Forum Report Friday 28 April 2006 Buninyong Town Hall & Court House, Learmonth Street Buninyong, Victoria Forum report editor Dr Jan Schapper Images of Buninyong www.home.vicnet.net.au/~buninhis/ Contents Acknowledgement.................................................................................................................. 1 Neville Wale ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 1 Forum summary...................................................................................................................... 5 Forum program....................................................................................................................... 6 Speakers notes ....................................................................................................................... 7 An overview of small towns in Victoria............................................................................................7 Jeremy Reynolds................................................................................................................................ 7 Study of small towns in Victoria revisited, and its application to heritage.....................................11 Dr Jerry Courvisanos........................................................................................................................ 11 What are the current planning tools for managing the landscape setting of small towns?...........17 Trevor Budge.................................................................................................................................... 17 Walking tour around Buninyong....................................................................................................21 Dr Anne Beggs-Sunter ..................................................................................................................... 21 Towns and the tourist onslaught – survival or capitulation? .........................................................23 Professor Peter Spearritt.................................................................................................................. 23 Growth and non-grown towns – case studies...............................................................................27 Wendy Jacobs.................................................................................................................................. 27 ‘Seafarers settlers and soldiers’ a tale of three heritage towns in search of a future ...................29 Dr Gordon Forth ............................................................................................................................... 29 Characterisation: new ways of valuing the historic environment ..................................................33 Jim Gard’ner..................................................................................................................................... 33 Our towns as cultural landscapes .................................................................................................41 Ray Tonkin ....................................................................................................................................... 41 Group discussion and conclusions.................................................................................... 45 Dr Jan Schapper .............................................................................................................................. 45 Summary of group discussions ........................................................................................................ 45 Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................ 49 Bus tour itinerary ...........................................................................................................................49 Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................................ 53 List of attendees............................................................................................................................53 i Planning Committee Neville Wale Peter Hiscock John Hawker Dr Juliet Bird Jim Gard'ner Dr Jan Schapper Dr Leonie Foster Forum organiser and report designer Jane Andrews Photographs Front cover, Buninyong walk and bus tour images provided by John Hawker. All other images and graphs thanks to individual authors. Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Heritage Council of Victoria or the Victorian Government. © State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment 2006. This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1998 Published by the Heritage Council of Victoria 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne 3002 August 2006 Also published on www.heritage.vic.gov.au ISBN 1 74152 479 2 Historic Towns in the Landscape Forum, 28 April 2006 Heritage Council of Victoria www.heritage.vic.gov.au Historic Towns in the Landscape Forum – 28 April 2006 Acknowledgement Neville Wale Chair, Landscape Advisory Committee, Heritage Council of Victoria Our forum today is being held on the traditional lands of the Watha Wurrung – members of the Kulin Nation, and we wish to acknowledge them as the traditional owners of this region. We would also pay our respects to their Elders and to the Elders of other communities who may be here today. We also acknowledge that the landscapes through which we will travel on the bus tour tomorrow, are cultural landscapes which have indigenous cultural meanings as well as presenting evidence of the history of European settlement of the region particularly from the mid 19th Century. Introduction This Heritage Council initiative derives from the Victorian Heritage Strategy in which the Council seeks to increase community awareness of significant cultural landscapes and develop means whereby this heritage may be conserved for future generations. In thinking about this forum, the Landscape Advisory Committee has perhaps been rather ambitious and aims through the forum process to: • Highlight the significance of landscape settings to the heritage of Victoria’s historic towns and encourage understanding of significant cultural landscapes; • Understand the pressures which lead to change in the landscape settings of historic towns. • Examine the existing and possible options for managing change within the landscape. • Identify gaps in policies, strategies and resources for landscape conservation and management. • Identify ways in which the landscape management tools which allow development but protect heritage values can be improved. This includes methods by which landscapes may be assessed and may incorporate the recognition of cultural heritage and community values into the process. • Understand how heritage and landscapes can contribute to the viability of historic towns. • Promote policies that can protect rural landscapes from inappropriate development and assist policy makers, landowners and other stakeholders explore the concept of stewardship of the landscape. • Indicate how an understanding of heritage values can be integrated into decision making and contribute to the economy of small towns. This is the third forum in which Heritage Council, National Trust of Australia (Victoria), municipalities and local community bodies have examined contemporary heritage and management issues. 1 Historic Towns in the Landscape Forum – 28 April 2006 The first forum was held at Geelong in July 2004 and focused on the coastal landscape of the Bellarine Peninsula. It explored the spiritual, artistic and practical relevance and meaning of landscape. It also tried to explore how, working together, all stakeholders in the landscape can define, protect and respond to cultural and natural landscapes. In the case of coastal areas the perceived threats were particularly from “sea change” housing development, recreation and tourism. The second forum was held last year (2005) on the Mornington Peninsula, an area that during the past 30 years, has been subject to comprehensive landscape assessment and conservation measures under various regional and municipal planning schemes, and most recently Melbourne 2030 policies of Government. Much of the hinterland and coastline of the Peninsula has also been classified by the National Trust. The forum questioned the effectiveness of policy implementation and examined the problems of managing change, in particular those necessary to protect rural and coastal landscapes from inappropriate development. It is interesting to note that the beach and foreshore area at Shoreham (along with Bells Beach) was one of the first cultural landscapes to be placed on the Victorian Heritage Register by Heritage Council. The Forum today is focused on small towns and their relationship with their