Heritage Assessment And History TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................. 4 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE COMMISSIONING OF THIS REPORT..........................................................4 1.2 METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................................5 1.3 STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT .....................................................................................................6 1.4 AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................................................................6 1.5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................6 2 THE MANAGEMENT CONTEXT............................................................................... 9 2.1 THE RTA LEGISLATIVE CONTEXT............................................................................................9 2.1.1 The Heritage Act 1977 (NSW) .................................................................................................9 2.1.2 The Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979........................................................11 2.1.3 Other Relevant Legislative & Policy Obligations .................................................................12 2.2 THE HERITAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM .................................................................................13 2.2.1 Investigating Heritage Significance.......................................................................................13 2.2.2 Assessing Heritage Significance............................................................................................14 2.2.3 Managing Heritage Significance...........................................................................................15 3 LINES OF ROAD AND HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE ........................................... 17 3.1 THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................17 3.2 IN WHAT WAYS CAN LINES OF ROAD BE SIGNIFICANT?............................................................18 3.2.1 Criterion A - An item is important in the course, or pattern, of NSW’s cultural or natural history....................................................................................................................................19 3.2.2 Criterion B - An item has strong or special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in NSW’s cultural or natural history. ................................20 3.2.3 Criterion C - An item is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in NSW. ...........................................................21 3.2.4 Criterion D - An item has strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in NSW for social, cultural or spiritual reasons............................................23 3.2.5 Criterion E - An item has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of NSW’s cultural or natural history. ............................................................25 3.2.6 Criterion F - An item possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of NSW’s cultural or natural history...................................................................................................................26 3.2.7 Criterion G - An item is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of NSW’s cultural or natural places; or cultural or natural environments. ..........................26 3.3 HOW CAN THE CURTILAGE OF LINES OF ROAD BE DEFINED FOR THE PURPOSE OF HERITAGE ASSESSMENT?.........................................................................................................................27 3.3.1 Types of heritage items..........................................................................................................28 3.4 CONCLUSION ..........................................................................................................................37 Lines of Road – A Methodology for Assessment Page 1 Heritage Assessment And History 4 A MODEL FOR ASSESSING LINES OF ROAD FOR SECTION 170 LISTING BY THE RTA................................................................................................................. 39 5 ESTABLISHING A MANAGEMENT MODEL FOR SIGNIFICANT LINES OF ROAD.............................................................................................................................. 52 5.1 CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT – AN OVERVIEW.........................................................52 5.1.1 Managing Significance..........................................................................................................52 6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS....................................................... 60 6.1 THE METHODOLOGY...............................................................................................................60 6.1.1 Application of the methodology to lines of road....................................................................60 6.1.2 Strengths and Limitations of the Methodology in Application to Lines of Road ...................61 6.2 ALLOCATION OF TIME ............................................................................................................62 6.3 COMMUNITY CONSULTATION .................................................................................................62 6.4 MULTIPLE OWNERS AND JOINT RESPONSIBILITY FOR HERITAGE ASSETS ..............................63 6.5 CURTILAGE ISSUES .................................................................................................................63 6.6 CULTURAL LANDSCAPES ........................................................................................................63 6.7 SCOPING .................................................................................................................................63 7 CASE STUDIES............................................................................................................. 66 7.1 HEATHCOTE ROAD .................................................................................................................67 7.2 THE MULGOA ROAD.............................................................................................................100 7.3 MOUNT VICTORIA PASS .......................................................................................................149 8 APPENDICES.............................................................................................................. 208 8.1 NSW STATE GOVERNMENT HISTORIC THEMES ...................................................................220 8.2 SOURCES & SAMPLES...........................................................................................................220 Page 2 Lines of Road – A Methodology for Assessment Heritage Assessment And History John Brack’s The Car, 1955. [National Gallery of Victoria] The car gave city dwellers in the 1950s an unprecedented access to the landscape – the mythical ‘real Australia’. The glimpses of landscape through the windows as the intent driver overtakes us on the road, make the car the medium for viewing the landscape, rather than being set in it. It’s an uneasy feeling with the children staring and the woman smiling at us familiarly.1 This significant Australian painting touches on elements of the aesthetic and social value associated with lines of road. 1 Peter Quartermaine and Jonathon Watkins, A Pictorial History of Australian Painting, Bison Group, 1989, p.152. Lines of Road – A Methodology for Assessment Page 3 Heritage Assessment And History 1 Background Lines of road have been increasingly recognised as valuable items of environmental heritage. The recently completed studies of potential heritage items under RTA control nominated over 50 lines of roads as potentially significant items. In the heritage assessment process, although the standard criteria as prescribed by the NSW Heritage Office can be applied, lines of road present a unique set of issues. These issues are largely associated with the linear form of lines of road and the associated complexities associated with defining the curtilage of a line of road for heritage purposes. While the curtilage of a line of road for which the RTA is responsible may be legally defined via its gazetted definition, the reasons for a road’s cultural significance may relate to its contribution to a cultural landscape. In these circumstances boundaries may extend well beyond the area under the RTA’s control. In some instances the significance of a line of road may lie in the engineering skill and road-making technology employed, that is, the fabric, the line, or both. Yet in other instances, historical values relating to the use of a line by Aboriginal peoples, colonial explorers, or even contemporary users may prompt a different valuation, where aesthetic, historic and social considerations are more important than the fabric. Many lines of road that are culturally significant are also still currently in use and generally there is an expectation that these roads will be maintained or modified to meet the needs of increasingly sophisticated means of transport and increased numbers of motor vehicles. However, recently there have been calls from the