National Heritage Assessment of St Kilda Road and Environs,

The National Heritage List ’s National Heritage List comprises places of outstanding heritage significance to Australia. Currently there are over 100 places of outstanding heritage value in the list, including the Sydney Opera House, Port Arthur Historic Site, Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape, Cheetup Rock Shelter, the Great Barrier Reef, and Yea Flora Fossil Site.

Many places within Melbourne are already recognised in the National Heritage List, including the Royal Exhibition Building, Sidney Music Bowl, Rippon Lea House and Gardens, and Flemington Racecourse.

Emergency listing and assessment of St Kilda Road and Environs On 13 February 2017 the Minister for the Environment and Energy, the Hon Josh Frydenberg MP, included St Kilda Road and Environs in the National Heritage List using the emergency provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

The Australian Heritage Council is now required to give the Minister an assessment to demonstrate and confirm whether the place meets any of the National Heritage criteria. The Minister is then able to make a decision on whether the place should remain listed. This needs to occur within 12 months of the emergency listing or the listing will lapse. What would National Heritage listing mean? National Heritage listing is an acknowledgement of the importance of a place. It does not change land tenure or ownership. If included in the National Heritage List, the National Heritage values of the listed place will be protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Proposed National Heritage values There are nine National Heritage List criteria (a-i). The Australian Heritage Council has proposed that St Kilda Road and Environs might have National Heritage values under criteria (a) and (b). The full list of criteria is available on the Department of the Environment and Energy’s website at: http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/about/national/national-heritage-list-criteria

GPO Box 787 Canberra ACT 2601 • Telephone 02 6274 1111 • Facsimile 02 6274 1666 • www.environment.gov.au Criterion (a) From the early 1920s, collecting of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artefacts, sacred objects, and human remains was undertaken by a range of people and institutions for research and other uses. This included supply to the national and international market. Agitation for the repatriation of these collections was initiated by Indigenous museum, curatorial staff and Advisory Committees from the early 1970s. Legislation was enacted for collecting institutions in each state to house, de- accession and repatriate remains and sacred objects. Repatriation involved researching the provenance of the collections to return them to the appropriate community or family. For some of the collections, little or no information was available and alternative arrangements were made in line with community requests. For collections that remain in institutions ‘the management of this material is strictly controlled by detailed policies and handling guidelines to ensure that these collections are cared for in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner’ (Trinca, NMA New Encounters 2016).

The Resting Place represents Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities ensuring that the reburial of their ancestors is in accordance with their community’s cultural protocols.

Features which express this value are the Kings Domain Resting Place, including the burial remains, the commemorative stone and plaque.

Criterion (b) The historic and designed landscape south of the between St Kilda Road and the is outstanding, reflecting some of the most significant turning points in Australia’s history.

Unlike other Australian capital city public domains, the landscape reflects powerfully the values, confidence and interests of the Victorian era. The landscape is further enhanced by its ‘marvellous Melbourne’ heritage reflecting a time when Melbourne was rapidly transformed by gold wealth into a city that at the time rivalled New York, Chicago and many European capitals. The area’s scientific heritage is important including the history of science associated with the and the Royal Botanic Gardens.

During the late nineteenth century the Great Melbourne generated community pride and was then a symbol of the city’s sophistication and achievement. The contributions of , especially within the Royal Botanic Gardens and the Government House property, lend the landscape a degree of grandeur. His garden design work located within the place is exemplary and the Royal Botanic Garden is recognised as one of Australia’s best examples of landscape art and design of the nineteenth century.

2 Opened in 1934, the was located purposefully in the Domain Parklands. The Shrine demonstrates the extensive grief of the community after the devastating loss of lives in the First World War.

The place as a whole is one of only a few large public domains which are inter- twined with their host city to tell a vivid and compelling story about Australia.

Features which express this value include the garden design works of William Guilfoyle, the Great Melbourne Telescope, the living collection of the Royal Botanic Gardens, the separation tree, Mueller’s arboretum, the Queen Monument, the parkland landscape of the Domain Parklands with its Victorian features of statuary, garden planting and memorials, St Kilda Road boulevard, the Domain Resting Place, Government House and Grounds, the Shrine of Remembrance and commemorative grounds and the Herbarium’s historical associations as an early place of science.

In relation to the garden design works of William Guilfoyle the garden design features reflective of the English Landscape movement and Guilfoyle's 'pacific' planting palette are particularly important.

In relation to the Shrine of Remembrance the borrowed landscape of St Kilda Road to the north and south of the Shrine and the intentional visibility of the Shrine from the City centre is important. The use of classical references in the building's architecture is also important because this architectural detail demonstrates and reinforces the function of the building as an important community monument.

How can I make a submission? The assessment of National Heritage values under the EPBC Act requires that all practicable steps are taken to advise owners, occupiers and Indigenous people with rights and/or interests in the place and provide the opportunity for them to comment in writing on whether the place should be considered for inclusion in the National Heritage List.

Please provide your written comments by 5:00 PM AEST on Friday 11 August 2017 by post to:

Australian Heritage Council GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2601

Or by email to: [email protected]

3 What is the next step? Following the close of the submission period, the Australian Heritage Council will give a report on the heritage values to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment and Energy. The Minister will decide whether to include the place in the National Heritage List taking into account the Australian Heritage Council’s report and submissions collected through this consultation process. The Minister may also seek, and have regard to, information or advice from any source.

Where can I get more information on the National Heritage List? Information about the National Heritage List, the assessment criteria and other places on the list can be found at: http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/heritage/heritage-places

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