A guideRuins to conservation and management © Commonwealth of Australia 2013 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to Department of the Environment, GPO Box 787 Canberra ACT 2601 or email [email protected] The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment. Cover photo: Marble Hill (SA Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources). A guide Ruinsto conservation and management Photo: Penitentiary building—simply maintain (Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority). Ruins a guide to conservation and management Contents 1. Introduction 7 2. What is a heritage ruin? 9 3. Why keep and protect heritage ruins? 13 4. Why do ruins pose particular challenges? 19 5. Principles 23 6. Management approaches for heritage ruins 25 7. Tools and techniques 39 8. Case studies 47 9. Glossary 63 10. For further guidance 67 5 Photo: Holy Trinity Anglican Church School (Department of the Environment). Ruins a guide to conservation and management 1. Introduction A place can become a ruin because it lacks a current purpose, is disused, has been abandoned or has been affected by disaster. Ruins can be a challenge for heritage property owners and managers due to their deteriorated condition and location. Conserving a ruin can often appear to be more expensive, time-consuming or requiring of specialist skills than conserving other heritage places. The lack of a ‘use’ of a ruin or potential to generate income often makes conservation impracticable. This guide is designed to highlight a best practice approach to the management of ruins in Australia. Ruins are potentially important heritage places and effective management is vital to protect their heritage values. The diversity of types of ruins means there are a variety of management options available. The 2011 Australia State of the Environment Report acknowledged the challenges of ruins management and emphasised the need for a more flexible and creative approach. Some ruins already have legal heritage protection at the state, Commonwealth or local level. It is important to be aware of the statutory mechanisms and frameworks that protect ruins. This guide is designed to be used by government agencies, community groups, private owners and managers of all types of cultural heritage places. This guide has been developed by the Heritage Chairs and Officials of Australia and New Zealand (HCOANZ). The group’s membership consists of the Chair of the Commonwealth, state and territory heritage councils and the manager of each associated heritage government agency, including similar representatives from New Zealand. Secretariat support to the group is provided by the Wildlife, Heritage and Marine Division of the Department of the Environment. This guide is based on a Heritage Ruins and Dilapidated Structures Workshop held in Melbourne in April 2011. The Guide was prepared by a team from Context Pty Ltd, Chris Johnston and Ian Travers, with assistance from Jessie Briggs. 7 Photo: Kingston House Cottage and Sheepwash (Heritage Tasmania). Ruins a guide to conservation and management 2. What is a heritage ruin? 2.1 All kinds of places can be a heritage ruin A heritage ruin is defined as a place that currently, through abandonment, redundancy or condition, is disused and incomplete, is usually no longer maintained and appears unlikely to regain its original or a substantive use, function or purpose other than interpretation. The Burra Charter (the Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance), defines place as meaning: site, area, land, landscape, building or other work, group of buildings or other works, and may include components, contents, spaces and views.1 Heritage ruins can therefore come in all shapes and sizes: a derelict garden; a half-collapsed building; a termite ridden timber stock-yard; an overgrown mining site; or even a whole ghost town. While an archaeological site might be seen as the final step in ‘ruination’, such sites are outside the scope of this guide but a ruin and archaeological site may be one and the same. A ruin is a place that no longer serves its original function or purpose and it is unlikely to ever fulfil that role again. This change may be the result of broader trends, such as the decline of an industry, changes in technology, exhaustion of a resource, abandonment of a settlement, or a change in a cultural practice, or circumstances specific to a particular individual or group. Ruins can be unused or abandoned places, but a place that lacks a use today is not necessarily a ruin. An unused place may continue to be actively managed, even if the level of management is much lower than when it was in use. This will usually ensure that its condition does not deteriorate. An abandoned place does not have this ‘residual management’ and will inevitably deteriorate. While many buildings can easily be adapted for a variety of uses, some cannot, increasing the likelihood that they will be abandoned or removed. As the condition of a place declines, the likelihood of it being used for another purpose diminishes. Not all ruins stay in this state forever, some will return to life as active, used and cared for places. This guide cautions against the assumption ‘once a ruin, always a ruin’. 9 Ruins a guide to conservation and management Photo: World War II fortifications on Bribie Island (Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing (Qld)). 2.2 The condition of ruins can vary The term ‘ruin’ implies that the fabric of a place is in a derelict state. The decline of the physical fabric of the place or its condition usually comes after its use has ceased or it is abandoned. The exception is when a disaster strikes such as a cyclone, earthquake, flood or fire. The condition of a ‘heritage ruin’ may vary considerably. The deterioration in condition need not correspond to a loss of heritage value. Ruins can retain important heritage values through archaeological investigation, interpretation or continuing community connections. 2.3 Tangible and intangible Ruins potentially have both tangible and intangible heritage attributes. Tangible attributes are the physical fabric of a place such as structures, trees, machinery and artefacts. Intangible attributes are the cultural practices, traditions, language and knowledge of a place. The significance of any place comes from both its tangible and intangible attributes. Despite a ruin having no current use, it may still have important associations and meanings for the local community and this should not be overlooked. 10 Photo: Port Arthur (Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority). The 2011 Australia State of the Environment Report acknowledged the challenges of ruins management and emphasised the need for a more flexible and creative approach. Photo: Bessiebelle Sheepwash (Department of the Environment). Ruins a guide to conservation and management 3. Why keep and protect heritage ruins? 3.1 Our Australian story Australia’s history has created many ruins. Colonial settlement and expansion has left a landscape of ruins including houses, stockyards, tanks and windmills. Aboriginal people forced off their traditional lands have also left behind ceremonial and art places, resource-harvesting sites, camps and artefacts. With changing needs for particular minerals, the cycles of Australia’s mining booms left a range of ruins including mullock heaps, shafts, kilns, engine stands and house sites. Trade, travel and communication technologies have changed remarkably over 200 years. Roads, tracks and railways may now lie abandoned along with telegraph lines and buildings. Australia’s colonial sea trade has left a legacy of now unused wharves, jetties, stores and lighthouses. Many ruins are sites associated with early Australian maritime defences. Shipwrecks along our coast are valuable time capsules but they are vulnerable to deterioration through natural processes and pilfering. Towns have come and gone and all that remains may be a few trees, some footings of buildings and artefacts and yet the site may remain strong in community memory. Isolated cemeteries and headstones are another type of abandoned place. Ruins can also be the sites of traumatic events or disasters that are so important that a community may wish to keep the place unused and arrested in time as a memorial to the event. 13 Ruins a guide to conservation and management 3.2 Understanding significance2 Understanding the significance of a place is a vital first step before making any management decisions. Like other places, ruins may be of sufficient cultural significance to warrant their recognition, listing and protection. Cultural significance means aesthetic, historic, scientific, social or spiritual value for past, present or future generations. The Australian Government and each state and territory use specific heritage criteria to assess these five values. Heritage ruins may have all of these values. The processes that led to a place becoming a ‘heritage ruin’ may, in some instances, have added to its importance. For example, the former Palmerston Town Hall ruin in Darwin is evidence of the devastation caused by Cyclone Tracy. In other instances, the inevitable wear and tear of the years may have changed the fabric of the place but not necessarily reduced its heritage significance. In assessing significance it is important to assess the heritage values of a place in its present state, not against a hypothetical past state of completeness or condition. 3.3 Aesthetic values Ruins may have particular aesthetic qualities that are a result of their ruined state. Some ruins are picturesque and evocative. Aesthetics relate to our human senses and the way we respond emotionally to a place because of its beauty, symbolism, picturesque or evocative qualities.