone. The Township zone is the ultimate mixed- enhancement of the character of the town and use zone; it provides for an extraordinary variety of uses surrounding area including the retention of vegetation and ensures that few existing uses would take on a non- (and) the need for a veranda along the front or conforming classifi cation. side of commercial buildings to provide shelter for The prospect of land use confl ict is inherent within the pedestrians’. provisions of the Township zone. Uses that are provided While this clause seeks to provide some recognition for ‘the for may be completely out of character with the way character’ of the town it raises other issues. It highlights the in which development and planning is addressed in one size fi ts all model that has been applied. This provision country towns. For instance, in the Township zone, a has a rather standardised assessment of Victoria’s rural dwelling does not require a permit even though the zone towns and a ‘quaint’ view that it is verandas, for instance, provides for a range of industrial and commercial uses as that characterise such towns. However, the veranda is discretionary uses. In other words a residential use can be not a feature of all buildings in all country towns. Towns located adjacent to a series of uses that may impact on developed in the 1830s and 1840s, for instance, rarely residential amenity. In turn these commercial and industrial possessed verandas on their commercial buildings. In uses, that could be long standing, could then become the pseudo-conservation of historic buildings it is often subject to an on-going series of complaints about their assumed that verandas must be added to buildings. This operations. clause in the VPP has picked up this theme. Where a single The Township zone is under the category listing of a zone and its provisions are applied across hundreds of Residential zone. This classifi cation appears to give a circumstances, it is likely that some of the features of those secondary status to business and industrial uses and towns will be overlooked and smoothed over as though yet it is a zone that is designed to and must cater for the they all have the same elements. land use needs of such activities. The Township zone is
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 75 Characterisation: New ways of valuing The National Trust the historic environment Any discussion on landscape protection in the UK would be incomplete without fi rst understanding the role of the Jim Gard’ner National Trust in England. The National Trust for Places of Assistant Director – Strategy and Policy, Historic Interest or Natural Beauty was founded in 1895 Heritage Victoria out of concern about the impact industrialisation and urban development was having on England’s countryside. Background When the National Trust purchased its third property, Wicken Fen, nearly Ely in Cambridgeshire, in 1899, it The United Kingdom’s landscapes and much of the effectively created Britain’s fi rst nature reserve. This action habitats and biodiversity they contain are a cultural to safeguard part of England’s natural heritage pre-dated phenomenon. England’s landscapes in particular have statutory protection for signifi cant landscapes by been shaped by traditional land management practices 40 years. that developed over centuries. The agrarian landscape patterns, medieval fi eld enclosures, common land The National Trust Act of 1907 enabled the Trust to and estates of the aristocracy remained intact until declare land as being held inalienably and in perpetuity, the industrial revolution. Since the Second World War meaning that it cannot be sold or compulsorily purchased the pace of change in the landscape has increased. by government. The National Trust is now the largest Demographic changes such as the drift south of private landowner in the UK, with land holdings totalling the English population, which refl ects the loss of over 250,000 hectares. As well as the estates associated manufacturing industries of the north and Midlands, with its portfolio of country houses, the National Trust has put pressure on southern England. Likewise, the owns farmland, recreational areas, designed and natural development of railways, motorways and airports and landscapes and over one-third (1,200 km) of the coastline the rise of mechanised farming practises have made an of England and Wales. indelible mark on the landscape.
In comparison, the UK (including Northern Ireland) has National Parks about the same land area (241,600 km²) as the state of The post-Second World War movement to protect Victoria (227,600 km²). In other words, England’s land important landscapes and historic buildings was in area (130,422 km²) is only 57 per cent of Victoria’s and response to great social change and the redevelopment yet it contains a population almost exactly 10 times that of England’s war ravaged towns and cities. The National of Victoria. For the purposes of this paper, reference is Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, which made to the legislation and planning mechanisms that established England’s National Park network, is the result. operate in England. The same or similar controls exist In comparison, the United States of America declared within the other countries of the UK, although these are Yellowstone the world’s fi rst National Park in 1872, and administered by independent agencies dealing with that Victoria designated its fi rst alpine parks in 1898. specifi c country. The joint aims of the National Parks are to: Existing landscape protection mechanisms 1. conserve and enhance natural beauty, landform in the England and geology, fl ora and fauna and cultural heritage
Space does not allow this paper to fully describe all the 2. promote opportunities for recreation. mechanisms within English planning and heritage controls Where these two aims confl ict, greater weight is given that recognise landscape values but a selection of the to conservation. most important are described below.
76 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Mid Northumberland landscapes (see Historic Landscape Characterisation map P79). Images Graham Fairclough, English Heritage
There are currently nine National Parks in England Areas of outstanding natural beauty and sites covering 8,500 km² or 7 per cent of England’s land of special scientifi c interest area. The tenth, the South Downs National Park in Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex is undergoing The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act public consultation at present. Unlike their Australian or also enabled the establishment of the Area of Outstanding American counterparts, the English National Parks include Natural Beauty (AONB) and Site of Special Scientifi c whole towns and villages as well as public and private Interest (SSSI or ‘triple S I ’) designations. land in residential, rural, civic, military and industrial uses. Like National Parks, AONBs are designated to conserve National Parks are designated by the Countryside and enhance natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage Agency in England, the Countryside Council for Wales including historic settlements, but without the additional and Scottish Natural Heritage. Each National Park is specifi c objective of providing for recreational activities. managed by its own National Park Authority, which There are 36 AONBs in England covering 19,500 km² or includes representatives of local planning authorities 15 per cent of its areas. and Countryside Agency (or the other relevant agencies SSSIs identify sites of primarily natural (geophysical or in Scotland and Wales). The National Park Authority biodiversity) importance rather than scenic value or natural prepares and implements National Park Management beauty. There are more than 4,000 SSSIs designated in Plans for each park. Development control is provided England each of which covers much smaller tracts of land through a combination of the National Park Authority and than AONBs. Local Planning Authority.
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 77 North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Image Graham Fairclough, English Heritage
AONBs are designated by Countryside Agency and SSSIs The Cotswolds AONB is the largest in England and covers by English Nature, with development control provided more than 70 per cent of District Council Area, infl uencing through the normal planning process with the relevant landscape and built environment planning across agency as a referral body. Although the local planning an area of 2,038 km² with a population in excess of authority (LPA) must ‘have regard’ to the AONB or SSSI 120,000 people. designation, these offer a lower level of protection than the National Park designation. The AONB designation Green Belts in particular has been criticised for its inability to control The interwar expansion of the Underground and the rise inappropriate development. In 2000 the controls of motor transport created new pressure on London’s associated with both designations were strengthened hinterland and the Home Counties. In order to restrain by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended by urban sprawl and provide space for recreation, London’s the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000). A further Green Belt was created in 1935; a concept derived from review to harmonise the controls of the AONB designation Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City Movement. There are with those of the National Parks system is currently now Green Belts around all of the UK’s major conurbations underway. and many smaller towns. These range in size from 486,000 hectares around London to 700 hectares around
78 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Burton-on-Trent. The County of Surrey for instance has Conservation Areas 70 per cent of its land area designated as Green Belt. In Conservation Areas were established by the Civic total Green Belts cover more than 15,000 km² or 12 per Amenities Act 1967, and established the concept of cent of England’s land area. Green Belts are designated ‘character’ in English heritage planning. Conservation by the local planning authority with planning policy and Areas designate ‘areas of special architectural or historic development control defi ned by Planning Policy Guidance interest, the character or appearance of which it is Note 2: Green Belts. desirable to preserve or enhance’ and defi ne character Heritage Coasts at a local (townscape) level. There are in excess of 8,000 Conservation Areas across England which collectively Heritage Coasts are a new non-statutory designation of contain hundreds of thousands of individual properties. the Countryside Agency, the aim of which is to assist in Conservation Areas are designated by the local planning the conservation of the scenic value or natural beauty of authority and may be considered analogous to the area English coastline. 1,057 km or 33 per cent of England’s Heritage Overlay within the Victorian Planning Provisions. coastline has been designated as Heritage Coast which Guidance on the application of Conservation Areas is includes coastline owned by the National Trust or already provided within Planning Policy Guidance 15: Planning and protected by statutory designations such as National the Historic Environment and English Heritage publications Parks or AONBs.
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 79 such as Conservation Area Appraisals have established methodology for establishing local urban character. Planning policy guidance identifi es that AONBs and SSSIs are more appropriate mechanisms for natural and rural landscape protection within the English planning system.
Characterisation
Characterisation is the collective term for a broad suite of tools for understanding the historic environment. It maps the development of the historic environment to enable a better understanding of past decisions, and to inform future decision making. The uses of characterisation extend from helping to manage change to improving rural and urban sustainability.
The characterisation methodology has its origins of the concept of ‘character’ as articulated in 1967 Conservation Area Legislation. Joint working between English Heritage, the Countryside Commission (now the Countryside Agency) and English Nature led to the development of the pilot Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) project in Cornwall in 1994.
In 1997 the revised Planning Policy Guidance 7: Countryside – Environmental Quality and Economic and Social Development (now replaced by Planning 30 St Mary Axe is a distinctive skyscraper in London’s Policy Statement 7: Sustainable Development and fi nancial district. Image English Heritage Rural Areas) endorsed the HLC approach, and the techniques with an emphasis on assessment of the European Landscape Convention of 2000, to which current visual character of landscapes. Although original the United Kingdom is a signatory, is compatible with research may be required as part of an HLC project, the HLC methology. By 2002 half of England’s counties stress is placed on the synthesis of existing information had commenced or completed HLC projects and some including: current land use, past land uses, the distribution had incorporated these into local planning schemes or and types of resources (water, quarries, minerals, timber structure plans. etc.), the distribution and types of buildings, settlement After 10 years of developing HLC practise, a review types and patterns, communication types and patterns was undertaken in 2004 which has led, in part, to (roads, railways and canals), archaeological sites and the broadening of the range of applications to which heritage places, geological and topographical mapping, characterisation is applied. Characterisation projects contemporary and historic mapping, aerial photography have now been completed for rural landscapes, urban and other documentary sources. areas, peri-urban areas (such as those covered by Green The typical phases of a characterisation project, such Belts), transport corridors, growth areas and areas of as those utilised in the pilot HLC study of the Harlow- archaeological signifi cance. Stansted section of the M11 (motorway) Corridor, begin One of the major strengths of the HLC approach is that with data gathering from existing data sources. This is is makes use of many existing studies and established followed by a fi ne-grained visual assessment of attributes
80 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 of the current landscape (e.g. rural, urban, industrial, The mapping of the sensitivity areas produces a communication, woodland etc.) to map land use as geographically comprehensive assessment of the levels individual HLC area types. of sensitivity for the historic landscape, and an indication of each area’s capacity to withstand change without the HLC – TYPICAL PHASES signifi cant alteration of character. Although the resulting sensitivity map is complex, refl ecting diverse themes Data gathering of continuity, adaptation and change, it can be used to ▼ inform regional and local planning policy and, depending Group attributes to develop HLC types ▼ on the scale, individual development applications. Analysis of types to explore issues such as: Like the conservation management plan process, HLC is Time depth of little use unless it is implemented in a meaningful way. Landscape change As well as leading to a better understanding of the wider Land enclosure patterns Present and future land use historic environment, HLC can assist in: ▼ • targeting incentive schemes (such as Countryside Agency Landscape Management Initiatives or Evaluation ▼ Woodland grant schemes) • directing advisory services (such as the Historic Reporting and archiving ▼ Environment Countryside Advisory Service) • informing landscape character strategies at county Recommendations ▼ and district level • spatial planning (to inform local planning policy and Applications the development of structure plans) • assessing development proposals and other Understanding the time depth associated with each is applications for change (such as hedgerow removal) achieved by analysing the survival rates of earlier land use • strengthening partnerships, learning and outreach. and enclosure patterns. The distribution of archaeological In recent years the uses for characterisation has extended sites (Scheduled Ancient Monuments) and heritage places beyond historic landscapes. For instance, urban surveys (Listed Buildings), as well as designated landscapes and have been developed in conjunction with wider HLC. In Conservation Areas, are considered. Nelson, Lancaster urban characterisation identifi ed that In the case of the M11 Corridor project, a subjective over 50 per cent of pre-1919 housing stock had been lost, numerical value (1–9) was placed against each HLC area and only one part of the town, Whitefi eld Ward, retained based on criteria that included: age, rarity or ‘special substantially intact streetscapes. These fi ndings have now interest’, the history of change, the completeness or been translated into planning protection for the remaining articulation of the historic landscape and its legibility, and historic areas through Conservation Area controls. the degree to which it contributed to local character. These Larger urban characterisation projects are also underway. scores were aggregated into bands (1–3, 4, 5–6, 7–9) The Merseyside Historic Characterisation Project aims to which were mapped to visually identify HLC asset values characterise the whole of the Merseyside conurbation, within the study area. The bands identifi ed low sensitivity which is home to more than 2.5 million people. This areas which display a history of change, culminating in the includes the city of Liverpool, which was added to World wholesale removal of earlier features in the late 20th century, Heritage List in 2004 and has been designated European through to high sensitivity areas such as those which Capital of Culture 2008. contain the greatest proportion of coherent enclosures dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 81 Characterisation techniques are also being used to Heritage Coasts identify archaeological potential on a larger scale. The (www.countryside.gov.uk/LAR/Landscape/DL/heritage_coasts/ Worcester Historic Townscape Characterisation Project index.asp) has been identifying the city’s archaeological resource Conservation Areas below ground, through the use of an archaeological ---- September 1994, Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) 15: deposit model that analyses previous land uses and the Planning and the Historic Environment, Department of the present day landscape. Environment/Department of National Heritage, London. English Heritage October 1995, Conservation Area Practice: Large complex heritage places have also utilised historic English Heritage guidance on the management of Conservation landscape characterisation techniques at a local level Areas, English Heritage, London. such as Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, which includes English Heritage, Conservation area appraisals: Defi ning the a late Victorian mansion at its core, the wartime huts that special architectural or historic interest of Conservation Areas, housed the code-breakers who decrypted Germany’s English Heritage, London, March 1997. Enigma codes and later buildings. Characterisation helps Characterisation understand this internationally signifi cant complex, which www.english-heritage.org.uk/characterisation overlays 19th and 20th century historic buildings on an http://www.countryside.gov.uk/LAR/Landscape/CC/index.asp early 18th century landscape with later Victorian garden Bradley, A et al. 2004, Change and Creation: historic landscape elements. character 1950-2000, English Heritage, London. Clark, J Darlington, J & Fairclough, G 2004, Using Historic Landscape Characterisation, English Heritage/Lancaster County Conclusion Council, London. Historic landscape characterisation is a big picture Dorn, K (ed) Winter 2004-5, Conservation Bulletin: approach rather than being about individual heritage Characterisation (various articles), English Heritage, Issue 47. sites, buildings or trees. It is primarily about the present Fairclough, G March 2001, Boundless Horizons: Historic Landscape Characterisation’, Conservation Bulletin, English rather than the past. Being a broad-brush approach, Heritage, Issue 40, pp. 23-26. characterisation relies more on visual assessment and Swanwick, C 2002, Landscape Character Assessment: perceptions than facts such as dates or the names of Guidance for England and Scotland, The Countryside architects or historic fi gures. Agency/Scottish Natural Heritage. Characterisation is a way of defi ning context rather than Went, D & Dyson-Bruce, L 2003, Historic Environment Issues in the Proposed London-Stansted-Cambridge Growth Area (with a full assessment of signifi cance in its wider sense. In an indicative study of the Harlow-Stansted area) [report], summary, characterisation is a tool to help manage English Heritage, London. change, not halt change. The Countryside Agency & Groundwork 2005, The countryside in and around towns: A vision for connecting town and country References in the pursuit of sustainable development, The Countryside UK Landscape Designations Agency, Wetherby. National Trust – (www.national Trust.org.uk) English Heritage 1997, Conservation Area Appraisals: Defi ning the special architectural or historic interest of Conservation National Parks – (www.countryside.gov.uk/LAR/Landscape/DL/ Areas, English Heritage, London. national_parks/index.asp) Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (www.countryside.gov.uk/ LAR/Landscape/DL/aonbs/index.asp) Sites of Special Scientifi c Interest (www.englishnature.org.uk/ special/sssi) Green Belts --- March 2001, Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) Note 2: Green Belts, Offi ce of the Deputy Prime Minister, London.
82 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 4.5 Communities and historic towns
Walking tour around Buninyong (1860), and the imposing Presbyterian church of 1860 designed by Backhouse and Reynolds in its lovely large Anne Beggs-Sunter churchyard. Secretary of the Buninyong and District Historical As we walked up Forrest St, we noted the rural feel of Society the street treatment with swale drains and grassy verges, and the imposing view of Mount Buninyong which is the The aim of the tour was to show the way Buninyong guardian of the town. has grown, from its fi rst commercial origins serving the squatting population in the early 1840s, through its The Buninyong Botanical Gardens are a treasure of the evolution as a bustling township with a range of industries, township, laid out from the early 1860s with advice and to its present status as a residential suburb of Ballarat. seeds from Ferdinand Von Mueller. The gardens feature the Queen Victoria Rotunda, one of the fi rst memorials The tour began at the former Buninyong Town Hall, an to be constructed to Queen Victoria after her death in 1886 boom-style building that is on the Victorian Heritage 1901. The old swimming baths have been turned into an Register. We paused at the central intersection of the attractive sunken garden, and the old court house nearby township to admire some old commercial buildings from is a reminder of the early court and police presence in the 1850s, particularly the old bakery building which Buninyong, and later the importance of the dairy industry retains its original oven in the rear outbuilding. Turning when it was converted into a butter factory in the 1890s. up Warrenheip Street, the tour passed some substantial residences built for professionals in the 19th century, The walk continued up past the old brewery beside the and the church precinct, with Henry Caselli’s Holy Trinity Gong (spring-fed lake) and, as we climbed up to the old
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 83 Buninyong town and surrounds. Images John Hawker, Heritage Victoria
Catholic church on the hill (1858), we could see the recent Street, another architectural gem built in 1860. It is on encroachment of new housing development along the the Victorian Heritage Register, and is also still serving its ridgeline of Lal Lal Street. original purpose, as a bookshop and information centre.
We then turned back to the Midland Highway and, crossing the road, observed the new sporting complex that has just been fi nished in Forest St., and again more ‘Seafarers, settlers and soldiers’ a tale housing developments in the area. It opens the thought of three heritage towns in search of a that in the 21st century, indoor sporting complexes are one of the major public building projects. future The rapid growth of the nearby University of Ballarat and Gordon Forth its associated technology park, is creating enormous Historian pressure to develop the natural bushland areas on the edge of the old township boundaries. A heritage overlay Introduction over some parts of Buninyong in the Ballarat Planning Scheme helps to protect the township itself, but not I have long been interested in the origins, current the surrounding bushland and the wonderful landscape situation and likely future of Australia’s heritage or historic values associated with Mount Buninyong. towns – those basically with a suffi cient number of well- preserved 19th century stone or brick buildings which, Our tour proceeded down to the old residential area of though neglected, have somehow escaped demolition or Eyre Street, then through De Soza Park – a reclaimed extensive modernisation. mining area – to fi nish at the Old Library in Warrenheip
84 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 As I drive through rural Victoria, questions come to mind town to attract much needed new residents; that some about the reasons for the location of such towns, what’s visitors having seen for themselves the town’s amenities happening there now and whether or not it has a long and experienced its friendly, authentic ambience will term future. I’m often struck by the vision and enthusiasm choose to forsake their soulless Melbourne suburb and which enabled residents of such towns to muster relocate to Upper Wombat. suffi cient funds and local voluntary effort to build memorial Based on personal observations, this presentation looks halls, churches and sports facilities. at the origins, implied rationale and achievements of I’m also very aware of how the development of Australia’s heritage type festivals held in three neighbouring Victorian rural, mining and forestry towns refl ected particular towns. The paper makes some tentative conclusions circumstances at the time of their establishment. In the regarding the extent to which each of these festivals have case of 19th century Australia, these included the limitations achieved all or any of the aims outlined above. of horse transport and the labour intensive nature of The three towns are Port Fairy, Koroit and Mortlake in agriculture – circumstances that changed dramatically in the Shire of Moyne – all within reasonable commuting the 20th century when many once-prosperous rural supply distance of Warrnambool. Following the end of Australia’s or mining towns disappeared or experienced ongoing, and Long Boom from 1945 to 1974 each of these rural towns some would argue, inevitable decline. experienced some degree of ongoing decline and had a Some years ago, following a conference presentation of need to reinvent themselves in order to have a long term my views on the likely future of Australia’s declining rural future. towns which attracted considerable media coverage, I was quite unfairly dubbed as Dr Death from Deakin’s The Port Fairy Folk Festival Centre for Regional Destruction. Anyone here today who is expecting me to air controversial views on Victoria’s Though currently one of Victoria’s booming coastal towns, heritage towns will be rather disappointed. in the mid-1970s Port Fairy was something of a sleepy backwater, sustained by the local fi shing industry, low This afternoon I intend simply to comment on how level tourism and the local Glaxo factory. Established in three towns in one Victorian rural shire have, with mixed the 1840s as a port on the River Moyne, Port Fairy, or success, sought to use their built and cultural heritage to Belfast as it then was referred to, functioned as a rural enhance their future prospects as viable centres. It is now supply centre and port for local fi sheries, farming and quite common for such Australian rural communities to pastoral industries. stage a celebration of their own history or music festival to generally promote their town through some form of Port Fairy’s impressive early development was largely heritage led revival. due to the entrepreneurship and enthusiasm of a William Rutledge. With his fellow Irish countryman, It’s assumed by organisers that the holding of heritage- Atkinson, Rutledge developed the port of Belfast and type events will benefi t both local businesses and the town the surrounding fertile countryside as a private fi efdom. generally. Clearly attracting a crowd will at least boost Assisted emigrants from Ireland were provided with seed the daily takings of the local cafes and hotels. Holding and tools on credit to enable them to establish farms a heritage event also has the potential to enhance local at Rosebrook, Tarone, Orford, Yambuk and Killarney. residents’ understanding of their town’s distinctive history. Yet in the end Wild Billy, as the intemperate Rutledge It could also be argued that an increased awareness and was referred to locally, overreached himself and went pride in their history increases the likelihood that residents bankrupt. Port Fairy stagnated while its rival centre, of these communities will undertake further initiatives to Warrnambool, fl ourished. ensure that their town has a future. However, Port Fairy’s comparative lack of development Finally, there is often an implicit assumption that holding over the next 100 years was critical in enabling the town this type of event will somehow assist a declining rural to reinvent itself as heritage tourism centre in the late-
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 85 One of the many popular performances at Port Fairy Folk Festival. Image courtesy: Getty Images/Tourism Victoria
20th century. For, in 2006 central or old Port Fairy rather economy or the community with their spending restricted resembles a historical maritime museum – an image to purchasing basic goods and entertainment now carefully preserved and marketed. The success of I’ve assumed that most of you are more or less aware the Port Fairy Folk Festival, which each March draws in of what happens at a Port Fairy Folk Festival. Though excess of 10,000, well-heeled visitors to the town, has organised by a Geelong-based group, the town provides clearly been a critical factor in Port Fairy being discovered. not only a volunteer workforce and picturesque backdrop Planning guidelines are now in force to ensure not only but the essential historical authenticity for what is now that the town’s surviving heritage buildings are preserved a highly commercial event. This desire for historical but that new developments in the town’s centre-port area authenticity is refl ected in the core liberal morality of the conform to specifi c heritage criteria. The market value of musical program, the more or less 19th century, working centrally located residential properties with river or ocean class style dress of both performers and some attendees views has boomed. The town’s CBD now abounds with and required gregariousness for everyone. authentic ye olde-style accommodation and upmarket Regardless of the undoubted success of the Folkie, retailers (including a particularly swanky boutique with now one of Australia’s major music festivals, it is far from dresses ranging from $400 to $800) geared to the tourist clear how signifi cant this 30-year-old event has been in trade. Yet most businesses in the main street that cater Port Fairy revival. With its coastal location, historic port basically for locals are fairly rundown. Port Fairy’s housing precinct, heritage buildings and reasonable proximity to boom has involved external investment by affl uent Warrnambool and Melbourne, sceptics might argue that outsiders purchasing holiday accommodation. These Port Fairy’s discovery (like Torquay and Apollo Bay) as a absentee homeowners contribute little to either the local tourist-lifestyle destination was inevitable. Attending the
86 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Festival certainly provided visitors with a specifi c reason of a recent boom in residential housing in Koroit and its for visiting the town and identifying Port Fairy as a short- environs where houses and land are more affordable than stay holiday destination. Warrnambool or Port Fairy. There has been a signifi cant growth of lifestyle housing in Koroit’s surrounding The holding of this event has made some otherwise countryside which is quite picturesque with some sites marginal local businesses viable and created some casual overlooking Tower Hill or the Southern Ocean. employment for locals. The Folk Festival has generated increased interest in Port Fairy’s past, as evidenced by Like many other declining towns with an identifi able and the strength of the local history society and the number of potentially marketable history, Koroit has sought to utilise recent publications on the early history of the town. Finally, its Irish heritage by holding an annual Irish Festival. In 1998 the marketing as well as the holding of the Festival has at about the same time a group of residents was planning certainly enhanced the town’s profi le. Koroit’s inaugural Irish Festival, Deakin University organised a forum on aspects of South West Victoria’s Irish heritage. While further research is needed, developments directly Guest speakers included the then-Irish Ambassador or indirectly resulting from the Festival, appear to have Richard O’Brien, historian Dr Peter Yule, the author of a infl uenced the decision of certain affl uent, well-educated recent history of Koroit, and Dr Richard Reid. people to relocate to (as opposed to purchasing investment or holiday property) Port Fairy. In terms Deakin subsequently was offered State Government of indicators (its economic well-being, average family funding to research and stage re-enactments of aspects income, level of educational attainments of residents of Irish life in this region such as an Irish funeral and wake, etc.), the Festival has probably enabled Port Fairy to an Irish concert and so forth. Initially we sought to work accelerate its development as a more culturally-diverse with the organising committee to incorporate our project and prosperous community into the planned Irish Festival.
However, our concept of what an overall Irish Festival Koroit’s Irish Festival program should involve and theirs had little in common. Koroit was established in the 1840s on the rim of the Clearly they saw our approach as overly academic even Tower Hill volcano crater as a rural supply town and elitist and unlikely to appeal to ordinary local families service centre to meet the needs of local farm families in wanting an enjoyable day out. Hence they went for Tower Hill, Illowa, Southern Cross and Kirkstall. As one what I saw at the time as the Danny Boy school fete might expect from a town which was originally located approach with a program that included Shetland pony in the County of Killarney in the Shire of Belfast, a high races, selling green beer, tug o war contests and a Danny proportion of the town’s population were Irish Catholic Boy singing competition. Advertising for the Festival, emigrants. In the 1916 conscription referendum, the vast which is being held this weekend, features a Disney style majority of Koroit residents not only voted ‘no’ but actually Leprechaun. Elitist or otherwise, our intention was to assist managed to tar and feather a visiting army recruiting this community acquire an enhanced understanding of offi cer. When I fi rst visited Koroit to supervise student their authentic Irish heritage – which basically involved teachers some 30 years ago I was much taken by the size hardworking, pious Irish families making better lives for of the local Catholic Church and Convent and by the fact themselves. Their aim was to use Koroit’s Irish Catholic that enrolments at the local Catholic primary school were heritage to stage an event that would draw a large crowd more than double those of the state school. and promote the town in the way that the Folk Festival had put Port Fairy on the map. With a reduced, more mobile farm population, Koroit as a commercial and service centre has been declining Though it has continued to decline as a retail-service since the 1950s. Several churches have closed and most centre, in recent years Koroit’s population has stabilised, businesses in the main street are in obvious need of basically because of the town’s gradual transformation renovation. At the same time, there has been something from a rural supply town to an outlying commuter suburb
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 87 Early bluestone buildings, including the court house (left) in Mortlake. Image David Scaletti, Tourism Victoria of Warrnambool. There is little evidence of a Festival tourism-led revival. Local residents who formed a Mortlake generated tourism-led revival as is the case with some & Community Development Committee were successful in coastal towns such as Port Fairy. Nor can it be claimed developing several new, main street enterprises including that holding the Irish Festival has resulted in local residents the mandatory telecentre, but more was needed. having an enhanced understanding of their own history. At about this time Deakin was undertaking a major history project on South West Victoria’s experience of the The Mortlake Buskers Festival Second World War as part of the Federal Government’s Mortlake, located on the Hamilton Highway approximately Australia Remembers initiative. With its soldier settler 45 kilometres north of Warrnambool, is very much a origins and memorials, Mortlake was of particular interest soldier settlement town. Following both wars, veterans regarding how the Second World War and its aftermath were settled on farms formed from the subdivision of large had infl uenced the development and culture of a rural pastoral estates. Without soldier settlement, Mortlake, community. One possibility was for Mortlake to make use which eventually had a population of around 1000, would of the underused heritage bluestone precinct, the RSL have remained a minor township of a 100 or so. Local war Memorial Hall and local volunteers to develop museum- memorials, including an RSL hall built after the Second archives to store and display materials relating to the World War, provide visible evidence of Mortlake’s origins. region’s experience of war including soldier settlement. However, following a change of government, we were By the mid 1990s farm consolidation and the depressed unable to persuade the Minister for Veterans Affairs to state of the wool industry saw Mortlake in signifi cant provide minimal start up funding for the project. decline. The town’s future was heavily dependent on the continued operation of one major employer, Clarks Pies. Searching for their own distinctive music event to promote Unlike Port Fairy and Koroit, Mortlake had little by way Mortlake, a group of residents came up with the idea of of distinctive 19th architecture as a basis for a heritage holding a buskers’ festival, the fi rst to be held in Australia.
88 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 In this case the theme had nothing to do with Mortlake’s origins as a pastoral supply and soldier setter town. Rather it used the town as a suitable venue to provide a weekend of low-cost entertainment, some additional income for local businesses and, hopefully, to put Mortlake on the tourist map.
Like Koroit, Mortlake has stabilised in terms of population numbers providing affordable housing and reasonable amenities for lower income families.
Conclusions
Australia’s smaller rural towns will continue to explore ways in which to use their heritage buildings and history to provide a much needed boost to local businesses and as part of their tourism marketing strategy. Because of a general lack of modern development and their small size, many rural towns, including the three featured in this paper, can provide suitable venues for the staging of heritage type events including music festivals.
The success of such events is normally measured in terms of the number of people who attend and the amount of net profi t generated to fund next year’s festival. Providing local residents with an authentic view of their town’s history clearly runs a poor second to the need to draw a crowd. Apart from providing residents and visitors with ‘a good day out’ and a one-off boost for local traders, it’s doubtful that holding this type of event does produce any signifi cant long-term economic or social benefi ts for most towns.
For rural towns experiencing ongoing decline, a challenge would be integrate the holding of these events into an overall resident attraction strategy. In the longer term, it may be the case that events that are part of a town’s authentic history will prove to be more enduring and benefi cial than simply using surviving heritage buildings to provide a suitable venue for yet another festival.
Section 4: Historic towns in the landscape 89 Mount Sugarloaf, one of the volcanic features near Camperdown. Image Kanawinka Global Geopark
90 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee
5.1 Introduction
The landscape heritage forums have, so far, dealt with The fourth forum in the series, Cultural Landscapes landscape which are generally obviously attractive and in of the Volcanic Plains Forum (2007), centred on the which heritage value is relatively self-evident. The scope of Western Plains of Victoria, examined an area under the forums has been broadened to incorporate the social, diverse and very real development pressures such as land cultural and economic values which infl uence regions. sub-division, quarrying and blue gum plantations. For Now, landscapes in which geological and physical example, when a rural area that was previously farming features have an overriding infl uence are examined. The land is rezoned for housing, the dry stone walls that are next two forums look at heritage in the rolling pastoral such a distinctive heritage feature of the plains need to be landscapes of the volcanic plains and in the vast plains of considered. How should a heritage asset that runs across the Wimmera/Mallee. several private properties best be conserved?
Murtoa Mechanics Hall. Image Tim Hubbard
Selected landscape papers: 2004–08 91 Willaura silos. Image Tim Hubbard
The Volcanic Plains start in Melbourne’s outer western or homestead and crossed by road and rail lines. This areas such as the Shire of Melton and continue west to distinctive landscape provides a large part of the region’s Portland, south to Colac and north to Beaufort. Their character and changes to farming methods will change unique features include stony rises where old lava fl ows the landscape. once ran hot, the low peaks of extinct volcanoes and The objectives of the two forums were broadly to: large shallow lakes created long ago by those very volcanoes. Nine lakes, including Lake Corangamite and • understand the problems besetting an area, including Lake Murdeduke, are included in the Ramsar Convention. changing agricultural practices and economics This international register aims to stop the worldwide • evaluate methods of assessing these particular loss of important wetland areas by promoting wise use landscapes to conserve their unique attributes of these resources. The region is also extremely rich • investigate the role heritage plays and could play in in heritage places. In the fi ve municipalities which are the region sponsoring the forum, there are already 113 places on the • identify and promote policies which assist landscape Victorian Heritage Register. protection The Heritage and the land Forum, the fi fth forum • assist communities in evaluating and managing their in the series, was held on World Monument Day heritage. (18 April 2008) in the historic picture theatre in Murtoa. The presentations at the forum examined ways in which Paper from Forums 4 and 5 have been grouped together the landscape character of the Wimmera/Mallee is under the heading ‘Broader landscapes –cultural changing due to climatic and economic forces, and the landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/ need for careful and sensitive planning to address these Mallee’. Section 5.2 provides some background. Section changes. Changes to farming methods and agricultural 5.3 discusses some local applications in both areas. practices, transport and water infrastructure and drought Section 5.4 outlines some planning tools and Section 5.5 bring new challenges and it is an uncertain time for the details community responses to conserving and managing land and the people who manage it. The Wimmera’s grain aspects of these broader landscapes. fi elds are vast and fl at, dotted with the occasional silo
92 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 5.2 Background theory and policy
DSE and heritage Andrew Maclean Group Manager, Land Stewardship and Biodiversity, DSE
Welcome and acknowledgement of traditional owners.
It is more than usually appropriate that I acknowledge traditional owners today. We recognise Mt Eccles as one of the more signifi cant heritage landscapes on the volcanic plains. Today marks a special occasion in recognising the indigenous cultural heritage associated with Mt Eccles and surrounding country through the consent determination expected later today at Mt Eccles for the Gournditch Mara Native Title Claim. This culminates many years of work by the community and is very worthy of the celebrations programmed later today.
My task today is to welcome you to the South West Region of the Department of Sustainability and Environment. Our Regional Director, Ian Voigt, is unfortunately unable to attend today, but I’d like to convey to you his best wishes for your conference.
I’d like to speak briefl y about DSE’s role in heritage management.
As I expect many of you would already know, Heritage Victoria is (until August 2007) a division of DSE. Executive Director Ray Tonkin and his team play a central role in Lake Surprise at Mount Eccles. Image Kanawinka Global Geopark identifying, recording and protecting elements of our built and natural heritage. I don’t intend to expand on Heritage • to conserve and enhance those buildings, areas Victoria’s role here, but to talk more about how DSE deals or other places which are of scientifi c, aesthetic, with heritage matters at a local and regional level. architectural or historical interest. DSE’s involvement in heritage occurs in three primary Implementation of the Act is supported by the State contexts – through our role in planning, as a manager of Planning Policy Framework. The heritage objective of many heritage assets in public ownership and through our the framework requires that: relationships with indigenous communities in managing their cultural heritage. – Planning and responsibl e authorities should identify, conserve and protect places of natural or cultural value from inappropriate development. Planning These include: Our planning system provides a primary mechanism – Places and sites of geological, palaeontological for protecting cultural heritage. The Planning and or other scientifi c importance, including rock Environment Act 1987 has as one of its objectives: formations and fossil sites.
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 93 At the local level, the local planning policy framework Indigenous Heritage also addresses heritage values. An example of a volcanic I think perhaps our greatest heritage management landscape that has been recognised in a planning challenge lies in navigating our way through the scheme is the Lake Gnotuk and Lake Bullen Merri area complex processes of reconciliation with our indigenous (south of Camperdown) within the Corangamite Planning communities. Issues of heritage intersect with cultural, scheme. In the Local Policy section of the scheme there social and economic development and the environment. is a local policy relating to this area, giving the reason for Heritage values of indigenous communities are not always the importance of this area. The policy is implemented well recognised or respected in the non-indigenous through an overlay which sets objectives e.g. that the community. Communities vary in their capacity to engage landscape value must be protected. effectively with government. But we are making progress. The Wotjobulak and now Gournditch Mara Native Title Public Land settlements provide a basis for an enduring partnership in Public land is a rich source of cultural heritage. While the management of heritage and other issues. DSE and perhaps not a prominent feature of the volcanic plains Parks Victoria are engaged in dialogue with indigenous landscape, our forests often contain much evidence of communities over the management of cultural heritage the heritage of forestry and mining. We endeavour to in the Otway landscape. I have been pleased to see our ensure that these sites and features are recorded and partners in catchment management authorities entering appropriately protected from disturbance from continuing into MOUs with indigenous communities about processes management operations. Where possible, we incorporate for ensuring heritage values are protected in catchment heritage features into interpretation facilities. works. These are encouraging developments, but there is more to be done. Our coasts are a rich source of heritage associated with shipwrecks and settlement. While much of the public land A concluding theme that I will leave you with is that, component of this part of the landscape is now formally notwithstanding its formal role and authorities, DSE reserved, heritage values must continue to be recognised cannot meet its heritage conservation objectives on its and assessed in planning for recreational use and own. Partnerships with other agencies are important but, surrounding developments. most important of all, is support from the community. Your conference today is a very good example of leadership DSE is also responsible for several historic buildings on from within the community and I offer my best wishes for public land. The Koroit Courthouse and Smythesdale its success. lockup are two examples that come to mind. Our general approach to managing these features is to seek volunteers from the community to form committees of management. It is our fi rm belief that a local committee, Murtoa: A government perspective with a commitment to protecting the heritage asset and with support from the government, provides the best Peter Forbes means of sustaining this element of our heritage. Department of Sustainability and Environment
Further, we are keen to fi nd a continuing use for heritage buildings. I think that it is well accepted that an occupied Making the connection between landscape, natural building will gain more support in the wider community resources and government and will be better looked after than one that is effectively The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) abandoned – no matter how well it is formally recognised leads the Victorian Government’s efforts to sustainably and protected. Support is provided through means such manage: as grants and, of course, Heritage Victoria is a source of • water resources and catchments technical advice and guidance. • climate change
94 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 • bushfi res Regional impacts on ecosystems • parks and other public land Species won’t necessarily move with climate zones, due • forests to soil, habitat fragmentation and other constraints. • biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. Twenty-fi ve per cent of eucalypts have a climatic span of less than 1°C. 53 per cent less than 3°C. Shaping our settlements “The combination of fragmentation of the landscape • Government support has followed people into and climate change …. may seriously threaten the the Wimmera and Mallee: conservation of species such as the Malleefowl.” – Bringing water to towns and farms (Peters and Darling 1985). – Rail and roads and the services that follow. Dryland salinity • Sometimes government intervention has been very direct: – Soldier settlements – Vine pull schemes – Creation of parks. • What brought the people here?
Natural resource issues that will change our landscape • fi re; water; land; living things; air.
Impacts of climate change • More frequent and extreme weather events • An increase in extremely high temperatures and From Wimmera Regional Salinity Action Plan, 2005–10 a decrease in low temperatures. Wimmera Catchment Management Authority, 2005 Frontispiece
Regional impacts of climate change Native vegetation • Enhanced plant growth, but • Incentives to enhance and re-establish – Probably lower grazing quality • Clearance controls embedded into P&E Act – Extra growth, probably offset by water defi cit – Avoidance, Minimisation and Offsetting • Reduced wheat yield • Market created in supplying offsets • Lower grain protein and more heat-shock proteins The reserve system • Grazing: • Large tracts of land in National Park – Most impacts from changes in rainfall – Wyperfeld/Big Desert/Sunset Country/ – Less RF = increased variability in stocking rates Hattah Kulkyne/Little Desert – More heat-stress for cattle, and – the land not wanted by farmers. – Less cold-stress mortality for lambs • Increased fi re activity predicted: – New diseases spreading to Victoria. – increased lightning predicted – more extreme fi re danger days.
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 95 Native vegetation
Water issues • Problems with high salinity and nutrient levels • Problems with low fl ows: – stratifi cation of water in deep pools – lack of water to maintain biodiversity • Lack of security for consumptive uses.
Outlet Creek used to fl ood approximately every 20 years. There has been no fl ooding of the Creek within Wyperfeld National Park since 1975.
Current vegetation cover map, http://wcma.vic.gov.au posted 27/9/2007
Be-al 2006 and, inset, c.1960. Images 2006 Peter Forbes, 1860 Field Naturalists of Victoria
96 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Index of stream condition Scores for river raches in the Wimmera River Basin
Climate change: Observations, projections and responses Simon Torok Communication and Marketing Manager, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
Introduction
Climate is an abstract concept, a generalisation; it does not physically exist, just as a cricketer’s batting average is rarely hit during a match. Weather is what we experience, and it can be counted on to change; climate is what we expect, and it should stay the same for centuries unless it is forced to change.
External factors that change the climate include fl uctuations in the amount of energy emitted by the Sun and wobbles in the Earth’s orbit called Milankovitch cycles. There are also many internal infl uences on climate, including the cooling effect of volcanoes, changes in planet’s surface refl ectivity due to the presence or absence of ice, variations in ocean currents, and geological changes.
Climate change due to human activities is superimposed on, and masked by, these natural variations.
The natural greenhouse effect has been enhanced by an increase in activities such as burning fossil fuels for Published 2000 by DSE on website http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/ins-clpr/vcio energy, expanding agriculture and deforestation over the past 200 years, since the Industrial Revolution ushered Conservation status of EVCs* within the Wimmera bio-region in an era where humans rely on fossil fuels. The carbon dioxide concentration today of more than 380 parts per Wimmera million is much higher than the natural range of 172 to 80 54 300 ppm that existed over the past 800 000 years. Long
Cs 50 40 records show that, although temperatures vary naturally 30 23 between ice ages and warm periods, there is no record 20 11 10 of temperatures ever having increased as rapidly as they 10 Number of EV 2 1 3 0 have over the past 100 years.
Rare Extinct Depleted Vulnerable Endangered Least Concern The story so far
Naturally Restricted Conservation Status The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) * Ecological Vegetation Classes released its Fourth Assessment Report during in 2007 Published by DSE on the website. Victorian catchment (www.ipcc.ch). The IPCC report provided the strongest indicators online http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/ins-clpr/vci evidence yet that human activities are causing climate
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 97 Below right: Stevenson screen instrument enclosure. Below left: Hobart Observatory c.1912, with Stevenson screens to the left and the double-roofed thermometer house in the foreground to the right. Right: A Glaisher (Greenwich) Stand (left), thermometer house (centre) and a Stevenson screen at the Adelaide Observatory c.1910. Images Bureau of Meteorology
change, stating there is a greater than 90 per cent chance around the country reveals some interesting insights into that temperatures are rising due to human activities. the need for quality control. Global average temperature rose by about 0.75ºC over Thermometers should be exposed in a Stevenson the past 100 years, with 11 of the last 12 years being Screen – a louvered box named after its inventor the warmest years in the temperature record. Thomas Stevenson. However, Bureau records include Australia’s average temperature has risen by almost 0.9°C reports of instruments hanging under a gum tree, under over the past century. There has been a commensurate a galvanised iron verandah, against a stone wall, on a increase in the frequency of very warm days and a decrease balcony seven metres above the ground, and even inside in the frequency of frosts and very cold days. Rainfall an observer’s house. Stevenson Screens must be painted has increased over the last 50 years over north-western white and correctly exposed over suitable ground, but Australia, but decreased in the southwest of Western Bureau investigators have found them painted cream, Australia, and in much of south-eastern Australia, especially brown, green, silver, or not at all. The screens must also in winter. Droughts in Australia are now hotter than they be clear of obstructions, and not, as has been found, with used to be, and their impacts can be more severe. pumpkins growing beneath them, with cows, goats and other stock grazing around them, or torn laundry hanging Information about climate trends is available thanks to above them to dry. voluntary weather observers. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology relies on a range of observers, including Australian weather observers faced some unique post-offi ce staff, prison wardens, lighthouse keepers, diffi culties. For example, a dingo stole a thermometer which army personnel, farmers, missionaries, pastoral station an observer had read after he had been slaughtering farm managers, school teachers and mining company animals (presumably it smelled of blood, so the Bureau employees, as well as Bureau staff observers from across advised him to wash his hands in future). Cockatoos and the country, surrounding islands and Antarctica. crows also like to steal these shiny objects. One screen was found to contain a football. Termites have wreaked However, observations are not always worthy of being havoc, birds have entered screens and, in one case, an accepted into the climate record. A check of the Bureau eagle destroyed a Stevenson Screen by fl ying into the of Meteorology’s archived correspondence between its side of it. Head Offi ce in Melbourne and observational outposts
98 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 2030 Best Estimate
Once recorded, measurements have been destroyed by fi re, or in one case eaten by a pet lamb. One observer cut the telegraph lines to prevent his neighbour reporting observations during an outback feud regarding who was to have the privilege of taking the climate measurements. But the most insightful example into the strains of maintaining a consistent climate record comes from that of an irate wife in Katanning, Western Australia, who, perhaps tired of being woken every morning as her husband made the 3 a.m. Annual Rainfall observations, took to the valuable Stevenson Screen with 2030: Drier in the south, particularly in winter and spring, and an axe, turning it into a pile of fi rewood. little change in the far north. By 2030 annual rainfall in Victorian is projected to decrease by around 5 per cent (range of 0–10 Despite these diffi culties, the clear signal from more per cent) relative to the climate of the past century. Increases in than a century of overwhelmingly well-recorded climatic intensity of rain, fl oods, tropical cyclones and storm surges observations is that our climate has changed. 2070: Decrease of 5-10 per cent (with a range of 0–20 per cent) under a low emission scenario, or 10–20 per cent (with a range Looking ahead of +5 to -30 per cent) under a high emission scenario.
Estimates accounting for recent emission trends indicate to 20 per cent, and up to 30 per cent under the high- that by 2030 the globe may warm by 0.8 to 1.5ºC. If emission scenario. An increase in the number of dry days signifi cant mitigation efforts start in 2010, leading to is expected across the country, but but it is likely that emissions peaking in 2020 and carbon dioxide equivalent there will be an increase in intense rainfall events in many concentrations stabilising around 600 ppm after 2060, areas. scientists project a warming of 1.1 to 2.2ºC by 2100. However, if global emissions continue to climb so that Climate change will have social, economic and ecological carbon dioxide equivalent concentrations exceed 970 impacts. There will be both winners and losers; however, ppm by 2100, then temperatures are projected to unfortunately, the negative impacts of such changes increase by 2.2 to 4.7ºC by 2100. Projections of sea level outweigh the positives. Trends to greater population and rise for the end of the 21st century range from 18 to 79 cm investment in exposed coastal regions are increasing However, increases in the ice discharge from Greenland vulnerability to tropical cyclones and storm surges. A and the Antarctic have not been taken into account, greater frequency of extreme events such as fl oods, which could add metres to rising sea levels over centuries. fi res and high winds may adversely affect the insurance industry, as well as the security and continuity of electricity Climate change projections released supply. Many natural ecosystems are vulnerable to climate in 2007 by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology change and will have diffi culty adapting. (www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au) suggest Australia may be hotter and drier in coming decades, with more extremely hot days and fewer cold days. If greenhouse Responding to climate change gas emissions are low, warming is projected to be Our response to climate change must occur in three between 1ºC and 2.5ºC by 2070. Under a high-emission ways: understanding and communicating climate science; scenario temperatures may rise by 2.2ºC to 5ºC by 2070. adapting to the changes we are already experiencing; and Decreases in rainfall are likely in the decades to come in reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the southern areas during winter, in southern and eastern atmosphere. areas during spring, and in south-west Western Australia Society will need to adapt to the changes in climate we are during autumn. Under the low-emission scenario, by 2070 already experiencing and the changes we are very likely annual rainfall decreases in southern Australian range up to experience in coming decades. Such ‘climate proofi ng’
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 99 maximises opportunities and minimises threats. Examples such changes, provoking a strong emotional response to of adaptation include water recycling and restrictions, interpretations of the negative impacts of climate change engineering solutions and planning guidelines in coastal (see www.artlink.com.au/articles.cfm?id=2224). Climate areas, and changing crop varieties and farming practices. change was communicated via a science soap opera, which used a superfi cial story about the social lives of a However, mitigation is also required to reduce the risk of fi ctional team of climate scientists as a ‘Trojan horse’ to larger and dangerous changes in climate and associated introduce complicated concepts about climate change impacts to which we cannot adapt. Mitigation involves and other science (see www.abc.net.au/science/co2). reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by either reducing Similarly, fi ction can be used to convey complicated sources of emissions into the atmosphere or increasing climate change messages, enabling exaggeration, processes that absorb greenhouse gases. Examples of contraction of time, or the creation of hypothetical mitigation include reducing emissions through using less situations that can better illustrate information. fossil fuel, and enhancing carbon uptake by increasing carbon sinks through lowering deforestation, or through In summary, there is a natural greenhouse effect that has geosequestration. been enhanced by increased greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Global temperatures have risen Like the threat of nuclear war of the mid-to late 1900s, and other observations show evidence of climate change in the 2000s climate change has become a topic usually globally and in Australia. While there are many infl uences associated with an undesirable but unavoidable future. on climate, scientists conclude most of the observed In Australia, there has been a four-fold increase in the increase in temperatures since the mid-20th century is number of media reports about climate change from 2004 very likely due to human infl uences. Projections indicate to 2006. Climate change has also been addressed by 16 that changes to the climate are expected to continue into Australian churches, which united to state that action on the future with possible abrupt, high impact changes. climate change is a moral and ethical imperative (www. Impacts include more droughts, fi res, heatwaves and climateinstitute.org.au//images/reports/commonbelief.pdf). storms, and fewer frosts, and less water resources and The increasing presence of climate change in the media snow. Adaptation is required to reduce impacts, mitigation may have had a negative impact on the mood of young is required to avoid dangerous changes, and increased people and their hopes for the future – a 2007 survey of understanding and communication of climate science is people aged 10 to 14 in Australia found 44 per cent are required to increase awareness nervous about the future impact of climate change, and 27 per cent are so troubled about the state of the world they believe it will end in their lifetime.
A positive trend in climate change communication is the reduced voice of climate contrarians, or climate sceptics. However, climate change is reported in an increasingly alarmist and urgent language, with extreme weather events being blamed on climate change with little mention of climate’s natural variability from season to season. It is possible that the scale of the problem can be overwhelming for many and therefore lead to inaction through a belief that individual actions will be ineffective against such a vast, global problem.
Nonetheless, innovative methods of communication can portray the scale and timescales of climate change. For example, art and science collaborations can help illustrate
100 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 5.3 Local Applications
The Western Victorian volcanic provinces, in extent if not in volume. This volcanic activity province – a geological overview began about 70 million years ago and has sputtered away almost to the present day in some regions. The activity is Bill Birch in some way associated with the opening of the Southern Ocean and Tasman Sea and the continued northward Senior Curator (Geosciences), Museum Victoria movement of the Australian continent. It is known as ‘intraplate’ volcanism, because the volcanic belt is a Introduction long way from the active margins of the tectonic plate Young volcanic rocks form a discontinuous belt stretching on which Australia sits. for over 4000 km from Tasmania to northern Queensland. The volcanic plains of western Victoria began forming This belt represents one of the world’s great basaltic about 4.5 million years ago and since then about
The well preserved crater of Mt Noorat near Terang. Image Bill Birch
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 101 1300 cubic kilometres of basaltic lava have been erupted, is produced by progressive cooling and contraction of over an area of about 15,000 km2. Over 400 eruption points lava fl ows and is a widespread feature in western and have been mapped but it is likely there are many more. central Victoria. Pillow textures, formed when lava fl ows slowly into water, are rare in the province. Recognition of the rich array of volcanic features on the plain by Europeans began in 1836, with Major Thomas Mitchell’s observations at the summit crater of Mt Napier. Explosive eruptions Formal geological mapping of the region began in the There are two main types of explosive eruption centres in 1850s, although determination of the age of the volcanic the Western Victorian province. The most conspicuous of rocks had to await development of modern dating these are steep-sided cones of scoria with one or more methods in the late 20th century. Although there are still summit craters. These typically result from a single phase doubts associated with age estimates for the youngest of fi re-fountain eruptions, which may have lasted from a eruptions, it is generally accepted that these took place few months to several years. Mt Elephant, at Derrinalum, only between thousands or a few tens of thousands of is the largest scoria cone in Victoria, reaching 240 m high years ago. and 1.3 km across its base. Spindle-shaped bombs and irregular blocks fl ung from the craters are common. At Physical Volcanology some scoria cones, such as Mt Napier, fi re-fountains of lava produced spatter, which built up to form a rampart A simplifi ed classifi cation divides the eruption points around the crater. in the province into three types; lava shields generally representing older effusive activity, and scoria cones and More subdued features arising from explosive eruptions maars resulting from more recent explosive activity. Many are wide shallow craters known as maars and tuff rings. centres are combinations of both types of activity and Resulting from the blast caused by interaction between have complex histories. rising magma and ground water, maar craters are commonly fi lled by a lake and surrounded by a low rim Effusive eruptions consisting of beds of ash. Maars are widespread in the southern half of the province, with about 40 known. The Western Victorian volcanic province is built up by They can be discrete centres, such as Lake Purrumbete many small-volume fl ows from either fi ssures or from and Lake Keilambete, or form complexes, such as at lava shield volcanoes. There are numerous examples of Red Rock. shield volcanoes on the plain, although they are generally not prominent features because of their low-angle sides. Composite eruptions Some examples include Mt Pierrepoint, Mt Cotterell, Mt Ridley and the base of Mt Napier. Lava fl ows spread out Many of the most prominent volcanoes experienced over the surrounding country, in some cases, such as the several distinct phases of eruption, involving both effusive fl ows from Mt Eccles, Mt Rouse and Mt Napier, exploiting and explosive events. The Mt Leura and Mt Noorat stream valleys for distances of up to 50 or 60 km. complexes, for example, consist of nested scoria cones on a nearly buried maar or tuff ring. Activity at Mt Napier Features of these fl ows are best seen in young examples. began as lava eruptions building a low shield volcano, So-called ‘stony rises’ around Mt Rouse and Mt Porndon but climaxed as a cluster of scoria and spatter cones. are hummocky surfaces caused by uneven collapse of partially cooled lava or by pressure ridging. Lava fl owing in a tunnel beneath a solid roof layer may drain away, leaving Signifi cance of the volcanic features a tube or cave. The Byaduk caves on the Harman Valley There are many reasons to value the volcanic features of fl ow from Mt Napier are fi ne examples. Tumuli are domes western Victoria, stemming from their scientifi c, cultural or blisters on the surface of lava fl ows, possibly caused by and economic signifi cance. They are also widely used for localised concentrations of gas, with examples seen on teaching of volcanic geology. the Harman Valley fl ow at Wallacedale. Columnar jointing
102 Selected landscape papers: 2004–08 Tumili or lava blisters, south of Hamilton. Image Kanawinka Global Geopark
Signifi cant scientifi c aspects of the volcanism may be Important cultural, educational and economic aspects summarised as follows: of the region include: • Well-preserved features of a diverse variety of eruption • Aboriginal people in the region may have witnessed types are typical of a major intraplate basaltic province. some of the youngest eruptions and there are some • Many explosive eruptions have carried up fragments sites that continue to have cultural and spiritual of rocks from great depths, enabling study of the signifi cance. types of rocks present in the earth’s deep crust and • Agricultural production has benefi ted from the rich mantle below Victoria. soils derived by the weathering of basaltic fl ows and • Sediments deposited in maar lakes contain plant associated pyroclastic deposits. fossils that enable monitoring of climatic conditions in • Hard rock from lava fl ows and unconsolidated scoria the region over the past 5–10 thousand years. and tuff deposits are signifi cant resources.
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 103 The 1962 Robin Boyd-designed Natural History Centre at Tower Hill Game Reserve features a central hollow stone column, reminiscent of the core of the volcano that formed to the landscape. Image Heritage Victoria
• The region has considerable potential for on roads and railways, and grassfi res. There is a need ecotourism (for example, the recent development for public education, both of the local community and of the Volcanoes Discovery Trail and the impending of emergency managers and local government. nomination of the region as a Geopark - (Update: Kanawinka was declared Australia’s First National Volcanic heritage of south-eastern Australia, and its Geopark in June 2008). value in increasing awareness of volcanic risk
There is considerable scope for more detailed research in Western Victoria and adjacent South Australia have in all many of these aspects. In order to enable the continuation some 400 individual volcanoes, mostly scoria cones with of these studies and to maximise the economic potential extensive basaltic lava fl ows, and also about 40 maar of the region, high standards of conservation and craters with tuff ring and ash deposits. preservation must be developed and implemented. Best known are the numerous lava caves of international scientifi c signifi cance, but also important are the extensive stony rise lava fl ows, the unusual lava channels, and The volcanic geology of the western major steep-sided tumuli. The maar crater lakes have plains proved valuable in the study of pollen and of recent climate change. All signifi cant volcanoes have been Bernie Joyce fully described in a study for the Geological Society of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne Australia and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) by Rosengren (1992).
The young volcanic province of south-eastern The cultural heritage of the volcanic features includes Australia: volcanic risk evaluation and the recognition of Western Victoria as a volcanic region by the community explorer Major Mitchell in 1836, aboriginal artefacts and legends, and building of Aboriginal stone houses and eel Volcanism has been a feature of the landscape of Western traps. The use of basalt or “bluestone” by 19th century Victoria and adjacent South Australia over the past European settlers gave us magnifi cent homesteads and fi ve million years, with Mt Gambier the youngest dated farm buildings, and extensive stone fences. eruption about 5,000 years ago. Nearly 400 volcanoes have been catalogued, mostly scoria cones with extensive At a number of sites, local government has sponsored basaltic lava fl ows, but also including nearly 40 maar noticeboards, and an extensive Volcanic Trail has also craters with tuff ring and ash deposits. been developed. Mt Eccles volcano is a major National Park and the nearby state reserves at Mt Napier volcano Many Potassium/Argon dates and some radiocarbon and and Tower Hill nested maar and lakes are also well known. other dates are available. If activity had been regularly Problems affecting the values of heritage sites include spaced, it can be calculated that there would have been major quarries in scoria cones and tuff rings, building over an eruption every 12,500 years. It is now generally agreed of landforms, and ill-conceived “revegetation” of several amongst Australian volcanologists that further eruption is major volcanoes. likely, and may well be overdue. (For more information on local volcanoes, go to: Eruptions to be expected are maar crater formation with http://web.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/Joyce/volcanicrisk/ ash falls for several kilometres downwind i.e. to the east, volcanicrisk.htm). and cinder/scoria cone formation by fi re-fountaining with associated long valley fl ows.
Likely problems include evacuation planning, effects on farm animals and crops, water pollution, stream derangement, how to divert or control valley fl ows, effects
104 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Fig. 1: River basins in Corangamite CMA region
Healthy catchments – good how the cultural landscapes of the plains are formed, landscapes and may develop. To illustrate this theme, I will refer to just that part of the Peter Greig volcanic plains that is overlapped by the region covered Chairman, Corangamite Catchment Management by Corangamite Catchment Management Authority Authority (CCMA).
Maintaining and improving cultural landscapes in the In outline, I begin with a summary of the main features Victorian volcanic plains is an aim of this Forum. My aim of the plains, and their relationship to their whole here is to demonstrate that catchment management will catchments. This is followed by an outline of the CMA’s help improve cultural landscapes, especially the visual charter, and its reliance on partnerships with land components. managers, shire planners and many other people.
The volcanic plains are mostly freehold land managed by Next, I describe catchment health; how we measure it, farmers, and it is their decisions which affect catchment and what we do with others’ help to improve it. health – and landscapes. Shire planners also have an important effect, through their recommendations on Then, more specifi c to this Forum, I give an overview of land use changes – particularly industrial and residential the main features of the plains, and a summary of what developments. the CMA and others are doing to improve their condition – and thereby their landscape. But the plains are also affected by decisions made in the uplands which drain onto the plains. So I argue that an integrated view of catchments is needed to understand
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 105 Fig. 2: Victorian volcanic plains and Corangamite and other CMA regions
Volcanic plains in a catchment context Pasture improvement, or replacement of native with non- native pasture species, has decimated over 90 per cent Within the Corangamite CMA region, the volcanic plains of native grasslands, but the impact on landscape is more form part of three main river catchments; Moorabool, cultural than visual. Recently, pasture improvement has Lake Corangamite and Barwon (Figures 1 and 2). included rock-crushing with a noticeable visual, as well as While most of the plains are freehold farming land and un- cultural, impact. forested grasslands, at least some parts of the two upper Drainage of lakes and wetlands created more farmland, catchments remain forested (Fig. 3). just like deforestation, and both activities were generally The present plains landscape refl ects past changes in accepted as necessary and benefi cial at the time. land management, in particular: Though the plains were easy country for the early • pasture improvement settlers, they were largely exposed to the elements, so • drainage of wetlands shelter belts were planted, mostly of non-indigenous tree • creation of shelter belts species, particularly cypress and radiata pine, and sugar gums. These created characteristic Western District visual • deforestation in the uplands. landscapes. Deforestation, or land clearing, for agricultural purposes Deforestation of the uplands which drained onto the plains was widespread across the state until recently but, has also had an impact on the landscape, as will be seen before white settlement, the plains were mostly natural in the next section. grasslands or grassy woodlands.
106 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Fig.3: Current vegetation status, Corangamite CMA region
Catchment Management In ready recognition of this latter point, the CCMA has adopted a single main goal as the focus of all its activities: The Corangamite CMA is one of 10 Victorian statutory authorities established in 1997 to plan and promote “Every community member inspired and empowered integrated catchment care in all river basins. The CCMA to actively contribute to land, river and biodiversity covers 1.3 million hectares, including the cities of Geelong health” and Ballarat, and all the land and rivers to Peterborough, Given we have 330,000 residents, this is no trivial goal! and three nautical miles out to sea. The CCMA has also recognised climate change as its Currently, the CCMA invests some $17 million per year of most important strategic issue, one that applies as much Australian and Victorian government funds in catchment to the plains as to the coast. health improvements, and we estimate that private land managers and volunteers invest two or three times this Our challenge is to defi ne catchment health in clear amount in cash and in-kind in the same task. and measurable terms, so that we and our community together can work systematically towards achieving continuous improvements. So far we have defi ned
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 107 Fig 4: Waterway condition and catchment planners; and many other people to help maintain and management in Corangamite CMA region. restore appropriate levels of vegetation and environmental stream fl ows, while maintaining and improving the Waterway Condition and Catchment Management: Corangamite CMA ) 90% productivity and profi tability of farms and other lands.
80% I stress that these two goals are not mutually exclusive Lake Corangamite Otway Coast – improvements in both can be achieved by intelligent inal’ or better 70% g Line of best fit (Y = -4.03 + 2.26Log10x application of new science and knowledge in catchment 60%
th ‘mar care. And I would argue that as these goals are achieved, g Barwon 50% the outcomes will be visible amid the cultural landscapes % len (
40% of the volcanic plains. SC I y 30% Moorabool Lakes and Wetlands
Waterwa 20% 80% 90% 100% 110% 120% 130% 140% 150% Environmental Flow (%) plus Catchment Tree Cover (%) The volcanic plains landscape is characterised by its many beautiful lakes, of which Lake Corangamite is the most dominant. Like many wetlands, it has been affected by drainage schemes designed to increase the area catchment health in terms of river condition, just as of available farmland. This is well illustrated by Figure blood condition is a convenient indicator of human health 5 which shows how the level of the lake has steadily – albeit only a partial one. The logic is that rain falling decreased since the introduction of drainage schemes anywhere on catchment land ultimately drains to the after heavy fl ooding in the 1950s. rivers, carrying any contaminants that reveal disorders on No doubt some of the decline also has been due to the land. diminished rainfalls over the period, some of which may Biodiversity, in its own right, and also as an adjunct to be attributable to climate change. farm productivity, is also a very important component of Like native vegetation, wetlands have been shown to be catchment health, but we have not yet agreed a simple important for biodiversity, and this, in turn, is important indicator for this. for agricultural production. Most farmers now accept River health, on the other hand, is measured regularly by a that up to a point, revegetating, or setting aside existing standard Index of Stream Condition (ISC). It appears that ISC is impacted by two main catchment variables: • forest cover Fig 5: Levels of Lake Corangamite 1960 to 2005 • environmental stream fl ows. Lake Corangamite Levels 1960 to 2005 (The latter simply being river fl ows not extracted for 119.00 consumptive uses). Of itself, forest cover contributes 118.00 much to the biodiversity goal. ) 117.00 Lake Corangamitem When the averages of these three variables for four main
in AHD 116.00 catchments in the region are plotted, the relationship is ( 115.00 clear – though fairly crude (Figure 4). Normal Level 114.00 In essence, waterway condition improves with increases in Lake Level forest cover and environmental fl ows. So, put very simply, 113.00 the CCMA’s task is to work with land managers; shire 112.00
108 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 vegetation, yields a net increase in production from the The CCMA’s role here is to recognise both agricultural and whole property. The same is probably true of wetlands. biodiversity values and to provide information which helps land managers make their own choices. That is one reason why many farmers participate in revegetation and wetland restoration projects in partnership with the CCMA. On the volcanic plains, a Rivers tender-based procedure is being implemented called Improving river quality usually requires a whole-of- ‘Plainstender’, along similar lines to the now well- catchment integrated approach. Salinity of rivers on the established ‘Bushtender’ schemes. volcanic plains is one of the most invidious threats to the landscape, and the science of salinisation has progressed Cones rapidly in recent years, particularly our understanding of groundwater fl ows, and where recharge and discharge is Volcanic cones, like Mt Leura and Mt Elephant, are occurring, and can be managed (Nicholson et al, 2006). iconic symbols of the Western District. Both have been Importantly, too, the distinction between primary salinity, deforested and revegetated, like much of the formerly which has always been there, and secondary salinity is grassy plains, with non-indigenous species, which give a now recognised. distinctive visual character to the landscape. What is also apparent is that river quality, especially Both cones are now being revegetated with indigenous sedimentation, is very much affected by soil erosion from species, refl ecting local communities’ changing roading in general – possibly including unsealed tracks on perceptions about biodiversity and visual landscape farm lands and in forests. These are areas where further values. Landcare and similar volunteer groups have been research needs to be focused. the leaders in this work.
A Vision Plains and Barriers For the volcanic plains, as with all other catchment On the grassy plains, the CCMA’s aim is to protect the land, my visionary hope is that land will be managed native grasslands that still remain intact. The main public productively and sustainably, and that land managers purpose is for biodiversity maintenance, but farmers may will be personally inspired and empowered to achieve see native grasslands as a useful seasonal adjunct to that. My hope is for a balance of productive land improved pastures, and hence worth protecting, at least interspersed with land and natural features set aside and on some parts of their property (Malcolm and Sinnett, interconnected for biodiversity and catchment care in the 2006). face of climate change, the whole providing a pleasant Again the Plainstender project is used to channel public cultural landscape for residents and visitors alike. funds into this task. References In the barrier (or stony rises) country, a new form of land improvement has emerged in the form of rock-crushing Malcom, B & Sinnett, A 2006, Investigating conserving native grasslands from the perspective of three farm businesses in the to increase the area of arable land. There is a biodiversity Victorian volcanic plains. Report for Corangamite CMA. downside, however, in that habitat is damaged for species Nicholson, C, Dahlhaus, P, Anderson, G, Kelliher, C & Stephens, like the legless lizard. Regulation under the Federal M 2006, Corangamite salinity action plans 2005–2008, Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Corangamite CMA. Act 1999 is technically possible, but only if: (a) a threatened species is proved to be at risk; and (b) a change of land use is involved.
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 109 Entrance to Gardens, Lake Marma, Murtoa, c.1909. Image Picture collection, State Library of Victoria
The water supply heritage of north- agricultural, domestic, industrial, recreational, and west Victoria ornamental). The themes help to categorise Victoria’s water supply heritage and so, in turn, hopefully better Helen Doyle preserve and manage it.
Introduction Developments in water supply in north-west Victoria While the southern part of western Victoria was relatively Victoria’s north-west has a proud and remarkable water rich pastoral country, the country to the north was more supply heritage, and the region’s history has been prone to drought, and watercourses were few and far signifi cantly shaped by the challenges of water supply. between. Settlers wanted to create similar agricultural Settlers here faced greater challenges than in other parts wealth and prosperity in the north as they had in the of the colony. The water supply heritage that exists today south. Colonial rhetoric consistently promised progress developed as a result of settlers adapting to a variety of and a garden of Eden. Indeed, the fundamental purpose challenges presented by the natural environment, namely of colonial settlement was progress, and dreams and periods of low rainfall and a relative lack of topography, as theories persisted about how this might be achieved well as changing economic and market forces. in the dry north-west, including the claim of a vast Early water engineers also faced the problems of new underground sea beneath the Wimmera. and often untested technology. With many schemes, The title of a recent published history of the Wimmera– there were faulty pipes, polluted water, inadequate Mallee water supply, ‘Pipe Dreams’, alludes to the supply, and a lack of pressure. Some of the ways in ongoing discrepancy between local hopes for a plentiful which settlers sought to overcome these problems water supply and the reality of droughts, failures, and represent some of the key developments in water dashed hopes. The struggle to obtain a suffi cient water supply in Victoria as a whole. supply remains fi xed in the Wimmera landscape, through Surviving heritage sites refl ect different methods of melancholy place names, such as ‘Broken Bucket Tank’ harnessing and distributing water, and of settlers’ ongoing and ‘Lost Swamp’. efforts to use technology to triumph over nature. While Early efforts to secure an adequate water supply in the the region’s history has been signifi cantly shaped by the north-west were rudimentary – using wells, bores, pumps, development of a reliable water supply, the defi ciencies of and tanks, as well as the existing supplies available at the system, due to the challenges of drought for example, springs, lakes and watercourses. Other strategies were have in part infl uenced what kinds of places survive today. tried by more ambitious settlers, for example Samuel How and what do we preserve of this important history – Wilson of Longerenong station, who installed an elaborate both in the Wimmera–Mallee and across the state? system of pumps and pipes that drew water from the Drawing on a recent report I contributed to, which was Yarriambiack Creek, and built a system of water channels commissioned by Heritage Victoria and prepared by for irrigation. Context Pty Ltd – titled ‘Victorian Water Supply Heritage Individual settlers lobbied together for government aid. Study’, Volume 1: Thematic Environmental History – I The Waterworks Act of 1865 provided government loans will discuss some of the ways this heritage can be that enabled local townships to build local waterworks, understood. A central component of this report was but it was not until new legislation in 1881 that a large the preparation of a Thematic Environmental History, number of towns, including Horsham and Murtoa, set up which identifi ed a set of key historic themes in Victoria’s water trusts, which fi nanced the construction of a water water supply history. These themes were devised to supply and reticulation system. The Wimmera Water Trust, better understand the vast and complicated history of formed in 1880-81, was one of the earliest of these trusts. Victoria’s water supply across time and place, and in the light of various different needs for water (e.g. pastoral,
110 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Lake Lonsdale, photographed by Charles Nettleton, 1870s. Image Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria
Below: Plaque at Rocklands Dam, 1959. Image Rural Water Collection, State Library of Victoria
The fi rst practical steps towards the development of a large-scale irrigation scheme in the region came in the 1870s with the formation of the Grand Victorian North West Canal, Irrigation, Traffi c and Motive Power Company Ltd. Its founder, Benjamin H. Dods, was an ambitious Scottish hydraulic engineer whose dream it was to build a canal from Murchison on the Goulburn River that fl owed through to the Wimmera, and then south to Portland and the sea. Whilst this scheme was ultimately impractical, the debate surrounding the project, which was managed by the company’s secretary Hugh McColl, did much to raise public awareness of, and interest in, irrigation.
The Wimmera–Mallee Stock and Domestic Supply System was built primarily for stock and domestic supply, rather than for irrigation of crops or town water. It is also believed to be one of the largest schemes of its kind in the world. It was commenced in 1887, but its beginnings can be traced to the 1850s when the Wilsons constructed weirs at Longerenong to divert water for domestic and stock use. In 1878, the Shires of St Arnaud and Dunmunkle constructed a timber weir on the Wimmera River at Glenorchy, while the Wimmera Shire began a weir on the same river at Longerenong.
The Wimmera United Waterworks Trust built the Lake Wartook Reservoir in 1887, which was the fi rst large rural reservoir in Victoria. The Trust used the natural life-changing. At Murtoa in the 1880s, there was great watercourses – the Wimmera River, the Yarriambiack and excitement at the prospect of household ‘baths’, as local Dunmunkle Creeks, and the Richardson River – as the tradesmen clambered to provide suitable plumbing for main distribution channels. these as yet unknown facilities. In the age of steam power, locomotives needed to Settlement in the Northern Wimmera and Southern Mallee replenish their water supplies at regular intervals and, as in the late 1880s and 1890s placed further demands a result, many railways stations were installed with tanks, on the water supply and led to many new channels bores, pumps and reservoirs. The location of reliable being constructed. The 1902 drought placed enormous water sources in the Wimmera also infl uenced the route pressure on the new water supply, which resulted in the of new railway lines. For example, when new railway lines construction of Lake Lonsdale in 1903. A new authority, were being planned in the late 19th century, the position of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (SRWSC), the line was determined in part by the best positions for established in 1906 to replace the former water trusts, bores, which could be sunk along the line. constructed township supplies as part of the vast Where possible, the railway reservoirs, and hence the Wimmera–Mallee water supply system and also further stations themselves, were sited at a high altitude. Elevated extended the Wimmera–Mallee Stock and Domestic tanks and towers were necessary where the country Supply system for irrigation. This included building was too fl at for a gravity-fed system, for example at artesian bores, pumping stations, catchment tanks and Murtoa. These tanks often became part of the township artifi cial catchments. water supply. The provision of a town water supply was
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 111 Murtoa Water Tower. Image Heritage Victoria
The SRWSC commenced a channel construction construction of the Rocklands and Toolondo reservoirs in program for stock and domestic supply, with branches 1953 made it possible, by 1962, to draw the water supply from the Sea Lake and Long Lake main channels, in from the Grampians reservoirs instead of the Waranga 1906–7. Sea Lake was the fi rst Mallee township to receive Channel. But the drought of 1967–68 made this new a reticulated water supply as a result. Following the 1914 measure no longer effective and the channel was once drought, the SRWSC constructed additional reservoirs at again drawn on. Fyans Lake and Taylors Lake. In the arid areas of the Wimmera and Mallee many The Waranga Western Channel, which brings water from waterways offer only intermittent supply and so the the Goulburn and Loddon River systems, was extended solutions devised by the SRWSC were aimed at westwards following the dry years of 1927–30 to supply gathering peak surface-fl ow rather than constructing the northern part of the system. New reservoirs, including dams across waterways. Catchment tanks were one Moora Moora Reservoir, Green and Dock Lakes, further method of achieving this objective. In 1910, the SRWSC, extended the system between 1934 and 1935. The commenced construction of large catchment tanks at
112 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 State Rivers and Water Supply Commission offi ce in the Wimmera. Below: Water channel and fl ume, Wimmera–Mallee system. Images Rural Water Collection, State Library of Victoria
convenient points where underground water could not be found and where channel supplies had not yet reached. By 1928, 260 tanks had been constructed, which enabled the opening up of areas for settlement in advance of more permanent water channels.
The Wimmera–Mallee system used a series of open channels, but these are now being replaced with pipes as part of a massive project designed to improve the effi ciency of the system. Aqueducts are no longer constructed, and many of the early aqueducts have been enclosed or decommissioned and replaced with pipes.
Water supply as heritage
The story of water supply is strongly connected with Near Marnoo in the Wimmera, local residents erected settlers’ identity in the new country. Accounts of fi nding a memorial stone in 1915 at the site of Creswick’s Well, and harnessing an adequate water supply features in which had been sunk by the district’s fi rst settlers in 1866. the collective memories of local families and townships. It had been used as the fi rst source of water supply in the Because water was critical to the establishment and district and had later relieved the town in periods survival of settlements, the story of fi nding fresh water of drought. developed as a central thread in local history narratives. Conversely, ongoing drought has been unsettling to local Water supply sites were for a long time considered communities – both economically and psychologically ‘engineering’ sites rather than ‘historic’ sites, but with – and has led to the decline and abandonment of growing interest in ‘industrial heritage’ over the last settlements. It’s diffi cult, however, not to see some irony 20 years, these places are now increasingly recognised here, in that the remembrance of trying to harness water, by heritage authorities as well as by water authorities. The and perhaps even failing to do so, has now come to be popular understanding of water supply heritage, however, regarded as heritage; as something we want to keep. often tends to exclude Aboriginal sites, of which there are countless examples across the state. It is important to As with all heritage places, many local water supply note, however, the recent recognition, through a native places are invested with a high degree of community pride title grant, of Indigenous cultural associations with the and ‘ownership’. Many sites, such as railway water tanks, Wimmera River for fi shing and water supply purposes. wells, and local reservoirs, are central to local identity as places connected with ‘home’, ‘work’ and ‘play’. There Water supply heritage raises some diffi cult questions. is a strong sense that the various water supply systems, Given the ongoing reality of drought and failing water including irrigation works, are an important part of local supply systems, old and obsolete systems need to be history and heritage. Local pioneers of engineering and replaced. But at the same time, there is now a strong water supply administration have been honoured and interest in understanding early efforts at developing celebrated. The pioneering irrigator Hugh McColl, for water supplies and a desire to preserve some of these example, is remembered in the ‘McColl Bridge’ over the places. Here at Murtoa, for example, there is strong local Waranga Channel near Birchip. support to preserve the ‘decommissioned’ Lake Marma. Many water supply sites have important community and Local communities have sought to understand and social values, as well as engineering and technological remember the story of water supply in their district and, signifi cance. In addition, Victoria’s water supply history in doing so, to identify, protect and commemorate the has tended to leave negligible material evidence. Apart sites of that history. This isn’t just a new appreciation.
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 113 Rod Dodds inspects his wheat crop 1995. Image Jim Robinson, Greening Australia
from major works, such as reservoirs and channels, much Farming’s impact on the land original machinery has been removed, and much of the obsolete piping and associated infrastructure decayed. Ron Dodds Buildings have been removed or have been left in ruins. Regional Manager, Greening Australia
How then should we treat our water supply heritage sites? This is a personal perspective based on my experience Should we prioritise water supply sites over other heritage as a farm manager in the Wimmera and as an sites? Should heritage concerns take second place to the environmentalist. efforts of government and water authorities to redevelop or rebuild sustainable water supply infrastructure? A The Wimmera landscape as altered by European framework to assist in making this kind of assessment settlement has provided a special lifestyle for many. lies in the historic themes identifi ed in the recent report Farming today is diffi cult, but there is still room for by Context. Identifying, documenting, and evaluating this optimism. Across the grain belt, the top 25 per cent of heritage needs to be carried out in the context of a broad broad-acre farmers have annual results that compare understanding of Victoria’s water supply history. A better favourably with other investments. understanding of water supply heritage should help us Few of the local communities I grew up with are left. We to assess and possibly preserve, at a state or local level, must recognise that we displaced the original custodians some different examples of water supply heritage. of the land in creating a farmed landscape. The evidence for this earlier Aboriginal phase of human occupation References is widely visible: on our own farm at Perenna there This paper draws on a report prepared by Context Pty Ltd, was a particular spot where stone tools were picked ‘Victoria’s Water Supply Heritage Study’, Volume 1: Thematic up as recently as the 1970s – they are evidence of this Environmental History, prepared for Heritage Victoria (fi nal report, fundamental part of our heritage. Instead of a scattered, 31 October 2007). A full list of references is given in this report. Some references used in the report that are relevant to the primarily nomadic Aboriginal population we have put Wimmera–Mallee region are listed below: in place an agriculturally based regional economy that Glencross, AW 1915, The History of Creswick’s Well, Marnoo. underpins the lifestyle of over 60,000 people within the Marnoo. region, with multiplier effects beyond. Hill, E 1946, Water Into Gold. Seventh edition, Robertson & The spread of farming has affected the number and Mullens, Melbourne. distribution of our native plants and animals dramatically. Kenyon, AS 1914, ‘The Story of the Mallee’, Victorian Historical The adjacent maps show how the extent of native Magazine, no. 13, September. vegetation cover has declined since European settlement. McColl, HJ 1917, ‘Hugh McColl and the Water Question in Northern Victoria’, Victorian Historical Magazine, vol. 4, June. • The combination of habitat loss, climate change, Rabl, J 1986. The Romance of the Old Tower. Murtoa & District invasive weeds and feral animals is pushing Victoria’s Historical Society, Murtoa. native animals to the brink of extinction. Van Veldhuisen, Rhona (based on records researched and • Already 30 per cent of Victoria’s animals are either compiled by Bob McIlvena) 2001, Pipe Dreams: A history of extinct or threatened. Environmental Sustainability water supply in the Wimmera-Mallee. Wimmera Mallee Water, Horsham,. Issues Analysis for Victoria, CSIRO. East Loddon & District Historical Society 1988, Water and Our • The highest number of threatened species in any one Heritage. Development of Permanent Stock and Station Irrigation region of Australia occurs in north-western Victoria. Supplies of Water to Northern Victoria.. National Land and Water Resources Audit, 2002. GWM Water website: http://www.gwmwater.org.au/sm/history.html • A study released early this year revealed that of the North West celebrates 150 year irrigation history: 36 Victorian mammals listed as threatened under http://www.abc.net.au/rural/vic/content/2005/s1518198.htm the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, 13 have already been identifi ed as at risk from climate change. Climate Action Network Australia.
114 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Simplifi ed Native Vegetation comparisons. Image Department of Sustainability and Environment
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 115 Dust storm envelops Melbourne February 1983.
Farming has reduced the stability of the soils in the It is clear that the landscape of the future will be different, Wimmera and Mallee, as seen in this photograph of the and we need to decide not only how to ensure that the famous Melbourne dust storm in 1983 (above). land can be farmed sustainably into the future, and young people can be attracted back into the area, but also Much has been done to improve on this; but refl ect on which aspects of the rural heritage should be preserved, 2 April 2008 (when another dust storm occurred). and how the landscape should look. Farming has altered the landscape in other ways. Protection is urgent: already under threat are the grain Introduced trees such as the sugar gums, which silos and the power lines that used to run to every farm. were markers of habitation, are now growing old and Farm fences have been removed to increase fi eld size and disappearing. They have heritage value for what they tell productivity. Telephone lines have been put underground. us about a way of farming that has disappeared. Often Rural schools were a prominent feature of the built the homesteads themselves have gone, leaving the sugar landscape: they used to be located every six miles to gums as a memorial. The Aleppo pines around silos and ensure that no child had to walk more than three miles to sheds are also markers of past farming. Old sheds may school. Now most have closed and children are bussed remain unused from the depopulation of the countryside long distances to school each day. Farm houses have as people move to towns. There is little time left to record disappeared, the places they used to stand often marked the history of landscape management from that era. by groups of sugar gums, not an endemic species in this Farming has also altered the way in which water moves landscape, but arguably part of the cultural heritage. My through the landscape. The lack of rain over recent years grandfather used a horse drawn drill to seed them along and the reduced runoff from farms, have diminished fl ows fi eld boundaries. Aleppo pines were also planted widely, down the Wimmera River into the terminal lakes. Local particularly around silos and sheds. As an exotic species people recall picnics and boating in Lake Hindmarsh and they have no place in local biodiversity, but arguably they Lake Albacutya, both of which have been dry for many should be protected, perhaps even replaced, as a cultural years. element of the landscape.
Biodiversity in the river systems themselves is under The green landscape has changed, too. Once there were threat. Reduced tilling may have contributed to the lack scattered trees through the paddocks, but many have of runoff. In an attempt to conserve soil moisture it is gone, either due to old age and disease without adequate common now for fi elds to be re-sown in lines between replacement, or deliberately cleared to make it possible the previous year’s crop, rather than fully ploughed for to use big machinery in the paddocks. The loss of the re-sowing, with all operations guided by a GPS system trees diminishes habitat value, and has a major impact on within the tractor itself. biodiversity. Some trees have been added along shelter belts and fi eld boundaries, creating much more prominent Crops have changed too, most visibly through the lines in the landscape. introduction of the bright yellow fl owers of the canola.
Over the past decade or so we have been looking at The future? another aspect of change; the decline in population and farming in the Wimmera-Mallee. Many of us who were We have to decide what should be preserved. Do we born to farming – our heritage – are no longer there, and seek to only retain the linear lines in the landscape, the there has been a signifi cant and continuing depopulation old stock routes, three-chains wide, other roadside of the rural areas of the Wimmera (and indeed across reserves and fence line trees? Or do we wish to retain most of the ‘wheat/sheep’ belt). Some, particularly young a landscape that is most notable for the informality people, have left altogether; others have moved to towns conferred by scattered patches of vegetation and single such as Horsham. paddock trees?
116 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 In 50 years time the countryside will be different but, The landscapes of the volcanic plains: even though further landscape change is inevitable, the British vision and environmental picture is not entirely negative. We have put in place an agriculturally based regional economy that underpins transformation the lifestyle of over 60,000 people within the region, with multiplier effects beyond. Our challenge is to ensure that Don Garden future generations will seek to live here, and not turn their Environmental Historian, The University of Melbourne backs on the region for what they may perceive as more Two general points can be made about the landscape equable and attractive landscapes elsewhere of the volcanic plains or Western District.
There are several large National Parks in the region, which Firstly, what we see today, as we cross the landscape, are well cared for, but the landscape as a whole is also only resembles that of 40,000 years ago (let alone deserving of care and attention. Landcare, while being 170 years ago) in the general contours of the land. a major force for good in biodiversity protection and What covers the land has changed, and this transformation landscape management, is mainly focussed on patch is mainly the result of human modifi cations. and shelterbelt tree planting, and does little to address Secondly, this landscape has, in some respects, been the decline of scattered trees. These single trees will more resilient and remained more productive than many disappear, taking with them their contribution to local Australian landscapes because of two factors. One of ecological diversity, as well as the contribution they make these is the fertility of the relatively young volcanic or to the aesthetic appeal of the region. A possible solution is basalt plains that stretch from Port Phillip to beyond to introduce an adopt-a-tree program, encouraging urban Hamilton. The second is that the region has historically dwellers to provide fi nancial support for tree management been better and more reliably watered by rainfall than in return for the right to visit the trees and picnic there. many parts of Australia and Victoria. Carbon offset planting and programs such as Bush Research since the 1980s has drawn attention to Tender may provide incentives for returning trees to the degree to which Aborigines over 30,000 years or the landscape. Habitat 141 is a Greening Australia led so modifi ed the landscape and created the park-like initiative that seeks to provide ecological connectivity grasslands that so suited the sheep of the fi rst British between the coast and the dry inland along the Victoria- settlers. In essence, we now believe that after their South Australia boundary (the 141E line of longitude). arrival, Aborigines impacted in three ways. Habitat 141 will link many of the major National Parks in the region, and provide a route along which plants and Firstly, they appear to have played a major role in the animals can move, ensuring protection of biodiversity extinction of 40 or so species of mega fauna through and possible migration routes if climate change makes hunting or modifi cation of habitat, particularly through fi re. individual habitats unfavourable. Secondly, their extensive use of fi re (fi restick farming) As a long-time inhabitant of the region, I remain optimistic changed fl oral distributions, notably by reducing forest that solutions can be found and that we can create a and trees and creating grasslands. In turn, this impacted sustainable farming economy in a rich and biologically upon the faunal species that inhabited or depended upon diverse landscape that protects the rich cultural heritage on the fl ora. of our past. We have a well-established rural economy, Thirdly, in this region there was a higher level of but the challenge is to get young people back to the manipulation of water systems in most parts of Australia. region. If they can be attracted, the opportunity will The complex of fi sh and eel traps around Lake Condah be there to pass on a sustainable heritage to future was arguably the most sophisticated in Australia, and the generations. level of sedentary residence enabled by the resources at Condah resulted in construction of the ‘village’ of stone huts described by George Augustus Robinson.
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 117 Reclamation of wetlands can reduce bird habitat. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
What early explorers like Thomas Mitchell and the fi rst greenness of the grass, and the grassy and thinly generation of squatters found, therefore, was not a timbered nature of the country with its many pools and ‘pristine’ or ‘natural’ landscape, but one that had been creeks. As he approached the Grampians he entered substantially fashioned by the Aborigines over several a valley that he described as ‘one of the most beautiful thousand years. spots I ever saw’.
Mitchell and other new arrivals judged the landscape A few days later, while refl ecting on what we now know as by two principal criteria. The fi rst was to commodify it, the Western District and the northern plains, he remarked: or to evaluate it according to its apparent capacity for We had at length discovered a country ready for the commercial exploitation. The second was to assess the immediate reception of civilized man; and destined landscape according to their British aesthetic tastes. The perhaps to become eventually a portion of a great favoured lands of the volcanic plains tended to come out empire. Unencumbered by too much wood, it yet high on the scale of approval as much was ideal for sheep possessed enough for all purposes; its soil was grazing, and it was suffi ciently green and undulating to be exuberant, and its climate temperate; it was bounded found beautiful or attractive. on three sides by the ocean; and it was transversed Mitchell is renowned for some exaggeration, but as by mighty rivers, and watered by streams innumerable he ventured into the Western District in July 1836 he (Mitchell, Three Expeditions, v. 2, p. 171). commented enthusiastically on the black earth, the
118 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Barwon Park, home of Thomas and Elizabeth Austin, is typical of the Western District’s grand houses. Austin is credited with introducing rabbits to Australia but was one of many who imported them at the time. Now owned by the National Trust, Barwon Park is open to the public each Wednesday and Sunday (See www.nattrust.com.au)
Much of the landscape of the volcanic plains was ideal Firstly, the natural environment, which now only exists in for grazing and the early British history of the region highly modifi ed and restricted forms such as in national was essentially about large sheep properties. Fortunes and state parks and in outcrops on some private were made and lost over the next few decades, but properties. The Grampians is the most extensive area. substantially the Western District became a wealthy region Clearing and burning the land has eradicated most dominated by large pastoral properties and the men who indigenous vegetation, and with it the indigenous fauna – ran those properties. The district was known for its big millions of kangaroos, wallabies, quolls, bandicoots, and houses set in the grassy undulating hills and fi ne exotic other marsupials, and most birds, as well as invertebrate gardens. The owners often consciously set out to re- and aquatic species. create the British landscape as well as its social order. The draining or ‘reclamation’ of wetlands has transformed There were many attempts to break up the large holdings large areas, as has the diversion or damming of every and to redistribute the land among small farmers to grow water system in the region. food as well as wool. The Selection Acts of the 1860s The effects of such intervention impacted on the land in were generally unsuccessful in the core of the District, but many ways. As early as the 1840s John G. Robertson over the next century later Selection Acts and then various observed the fi rst signs of salinity and the invasion of Closer Settlement and Soldier Settlement schemes saw weed species. There were many early complaints about most of the large properties compulsorily acquired and the problems caused by thistles which were perhaps subdivided. introduced in the region by nostalgic Scotsmen. Generally affl uent service towns such as Camperdown This points to the second main factor in the and Hamilton developed, and by the 20th century the transformation of the landscape – the accidental and region had complex and diversifi ed economic and social deliberate introduction of exotic species. Hundreds of system, not signifi cantly different from other parts of rural exotic species of fl ora were introduced for food, for Australia. aesthetic appeal in gardens, or for utilitarian purposes What emerged in this process was a new landscape, one such as the wind breaks of conifers. All too many of shaped with a sense of order by Britons who set out to these, such as thistles, blackberries and cape weed, impose their forms of economic production, aesthetic escaped into the environment and are still there doing tastes and culture upon the environment. The landscape much damage. now had property lines, lines of communication, buildings Besides their commercial animals, the British introduced and towns. Even the species that inhabited the region a panoply of fauna species for a mixture of aesthetic and now refl ected the aspirations, needs and tastes of the cultural reasons – hunting animals such as foxes; cats and colonists. dogs as companion animals; exotic birds to eat pests and Today we see a layered or hybrid landscape of mixed to sing in the trees, etc. natural remnants and human modifi cations. Most of our Perhaps the most signifi cant in the volcanic plains was natural heritage is lost, and we have overlain the contours the rabbit. Thomas Austen at Barwon Park successfully of the land with a diversity of structure and infrastructure introduced the rabbit in the late 1850s – for sport, as a that form cultural heritage. From the Condah eel and fi sh food source and an attempt to establish that furry little traps to the grand houses such as Glenormiston, this is a animal as part of the rural landscape as it was in England. largely cultured and created landscape. He was all too successful and the rabbits became a Environmental historians help us to read and understand plague that did incalculable damage to the Australian the way the landscape has been treated and how it has environment and the Australian economy. changed, to interpret the various layers of activity and The second main element in the modern environment is infl uence. There are two main elements. the multitude of human structures that now form a cultural heritage overlay across the landscape – the grand houses
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 119 Meningoort top view. Image Tim Hubbard of the pastoral properties, the smaller houses and farm Whither Australia Felix Now? buildings of the agricultural industry, the stone walls of the settlements in the stony rises, the windbreaks of trees, the sometimes elegant structures in the towns, roads, An Appreciation of the Picturesque Aesthetic in the railways, bridges. Volcanic Plains of Victoria So what we have today is a layered or hybrid landscape Timothy Hubbard of mixed natural remnants and human modifi cations. Heritage Architect & Planner, Heritage Matters Pty Ltd While most of our natural systems have been lost, the Major Sir Thomas Mitchell (1792–1855), Surveyor General contours of the land now exhibit a diversity of structures of NSW, was the fi rst to claim the Western District and infrastructure that represent our cultural heritage. landscape. He called it Australia Felix. Standing on top From the Condah eel and fi sh traps to the grand houses of Pyramid Hill, on 30 June 1836, Mitchell described the such as Glenormiston, this is a largely cultured and experience thus: created landscape. The view was exceedingly beautiful over the References surrounding plains, shining fresh and green in the Mitchell, T 1965, Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern light of a fi ne morning. The scene was different from Australia, First published London 1839, Facsimile Edition, anything I had ever before witnessed, either in New Libraries Board of SA. South Wales or elsewhere. A land so inviting and still
120 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Kolor Circular Yard. Image Tim Hubbard
without inhabitants! As I stood, the fi rst European for their association with the Classical Antiquity depicted intruder on the sublime solitude of those verdant by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). The Sublime, on the plains, as yet untouched by fl ocks or herds; I felt other hand, is dark, dangerous and dreadful, mysterious conscious of being the harbinger of mighty changes; and organic. It was to be found in the Alps or at sea, and that our steps would soon be followed by the and was depicted by Salvator Rosa (1615–1673). Gothic men and the animals for which it seemed to have architecture is sublime and its asymmetry is essential to been prepared. its appreciation. The volcanos of Western Victoria are sublime. Claude Lorrain (1600–1682) foreshadowed And two weeks later, on 13 June, he repeated his the Picturesque by combining dark foregrounds with philosophical assessment of Australia Felix when light middle and far distances in his paintings. They also he wrote: included structures and templates which were adopted as We had at length discovered a country ready for the models for designing villas and landscapes in the 18th and immediate reception of civilised man; and destined 19th century. perhaps to become eventually a portion of a great Architecturally, by the mid-19th century, the Picturesque empire. Unencumbered by too much wood, it yet aesthetic was reduced to the famous ‘Battle of the possessed enough for all purposes; its soil was Styles’. Places of learning, such as mechanics institutes exuberant, and its climate temperate; it was bounded and libraries, and public administration, such as town on three sides by the ocean; and it was traversed by halls and court houses, would be Classical in style. mighty rivers, and watered by streams innumerable. Churches, almost always, were Gothic except when Of this Eden I was the fi rst European to explore its denominations or religions eschewed the Gothic for its mountains and streams—to behold its scenery—to specifi c associations, such as popery and anti-Semitism. investigate its geological character—and, by means But, according to the Picturesque aesthetic, villas with of survey, to develop those natural advantages, all of their Classical and Renaissance associations certain to become, at no distant date, of vast could be Gothic! Whether we realise it or not we are importance to a new people. still inescapably imbued with the Picturesque aesthetic. There can be no doubt about Mitchell’s Picturesque When buildings, towns, gardens, and landscapes credentials, from his regular use of the words ‘sublime’, evoke associations and send messages we respond ‘beauty’ and ‘picturesque’ and from his journals, his aesthetically, including an ability to see the light and the library and his houses. But what did he mean by the term dark side. ‘Picturesque’? Many artists painted the landscapes of the volcanic The Picturesque aesthetic emerged through Romantic plains of the Western District drawing on long standing poetry, art and landscape gardening in the mid-18th European traditions. Eugene Von Guerard (1812–1901) century and architecturally only at the very end of the was perhaps the most important, especially for his work century. It emerged from 17th century notions of the as a ‘house portraitist’. He was an artist who revered ‘Beautiful’ and the ‘Sublime’, creating an apparently and revelled in God’s Creation but he was also aware of incompatible merger from opposites. It was linked directly technical advances. His view over the cones and crater with a new appreciation of the Lake District in England of Tower Hill looking towards Port Fairy famously includes and other remote places. It was rooted in the theory of the local fl ora but also a modern steamer. He painted Associationism; that is, the notion that objects, views portraits of the homesteads at Purrumbete, Lara, Yalla-y- and places could evoke deep feelings in the spectator. Poora, and several others. When he painted Meningoort Beautiful things are light, rounded, resolved and benign. Homestead, near Camperdown, he chose a deliberately Beautiful things, including towns and buildings are informal view, the rear of the house, but emphasised the planned rationally. Classical architecture is beautiful and its axes generated by the architecture of the house as they symmetry is essential to its balance. Pastoral plains, such reached out and claimed the landscape. These dramatic as those of the Western District are beautiful, particularly axes terminate on sublime volcanic features but can
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 121 Gnadenthal Cemetery, Penshurst. Image Tim Hubbard
be compared with the beautiful park at Versailles and, the house through its garden to the broader landscape. incidentally, the planning of Melbourne University. An axis, a diameter through the great circular garden and the symmetrical plan of the house, crosses a subsidiary Edward La Trobe Bateman (1816-1897), artist and axis and continues out over a watercourse to terminate designer, laid out the grounds of Melbourne University on Mount Melville, the source of the stone for the house. in the mid-1850s, soon after he arrived in Melbourne. Surviving plants, such as exotic deciduous trees, dark He had impeccable credentials and connections for pines and hawthorn hedges are similar to those of many a Picturesque sensibility through his links to the Pre- gardens in the Western District. The design may or may Raphaelite Brethren, his uncle Charles Joseph La Trobe, not be infl uenced by Bateman, but it demonstrates a the Lt-Governor and an accomplished artist in his own deep metaphorical association with the landscape. This right, as well as others in Victoria’s ‘high’ society. Bateman is symbolised by the over-sized keystone in the oeuil-de- designed the grounds for the homesteads at Chatsworth, boeuf set in the gable above the front door. Wooriwyrite, The Gums and Kolor, collaborating with the leading architectural fi rm, Reed and Barnes. He possibly British sensibilities were not the only aesthetic important designed the grounds at Meningoort and Gringegalgona. in the Western District. Deep metaphorical landscape values were demonstrated by Wendish Lutherans. Some The homestead Kolor, positioned on the west slope of of these religious refugees, pioneers in the settlements Mount Rouse at Penshurst and named after the extinct around Hamilton, are buried in the Gnadenthal Cemetery volcano, was designed in 1868 as a villa in the landscape. which is elevated above the volcanic plain below. They Its asymmetrical architecture is in the rare Rundbogenstil, face east towards Mount Rouse in anticipation of the a German style and an important theoretical parallel to the Risen Lord and overlooking their tidy farms. And it must much more familiar Italianate, the great British souvenir not be forgotten that there is an even older Aboriginal style from the Grand Tour. The walls of Kolor are fi nely aesthetic at work. Aborigines were considered to be crafted from dark bluestone, the basalt produced by the naturally Sublime by the invaders but ripe for civilizing volcano. Axes generated by the drawing room’s bow and conversion to appreciate Beauty. window and the dining room’s bay window reach out into the landscape terminating on Mount Napier to the west and Mounts Sturgeon and Abrupt to the north. The tower which creates a distinctive vertical axis is built for prospect and aspect – to see and be seen. A sinuous curved drive climbs towards the house creating a strong sense of anticipation through a dark pinetum. A great circle ringed by hawthorn hedges circumscribes a cinder cone to the south-west. Strong geometrical features are a distinctive characteristic of Bateman’s work. A bosque of Stone Pines, Pinus pinea, the pines of Rome marks the centre of the circle. Others fl ank the entrance gates, a clear reference to the associations. The whole villa complex is unifi ed with the landscape, rich in its associations, redolent with metaphorical values and avant garde in its design.
The homestead at Gringegalgona, near Balmoral, is strictly speaking located just north of the volcanic plains. A South Australian architect, W. T. Gore designed the house but the designer of the grounds is not known. However, there is a masterful use of geometry which links
122 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 5.4 Planning to protect the broader landscape
Planning tools and solutions for Unlike their city cousins, where identifi cation is generally cultural landscapes of the volcanic confi ned to the built form with some signifi cant trees and gardens, and where testing and review of the ‘system’ plains continues to occur and provide ongoing understanding and debate about how heritage controls should work in a built Lucinda Peterson form context, the heritage studies being undertaken post- Strategic Planning Coordinator, Warrnambool City amalgamation in the south west of Victoria, in identifying Council landscapes, is relatively new territory for planners.
South West Victoria has a relatively early history of This is not to say that not much has been happening in assessment of cultural heritage signifi cance in the context the south west in terms of understanding the importance of heritage studies within Victoria. Very early studies were of the volcanic plains. The volcanic plains of the south undertaken of Port Fairy in the late 1970s, Warrnambool west are identifi ed as a signifi cant bio-region and in the early 1980s, as well as Portland, Hamilton and much information is available about the signifi cance of Camperdown. These studies mainly focused on the the geology as well as fl ora and fauna. Some of this built form, and have led to traditional heritage protection information has fi ltered into planning schemes, but on techniques within towns. an ad-hoc basis. In addition, Trust for Nature, Field Since amalgamation in the late 1990s, and more Naturalists, Landcare and other community organisations, particularly recently, councils of the south west have, as well as individual landowners, have recognised for and are, commissioning broader heritage studies which a long time the unique nature of the volcanic plains of venture beyond the town and into rural landscapes. Given the west and have worked hard to protect and enhance the vast areas of land to be studied, a relatively small rate these sites, whether it is through covenants on the land, base and comparatively few planners to implement the physical works or by other means. Land tenure is another studies and manage the system, this is no mean feat and important factor, whereby numerous important sites, such councils are demonstrating a commitment to heritage. as the volcanic lakes around Camperdown, Tower Hill near Port Fairy and Mount Rouse at Penshurst are owned Southern Grampians Shire completed its heritage study and managed by the public. in 2004 and is currently preparing a planning scheme amendment to apply planning controls on approximately At the same time, other landscape assessments have 470 sites. This study, undertaken by Dr Timothy Hubbard, recently been undertaken, assessing the signifi cance has included homesteads and signifi cant landscapes, of landscapes. Much attention has been paid to the including landscapes of the volcanic plains. coast, with challenges of managing the infl ux of wind farm applications and urban development. In late 2006, Warrnambool City Council has undertaken its precincts the Coastal Spaces project, through the Department study, Glenelg is forging ahead with its heritage study of Sustainability and Environment, has undertaken a by identifying and assessing an initial 100 sites outside landscape assessment, to not only include the coast itself Portland, Moyne has recently completed its heritage but the hinterland which includes much of the volcanic study and Corangamite Shire is about to commence landscapes. its heritage study also. These studies represent a new generation in assessment, many of them taking into The Planning System – What’s in the ‘Tool Box ?’ account signifi cant landscapes and landforms. Signifi cant investment by these councils, with relatively vast areas to The planning system is a popular and transparent tool. cover, is being committed, with the most likely result in The strength of the planning system is that the control a greater appreciation and understanding of the unique mechanisms, through Zones and Overlays, are (or and valuable qualities within the various shires, and the should be) based on sound and justifi able information. application of various planning controls. Controls are implemented through amendments to the local planning scheme which involve public exhibition
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 123 and consideration of submissions from landowners and of signifi cance landscapes’. The SLO includes a Schedule the general public and analysis by an independent Panel, which can ‘tailor’ the Overlay to the sites. This includes usually adopted by the local Council and approved by the a statement of the nature and key elements of the Minister. The controls are included in Planning Certifi cates landscape, as well as stating the landscape character and appear on Section 32 statements, when properties objective to be achieved. are sold. Development is managed through planning Clause 42.01 – The Environmental Signifi cance Overlay permits at the local level. (ESO) is a tool that can also be used. Its purpose is ‘To The main tool for recognizing, protecting and managing identify areas where the development of land may be volcanic landscapes is through the Planning and affected’ and ‘To ensure that development is compatible Environment Act 1987. with identifi ed environmental values’.
Under Section 12(1)(a) of the Planning and Environment Clause 42.02 – The Vegetation Protection Overlay (VPO) Act 1987, a planning authority must ’…..implement the is another tool. Its purposes include ‘To protect areas objectives of planning in Victoria’, one of which is, ’to of signifi cant vegetation’, ‘To ensure that development conserve and enhance those buildings, areas or other minimises loss of vegetation’, ‘To preserve existing trees places which are of scientifi c, aesthetic, architectural or and other vegetation’ and ‘To recognise vegetation historical interest, or otherwise of special cultural value…’ protection areas as locations of special signifi cance, (Section 4(1)(d). The Planning and Environment Act 1987 natural beauty, interest and importance’. Again, the gives effect to the Victoria Planning Provisions. Schedule provides the opportunity to state the nature and signifi cance of the vegetation protected and the The Planning Scheme, through the Victorian Planning vegetation protection objective. Decision guidelines Provisions, has some excellent tools to recognise and include, among other things, the need to retain vegetation help protect and manage cultural landscapes of the which is of heritage or cultural signifi cance. volcanic plains. There are, as they say, ‘many ways to skin a cat’, and the Victoria Planning Provisions offer a Clause 43.02 – The Design and Development Overlay number of tools which can be tailored and used either is another tool. Usually applied in urban areas, it has exclusively, or in combination with one another, to achieve the potential to be applied in areas such as the volcanic a desired outcome. These tools include the State Planning plains. Its purpose is ‘To identify areas which are affected Policy Framework, the Local Planning Policy Framework, by specifi c requirements relating to the design and built including the Municipal Strategic Statement and a series form of new development’. of Overlays, including the Heritage Overlay, Signifi cant Clause 44.01 – The Erosion Management Overlay (EMO), Landscape Overlay, Environmental Signifi cance Overlay, whilst not often applied, is also an option especially Vegetation Protection Overlay, Design and Development regarding safety aspects of land development. Its Overlay, Erosion Management Overlay and Zones, purpose is ‘to protect areas prone to erosion, landslip, including the Public Conservation and Resource Zone and or other land degradation processes by minimizing land the Environmental Rural Zone. disturbance and inappropriate development. ’ Here is a quick summary: Under the Overlays, a planning permit is required to Clause 43.01 – The Heritage Overlay’s (HO) purposes construct a building or construct or carry out works are ‘To conserve and enhance heritage places of natural (which includes changes to topography) and to remove or cultural signifi cance and ‘To ensure that development vegetation. With the exception of the Heritage Overlay, the does not adversely affect the signifi cance of heritage Schedules attached to the Overlays can exempt certain places’. buildings and works from requiring a planning permit and can ‘tailor’ decision guidelines, for example, to take into Clause 42.03 – The purposes of the Signifi cant account views from particular roads, etc. An advisory Landscape Overlay (SLO) are ‘To identify signifi cant committee has been appointed to review the heritage landscapes’ and ‘To conserve and enhance the character
124 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Port Fairy harbour. Image John De La Roche, Tourism Victoria provisions in the planning scheme, including the Heritage the natural environment with minimal degradation of the Overlay and has explored the value of restructuring the natural environment or natural processes. ’ Heritage Overlay in line with the Signifi cant Landscape The Environmental Rural Zone is another Zone, more Overlay to provide greater opportunity for tailoring the commonly applied to privately owned land. The purpose controls. of the Environmental Rural Zone is ‘To conserve and Often the land use itself is an important factor. Whilst an permanently maintain fl ora and fauna species, soil Overlay controls what is built on the land, how it looks and and water quality and areas of historic, archaeological where it should be located, a Zone can also determine and scientifi c interest and areas of natural beauty or how the land is to be used. The Public Conservation and importance so that the viability of natural eco-systems Resource Zone is almost exclusively applied to land either and the natural and historic environment is enhanced.’ Crown land or land of public ownership. Its purposes are Decision guidelines include ‘The impact on the character ‘To protect and conserve the natural environment and and appearance of the area or features of architectural, natural processes for their historic, scientifi c, landscape, historic or scientifi c interest or of natural scenic beauty or habitat and cultural values’, and ‘To provide facilities importance’ and ‘Location of buildings and works with which assist in public education and interpretation of
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 125 Mt Elephant. Image John Hawker, Heritage Victoria respect to natural environment, major roads, vistas example, as it demonstrates how the planning scheme and water features’. can be used. Kolor is on the Victorian Heritage Register, and, as a result, is included in the Planning Scheme Ideally, the application of the Zones and Overlays are Heritage Overlay. The Mount Rouse and Crater Reserve based on sound information and strategy. is zoned Public Conservation and Resource Zone, and Examples of how elements within the volcanic plains is also proposed to be included within the Signifi cant have been included within various planning schemes: Landscape Overlay. A number of properties within the township of Penshurst are earmarked to be included The town of Penshurst, Kolor homestead and within the Heritage Overlay. Other land within the township Mount Rouse and Crater Reserve was originally recommended to be included within the Heritage Overlay also. However, noting that the township The Southern Grampians Heritage Study identifi ed was not intact enough to warrant a Heritage Overlay, individual sites within the township of Penshurst as it is considered appropriate to investigate a Design signifi cant, the township itself (to the extent of the and Development Overlay. Land outside the township, original subdivision), and the bluestone homestead at between Penshurst, Kolor and surrounding Mount Rouse the base of Mount Rouse, known as Kolor, as well as the is proposed to be a Signifi cant Landscape Overlay. Mount Rouse and Crater Reserve. This is an interesting
126 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Tower Hill years ago. I understand the Overlay includes the best examples, but not all examples. Tower Hill, in Moyne Shire, is an impressive volcanic feature and signifi cant for many reasons. The crater itself There are few dry stone walls included in south west is zoned Public Conservation and Resource Zone, the planning schemes and this is an area which, as a region, outer rim is zoned Farm Zone and is privately owned. The should be investigated. Crater, public land, is included on the Victorian Heritage The Advisory Committee reviewing the Heritage Provisions Register. The land outside the crater has a Design and in Planning Schemes has considered this matter and in its Development Overlay 2, whereby the design objective is consultation paper has recommended that dry stone walls ‘To protect the rural character and scenic amenity of the could be protected via Clause 52.16 which is one of the area, particularly views to and from the Tower Hill Reserve, ‘Particular Provisions’ in the Victoria Planning Provisions. coastal areas and scenic routes’. Another of which is ‘To Presently Clause 52.16 provides ‘blanket protection’ discourage construction if buildings within 500 metres of against demolition of historic post boxes, constructed the rim of Tower Hill in that section of land north of Princes before 1930. Whilst this solution is fi ne for historic post Highway between Killarney Township and the southern boxes, whereby these post boxes are almost always on vehicular entrance of the Tower Hill Reserve’. public land and are ‘owned’ by the one party, the Clause 52.16 solution may not be the most appropriate for dry Mt Elephant, Mt Sugarloaf, the Crater Lakes, stone walls. Stony Rises The benefi t of Planning Controls are that they appear The Corangamite Planning Scheme includes planning on Planning Certifi cates and must be disclosed when controls over a number of features of the Volcanic Plains. properties are sold. How would the average private Corangamite Shire which has, I consider, the most landholder know that dry stone walls are protected outstanding examples of the volcanic plains in the region, without them being notifi ed? Further to this, when have protected major sites using the scheme’s Signifi cant properties transfer ownership, how does the new owner Landscape Overlay 1, namely Volcanic Landscape Area 1, know that the Dry Stone Walls are protected? and Environmental Signifi cance Overlay 1 ‘Watercourses, Another solution could be to map every dry stone wall waterbody and wetland protection’, which includes the and include it within the Heritage Overlay. This however, crater lakes. The majority of these sites however, are would be an enormous task. Dry stone walls would public land. I understand that Corangamite Shire will soon not necessarily show up in aerial photographs, and be commencing township reviews with the intention of identifi cation in the fi eld would generally be restricted to extending Signifi cant Landscape Overlay into private land. public roads. Individual identifi cation would be expensive Parts of the Stony Rises are currently included within a and mapping errors could be numerous. Vegetation Protection Overlay and Signifi cant Landscape I have spent some time thinking about a solution for Overlay. The DSE Coastal Spaces project identifi ed the the dry stone wall issue. A solution may be to apply southern portion of the Stony Rises within its landscape a widespread Signifi cant Landscape Overlay over the assessment, but not the northern section. western volcanic plains (we could call it Signifi cant Landscape No x ‘dry stone walls’), which would trigger Dry Stone Walls a planning permit only for the demolition of dry stone It is common knowledge that the south west has an walls. It could be applied to affected Planning Schemes extensive complex of dry stone walls. For some time, we within the region. The Amendment could be advertised have grappled about how to protect these elements. The with Rates notices. This solution would ensure that dry Corangamite Planning Scheme contains 13 sites within stone walls are identifi ed within the planning scheme the Heritage Overlay which represent various construction in a transparent way and are dealt with as a consistent techniques, resulting from research undertaken some typology throughout the region.
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 127 Grampians taken from Mount Rouse. Image Adam Burzzone, Tourism Victoria
Conclusion agricultural land within Victoria. It could be argued that whilst much of it may not be as productive as possible, It is my view that planning is only one tool, of many, the temptation to pulverize and/or remove rock, increases which can be used to protect and manage the cultural productivity (a tempting option by some during drought landscapes of the volcanic plains. The planning system and climate change). Other challenges include mining, by its nature, requires statutory permission, when the tree plantations (Pines and Blue gums), other farming appropriate ‘control’ mechanisms are applied in the practices, re-vegetation and inappropriate subdivision, local planning scheme, usually to construct a building or not to mention management of the planning system in construct or carry out works (changes to topography), rural and regional Victoria with all of it challenges including removal of signifi cant vegetation or, under the Zone, staff shortages and enforcement. control the use of land. Unless a planning permit is triggered, the planning system cannot, for example, make How we manage the issue of balance and challenges is to someone re-vegetate a landscape or maintain their stone arm ourselves with the best information possible, develop walls (unlike the Heritage Act 1995). There are numerous clear policy and ‘stick to our guns’. This includes ensuring management challenges which do not always interface strong partnerships with all levels of government and the with the planning system. community (and in particular working on a regional basis). It also includes ensuring that local government, which is In addition, the planning system is a system of ‘balance’, charged with implementing the planning system at the weighing up one objective against another. For example, local level, has access to and resources to implement the western volcanic plain is perhaps the most fertile heritage studies, landscape assessments, land capability
128 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 and bio-diversity analysis. From this information, sound Organically evolved or ‘vernacular’ landscapes holistic policy across the region should be developed and, • Rural community development and land use patterns ultimately, apply the ‘planning tools’ which will facilitate • Land units with range of use over time the outcome. • Productive/industrial landscapes UPDATE: In December 2008, the Minister for Planning • Fences lines and property subdivision, windbreaks introduced a planning scheme requirement to enable the and hedges. conservation of dry stone walls in particular municipalities. The control was taken-up by the shires of Baw Baw, Glenelg, Golden Plains, Indigo, Mount Alexander, Moyne, Associative landscapes Pyrenees, Surf Coast and Yarra Ranges and by the cities • Sites associated with historical events of Greater Geelong, Warrnambool and Whittlesea. • Scenic locations and elements • Sites associated with signifi cant people or cultural events.
An outline of the Heritage Council’s Values of cultural heritage signifi cance and their landscape assessment guidelines application to landscapes are considered: aesthetic signifi cance, archaeological signifi cance, historical Heritage Victoria has published guidelines for the signifi cance, scientifi c signifi cance, and social value. assessment of culturally signifi cant landscapes in Victoria. The guidelines were endorsed by the Heritage Council The criteria used by Heritage Victoria to assess the in July 2002, and updated in January 2009, and are cultural signifi cance of a place are set out. available on the website www.heritage.vic.gov.au. This The ABC assessment checklist sets out the steps to be outline gives an indication of the material covered by the documented in considering the landscape factors relevant guidelines and should not be used as a substitute for the for assessment under the Registration Assessment full document. Guidelines. The headings are: The guidelines provide defi nitions of commonly used A. Area and Environmental Context terms, such as place, Cultural landscape, precinct, related place, associations, meanings and natural landscape. B. Boundaries
Under the heading ‘Describing Landscapes by Type’ C. Cultural patterns and historical development three general landscape types are considered: designed D. Distribution of Elements landscapes, organically evolved landscapes and associative landscapes. Examples are given of each type. E. Elements They include: F. Further Factors associated with Heritage Victoria registration assessment process. Designed landscapes • Botanic gardens • Public designed landscapes such as parks and squares • Residential and domestic designed landscapes • Productive landscapes • Commemorative landscapes.
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 129 5.5 Communities and broader heritage landscapes
Dry stone walls: Building a profi le Schemes, canvasses the issue of statutory methods that could apply to dry stone walls.
Jim Holdsworth The Dry Stone Walls Association of Australia has as its President, The Dry Stone Walls Association of Australia primary goal the increase in awareness of wall owners and Dry stone construction as a technique is used for much local governments of the importance of dry stone walls. more than paddock walls. Across the volcanic plains of It also seeks to increase the level of training of skilled and western Victoria are marvellous sheep dips, stock loading semi-skilled wallers, and the gaining of rudimentary skills ramps, huts, dams, retaining walls and the rich and largely by farmers so that they can maintain their own walls. undiscovered heritage of indigenous dry stone structures.
Dry stone walls indicate many aspects of our rural environment; the geological beginnings of the way the ‘A Stone Upon A Stone’ touring landscape was created, the patterns of early settlement exhibition by pastoralists and squatters, the types of stock that grazed the land, methods of cattle and sheep management and the efforts to thwart the spread How the untold (and still incomplete) story about of rabbits. the history and heritage of Australia’s dry stone walls came about. For the casual but interested observer dry stone walls are good to look at, to photograph, to get up alongside Raelene Marshall and see the way they are constructed, to appreciate Director, Culture in Action the varying shapes and sizes of stones and learn of the Had I had a crystal ball in which to gaze some almost techniques of keeping often quite rounded stones in 20 years ago, little would I have dreamt that today I would place. be sitting in the audience listening to Lucinda Petersen Apart from walls and other dry stone structures on grazing and others speaking about the plight of dry stone walls land, we can also see dry stone techniques used in other and their quest to save them from further destruction. places and in other phases of our history. Yet here, in the Glenormiston auditorium, was a long-time Indigenous Australians have built, and continue to build, professional dream and journey from ‘Arts’ to ‘Heritage’ structures for shelter or hunting or trapping eels and fi sh unravelling before my very eyes and ears. A story that in rivers and estuaries around the country. began when, prior to the days of Heritage Advisors in Local Government, a fi le about the William Taylor At spots around our coastline there is evidence of simple Overnewton Gatehouse landed on my desk at the City stone structures built by early maritime explorers. of Keilor; a day I decided to break-the-rules, to ignore the Prospectors in early mining encampments used dry stone parameters and constraints of my current ‘Arts’ position construction to build retaining walls or the low walls of description and make a decision that would change the rudimentary shelters. direction of my professional and personal life for many years to come. If the future of dry stone walls in the Australian landscape is to be assured, wall owners and local governments What I did not know on that day was that a long since have to accept and embrace their custodial role in destroyed dry stone wall originally fl anked the Gatehouse assuring the preservation and celebration of walls. This as the main entranceway to the original Overnewton is not an easy task but, along with putting the necessary Pastoral Estate. Separated for many years now by the statutory mechanisms to ensure their retention, it is a Calder Freeway, today the Gatehouse is restored, the task that must be pursued. A just-released Consultation site is developed and a sculptural dry stone wall stands Paper, entitled Review of Heritage Provisions in Planning proudly near where once the original dry stone wall was located. And herein lies the seeds of the Exhibition story
130 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Bessibelle sheepwashes and yards, the largest remaining complex, illustrate another use of dry stone walling on farms. Image Heritage Victoria
Dry stone walls. Image Anne Sedgley, Heritage Victoria and the journey to try to save these ‘dry-stone-works-of- However the pressing momentum to try to reconcile the art-in-the-landscape’ for the benefi t of future generations. plight of this early imprint on our landscape history had only just begun. Indeed, that insight really only occurred With the support of council and management, I decided after several years of observing and photographing the dry to source funding to develop the Gatehouse and site as stone walls in the Stony Rises and the western suburbs a cultural centre and dedicated meeting place for the and an Australia Council Professional Development city’s arts community. It was during this process that the posting in the Grizedale Forest Sculpture Park in Cumbria cultural landscape signifi cance of dry stone walls and in the United Kingdom Lake District. For it was here, their early settlement heritage importance began to slowly where the walls nestled in the valleys, snaked over the unravel. I had often wondered why some of us Aussies fells and were juxtaposed against the rich Wordsworth- have such an affi nity and connection with dry stone walls tapestry palette of the countryside, that I truly realised and the walling craft. Is it an innate connection to land the important contribution our early settlers had made in and landscape? Why indeed do we bother to gather and the shaping of signifi cant parts of our cultural landscape. collect stones? What it is about the ‘qualities’ of stone It was here on a grand-scale, within custodianship of and its use that for some can become so addictive: as the National Park and its staff, that dry stone walls and a craft, as an art, as a hobby, as a symbol? their craft were being revered and restored by new and old-time wallers and being re-interpreted by dry stone
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 131 sculptors such as the now famous Andy Goldsworthy, Volcanoes Discovery Trail Committee who’s Taking A Wall for A Walk has gained international acclaim. Joane McKnight And so the seeds of the idea for A Stone Upon A Chair Stone was born. The Exhibition evolved out of a fi ve Australia’s First Proposed UNESCO Global Geopark month feasibility study I initially conducted, during Kanawinka Geopark which time I collaborated with fi ve local governments, Corangamite to the Coonawarra interested individuals and communities and key potential participants. In all, there were three funding submissions to the Department of Communication Information Technology and the Arts Visions of Australia Cultural Touring program to develop and tell the hitherto untold story about the history and heritage of some of Australia’s dry stone walls. The fi rst was a development grant, followed in ensuing years by two touring grants. Summary for Poster Presentation The exhibition consists of 12 panels that tell the overall early South western Victoria and south eastern South Australia settlement dry stone story, 12 local government panels that cover an area of some 26,910 square kilometres across tell the parochial story and visually represent the geological two states and eight Shire Councils with 374 Geosites. aspects of that particular area and one which raised the ‘Issues’ surrounding the threats and potential destruction This region is now proposed as Australia’s First UNESCO of dry stone walls and the craft walling. Global Geopark.
However A Stone Upon A Stone would never have Included are six sites of international signifi cance, happened had it not been for the commitment and input 14 of national signifi cance many of state, regional of the local communities with whom I collaborated, the and local signifi cance. generosity and kindness of the farming communities and The region varies from volcanic basalt plains dotted with the support of the local governments involved. My gratitude eruption points through to limestone caves and crater to them is undying. In all, the exhibition travelled to more lakes to the ‘Terra Rosa’ of the Coonawarra, with its than 30 venues across Victoria and New South Wales over wonderful red wines. a period three years. An important outcome was that it was the catalyst for the formation of the Dry Stone Walls The basalt plains of Western Victoria are listed among Association of Australia, which today is making a major the world’s best for extent and complexity. The Blue Lake contribution to the protection and preservation of this of Mount Gambier is of international signifi cance with its important part of our history. unique colour change each year.
My sincere thanks to Heritage Victoria and the organisers The name Kanawinka is from the Buandik People and is of the Cultural Landscapes Forum for inviting this as an the name of a geological fault line across the region. inclusion in today’s proceedings. Not just volcanos but also grasslands, lakes, caves, wetlands, homesteads, gardens, towns, villages, heritage, References history and exploration, stone walls and much, much more. www.astoneuponastone.com www.dswaa.org.au UPDATE: Kanawinka became Australia’s fi rst and the 57th Member of the Global Network of National Geopark in 22 June 2008.
See: www.kanawinkageopark.com/
132 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 The Whalers Bluff lighthouse on the Portland cliffs, part of the Kanawinka Global Geopark. Image Kanawinka Global Geopark
Corangamite Arts The fi rst of these projects was the Corangamite Dry Stone Walls Conservation Project funded by the National Estate Josie Black OAM Grants Program 1991. The report was published as If Honorary Secretary These Walls Could Talk: the Report of the Corangamite Gail Watson Dry Stone Walls Conservation Project (1995) and has sold steadily ever since. Subsequently in 1997 we established Corangamite Arts is a local volunteer community arts the Corangamite Dry Stone Walls Heritage Trail which organization which initiates and manages local community includes 10 sites where sections of signifi cant walls are cultural development projects and fosters and engages interpreted and signed. local artists. Many of its recent projects have linked arts and culture to economic development, the environment and In 2001 we installed the Alan Marshall Precinct at Noorat to heritage. We fi rmly believe that active participation in the honour the centenary of his birth in Noorat. His best known arts contributes to individual vitality and well being as well as work, I Can Jump Puddles, is set in the fi ctional town of community strength and wellbeing. Turalla which has all the physical characteristic of Noorat, and in fact is Noorat. Mount Turalla is Mount Noorat, Lake In recent years Corangamite Arts has initiated and Turalla is Lake Keilambete and Turalla Creek is Mt Emu coordinated a number of local community based projects Creek. In establishing and interpreting the many sites linking the physical and cultural landscapes to the arts. connected to Alan Marshall’s life and the setting of his best These place-centred arts and cultural activities help create known work, we interpreted the natural and built landscape a sense of local distinctiveness and identity by linking the of the district. individual and the group to its place, its landscape and heritage. We believe that art and the landscape are natural In 2005, as a local activity connected to the Geelong partners and younger people in particular are attracted to Regional Gallery exhibition Lake Gnotuk: A Layered projects which link art, environment, science and place. History, we conceived and executed the Corangamite
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 133 Millewa Pioneer Park at Meringur: above; Simpson’s Cottage, top right images; Shadows of the Past. Images Heather Yates
Volcanic Landscape Project, a visual arts/environment spare rooms. When people realised that we were seriously project based on the volcanic landscape of the district. collecting things from the district’s early years, things We conducted fi eld days and workshops at Lakes Gnotuk started to turn up from all directions. and Bullen Merri for local artists who then interpreted A ‘Back to the Millewa’ was held in 1975 as most of the their fi ndings and impressions in visual art. As part of the area had been opened up 50 years by then. Altogether project we ran I have a Volcano in My Backyard postcard 730 farms were allocated more than 600,000 acres. competition which attracted almost 400 entries from school students and adults. Eight of these entries were Considering how incredibly tough conditions were in the chosen to be produced as commercial postcards. early years, and the fact that by the mid-1930s two-thirds of the settlers had given up the struggle and left, many Last year we held the successful Lake Gnotuk and people still had a soft spot for the Millewa and the ‘Back Volcanic Landscapes exhibition which included all of to’ was a huge success. the works of the contemporary artists in Lake Gnotuk: a Layered History Travelling Exhibition as well as the works Following on from this, a Back to the Millewa Schools of 25 local artists. Reunion was held in 1985, attracting even more people. The suggestion of a permanent memorial to the pioneers Over the years we have hosted numerous artists and was made. Margaret Kelly, one of the main organisers of the writers in residence and organised workshops which have ‘Back to’, saw a memorial plantation somewhere, and the drawn on the built and natural landscape for inspiration idea of a plantation with plaques for each family was born. and expression. One of these was sculptor and land artist Simon Taylor who created the work, Volcanic Six abandoned blocks in the Meringur township, covered Metamorphosis, in the grounds of Glenormiston College. in 50 years of rubbish, were chosen. After a couple of hectic months of working bees, the trees were planted in April 1986.
How to create a historical village A few old bits of farm machinery were brought along-just without really trying to put along the front! Heather Yates A few historical bits and pieces also arrived, so we decided we needed some sort of building to keep them When I look around the Village at Meringur during a quiet in. The Mildura Shire Council gave us two road-worker moment, I am amazed at what we have created. No one canteen vans, one decked out as a kitchen that we used imagined when six abandoned house blocks were cleared for catering, and the other, with shelves down each side, to create a plantation, with plaques on each tree in memory became our History Resource Centre. of each pioneer family or resident, what it would become. In 1992 we were given an original settlers cottage, which We are right in the north west corner of Victoria between we decked out with borrowed items for a grand opening. Sunraysia irrigation area and the South Australian border, Suddenly people were saying ‘ I’ve got an old --- at home the Murray River to the north and the Sunset Country at somewhere that you can have’ and things started turning our southern border. Our pioneer village is at Meringur up. Not just things for the cottage, but things like old on Millewa Road which runs through the centre of the minute books from the 30s, the old CWA books, dad’s Millewa. We are 95 km from Mildura. old docket books, photos etc. So our collection of items, machinery and buildings began. The reason all this has been possible is that our history is so recent. The closer settlement board started offering In 1994 we were given the old government building from blocks of approximately a square mile for purchase lease Werrimull which was being replaced- three good sized in 1923. This means that our history is still lying around rooms, weatherproof - and a railway station. in sheds, on dam banks and under the bed in people’s
134 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Our chaff shed, a full Blacksmiths shop, a school, two After we got over worrying about it being unattended, we railway guards vans all arrived over the next couple of years. decided to open our collection to the public ever day. We have had a caretaker in attendance when we have been The most amazing thing we have is The Shadows of the able to get one, but people are free to wander around at Past. It consists of larger than life black metal fi gures any time regardless. Mostly they leave donations and nice which is the national memorial to the Dryland Pioneers comments in our visitor’s books. of Australia. We applied for a grant to do that as part of Australia’s bicentenary. It was opened by our federal We also hold an open day on the fi rst Sunday of October member John Forrest on Australia Day 1999. every year. This is our major fundraiser of the year, usually raising enough to keep us going. We cater for a barbecue Along the way, our own talented helpers have built a cellar, lunch and afternoon tea and have raffl es. This is always a chook house, memorial cairns and rebuilt a cottage from a bit scary as we have had 600 turn up one year and the the 1880s that was falling to bits on Kulnine Station, a shops are not just around the corner! These days our milking shed and a baker’s oven - among others. open day consists of a working history day, which is still It just happened – but not really! We needed several gaining momentum. things in place. We needed good networking. You need So, if you think it would be nice to have something but people who know people on council, at the DSE, in you think you haven’t got much, or there aren’t enough of government departments - or at least know where to you, my advice, for what it’s worth, is just start. You never start to fi nd the right people to talk to. Don’t be afraid know what you might make without really trying! to ask for help or advice.
Don’t be afraid to sell yourself. We applied for our fi rst award – the ABC Country Wide Tree Care Award the year we planted the trees. We have entered whatever category has been available to us most years in the KAB Awards, and won many.
You also obviously need willing helpers. Our committee has had up to 40 active members. Most have been older farmers and their wives, but we have also attracted people new to the district looking for something to belong to other than a sporting club, if that’s not their thing.
Our ‘magic ingredient’ however has been Margaret Kelly. For the fi rst 20 of our 21 years she has been either secretary or president. I saw a quotable quote somewhere recently along the lines of ‘Impossible is an attitude not a statement’. This fairly well sums up Margaret’s approach to things and someone with this sort of driving force to push you all along is invaluable.
We do worry about the future. Like many other country areas, our population is decreasing and getting older. Some younger farmers have recently started a vintage machinery club and I think they will be our future.
Section 5: Broader landscapes – cultural landscapes of the volcanic plains and the Wimmera/Mallee 135 Rural landscape at sunset. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
136 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08 Section 6: Conclusions
John Dwyer and Janet Schapper landscape. Currently, development is putting pressure on the landscapes of coast and country, and the landscape We have examined a wide variety of landscapes across settings of towns. different regions of Victoria, from the coast to the desert. The process of investigation and learning will continue, Some, such as historic towns, have had more evident but to date we have found a number of things which will cultural components than others. In others, rural and prove useful in understanding our heritage and effectively natural components have been dominant. planning and managing our landscapes for the future. We can learn from all these different landscapes and from The fi ndings of the forums have been generally congruent. the way people interact and deal with them, not only from Good information and identifi cation of heritage, clear the heritage perspective, but in day-to-day management. and comprehensible administration, education and Heritage landscapes embody the spatial record of communication, economic viability and creative solutions aspects of life as expressed in a place. Heritage is a core all contribute to the conservation of landscapes of cultural value and it is important to uncover and tell the authentic heritage signifi cance. stories of people and place ensuring, as best we can, People understand and value their landscapes. They adequate representations of the diversity of experience. know what their heritage is and want to protect their It is about the richness of life in a place. valued landscapes. Within the landscape, there are Landscape heritage differs from built heritage in that expressions of cultural diversity as well as physical it is shaped by natural as well as cultural forces. The diversity. When it comes to appreciating and respecting geology, soils and vegetative cover, overlain by human landscapes there was some common ground between activities such as land use, transport, towns and cities, all different cultures. While outside the scope of this work, operate to defi ne landscape heritage. To deal effectively Aboriginal history was acknowledged and respected. with heritage issues in Victoria’s landscapes, we must Many planning policies affect the planning and come to grips with the idea that heritage does not easily management of landscapes. Currently there is confusion fi t categories such as ‘historic’, ‘natural’, ‘indigenous’ between top-down policies and regulations, and bottom- or ‘cultural’ but is often an amalgam of these with up activities. This creates confusion, stifl es initiative and boundaries which blend into each other. enthusiasm, and cuts off possibilities. The knowledge Landscape operates at a different scale to the built of local community members and the value of engaging environment. It may be relatively easy to deal with a piece them in future planning decisions that affect landscape of built heritage, most probably in the ownership of a has been strongly expressed. Communities, which need single entity, while it is much more complex to deal with to be empowered and adequately resourced to participate landscapes, often large in size and held by many owners effectively in the planning decision process, should be with varying views and values. There are often many assisted in fi nding their own solutions, rather than road- stakeholders and these may have a range of views. blocks being set in their way.
There is frequently a much larger timescale to deal with in There are a number of planning tools available at all levels landscape heritage, starting with geological time for land to assist in the conservation and management of valued formation, through the time needed to establish natural landscapes. Planning tools can be further developed, and ecological processes, to human settlement. Human improved and adapted to suit local needs. Several tools patterns across the land stretch from geological time to in use overseas could prove useful if adjusted to local the present and include indigenous and post-contact conditions. A landscape assessment project such as settlers, not all of whom are of European descent. that undertaken in England should be carried out to provide a base for protection of Victoria’s most valuable The landscape can change gradually or there can be and endangered landscapes. As well as understanding a step function in change. Particularly intense human that assessment is needed, it is important to know who activities such as gold mining may dramatically affect the will undertake it, how it will be done and how it will be
137 Selected landscape papers: 2004–08 Farmland south of Buchan. Image Pauline Hitchins, Heritage Victoria
incorporated into planning schemes; who has the mandate, Education and communication are key issues. This networks and resources to undertake these tasks. applies to the general public, key professionals, students of all ages, government at every level, and the local Understanding the capacity of a landscape to absorb community. Education is communicating knowledge and change and development is also important. Water values and heritage is an important value. An enhanced availability and use, pressures on agricultural land, understanding of landscape values by planners, local changes in transport routes and modes, protection and state government agencies, developers and local of views and vistas are all issues which require communities is required. assessment and planning solutions. There is often a general consensus on what we want to A balance between heritage and other demands must keep; that is, fundamental agreement as to the heritage be sought and can be found. Hence it is important to value of the landscape. There is also an acceptance understand the other demands and seek an appropriate that there will and must be change, but that this change balance. For instance, tourism is not the sole answer needs to be managed to preserve the inherent value of to the survival of small towns. In some cases it can, in the landscape. Engaging with our past offers us a sense fact, backfi re and make for an experience that lacks of belonging, of being part of some community. The past authenticity. The most robust solution is to develop and the present are foundation stones for the future and opportunities which capitalise on the unique and individual offer a sense of solidity and of knowing who we are and features and character of each place, embedding them where we come from in strong economic solutions and associated with a willingness of the community to participate. Our landscapes embody a history of landscape change from geological time to the present, which includes The identity of small towns can be eroded by the indigenous habitation, changes to the vegetation by fi re homogenisation brought about by rapid communication and climatic change, settlement by Europeans and other and globalisation, and by the increasing urbanisation of cultural groups, and the consequent introduction of new the majority of the population. This can cause a resultant plant and animal species. Today’s landscape is a product removal of much of the population from the day-to-day of all this change, and change continues now and into activities of small towns and the activities which give them the future. Managing change for the long term involves their character and which defi ne their community. It also knowing about the past and adapting for the future. means that a signifi cant percentage of the population may have no direct contact with the land. Therefore, So, how do we manage this change? We must understanding of the town, the landscape and the understand the value of our landscapes. We must also community is lessened. understand confl icts due to diverse interests and look to appropriate and useful solutions to resolve these without Communities are willing, and do, put in much volunteer losing the landscapes we value. We can use the tools effort to conserve places they value. They also hold available to conserve it, creative solutions, good planning much valuable information. The community view is as and good design, sensible adaptation and advanced important as the professional and consultant view and conservation methods. neither group should be overshadowed by another. The views of the people who live in the landscape must be We, in Australia, are privileged to have a unique and properly represented. There is a need to understand how beautiful landscape worthy of conservation, a civil society the many stakeholders can work in partnership to protect in which to preserve it, and the wealth to implement landscapes and support appropriate development and to good planning and management solutions. We can offer empower and resource community groups so they can leadership. Sustaining the environment is essential to effectively participate in the planning process. Heritage sustaining community. It is up to us to get on with this can also play a vital role in community-building and in the complex but manageable task of sustainable landscape viability of small towns. planning.
138 Heritage Landscapes: Selected forum papers 2004–08
Heritage landscapes Selected forum papers 2004–08
Editors Dr John Dwyer QC Dr Janet Schapper