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Objective

Recommendation

Key issues

What has been achieved 1998-2003

Tasmania Together

Related Issue Reports

Objective

To encourage a culture of care in cultural heritage management through education, training and public awareness.

Recommendation

It is recommended that:

• opportunities are investigated to improve training in cultural resource management at a tertiary and post tertiary level for public historians, architects, planners, engineers, archaeologists, conservation tradespeople, and Aboriginal heritage officers;
   
• standards of site recording are formulated and agreed upon across the industry to allow relevant professionals and interested members of the public to carry out site recording at, or near, a professional level;
   
• opportunities are investigated to improve the advisory role of the Department of Tourism, Parks, Heritage and Arts (DTPHA) to increase the perception of Aboriginal heritage value and protection;
   
• training and monitoring of the quality of cultural heritage interpretation for tourism is supported;
   
• consideration is given to implementing educational and promotional programs to improve the levels of public and stakeholder understanding of the contribution that heritage makes to social and economic wellbeing; and
   
• the Tasmanian Heritage Office within DTPHA investigate establishing a central repository of cultural heritage resource material related to educational and promotions activities.
   

Key issues

Some of the key issues from the Cultural Heritage Chapter relating to education, training and public awareness of cultural heritage in Tasmania include the following (links to issue reports are also provided).

• Unlike other states and territories, Tasmania does not provide tertiary courses and degrees in archaeology, cultural resource management, heritage architecture and engineering, museum studies, material cultural studies or conservation techniques. This problem also extends to other trades. There are very few builders, joiners, metalworkers, plasterers, painters and interior decorators in Tasmania who can carry out conservation work to high standards.
   
• Heritage Places and Features: There have been almost negligible advances made in studies of heritage themes and coordinated local community involvement in such studies.
  
  There is little awareness and understanding in the wider community of the nature and value of maritime heritage in Tasmania, despite strong links in the conservation and academic arenas.
  
  Anecdotal evidence suggests that the lack of education and public awareness of cultural heritage is contributing to the loss of heritage in Tasmania (e.g. through site destruction by off-road vehicles, and looting impacts on archaeological information).
  
  There has been limited promotion for the identification and definition of cultural heritage sites throughout Tasmania. This contributes to the continued problem of limited and fragmented knowledge of heritage site locations.
   
• Heritage Objects: The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery have an advisory role to smaller museums, but there is currently insufficient capacity to provide this service consistently and widely across Tasmania.
  
  There is also limited professional capacity available in Tasmania to adequately support and develop regional and small museums around Tasmania.
   

What has been achieved 1998-2003

Key initiatives that have helped to improve education, training and public awareness of cultural heritage in Tasmania since the previous SoE Report include the following.

• The Tasmanian Heritage Council has been established under the Historic Cultural Heritage Act 1995 and now functions as a heritage advisory group to assist and encourage State government agencies, local government and private individuals in the appropriate care of Tasmania's historic heritage.
   
• The Aboriginal Heritage Office now provides a more formal advisory service to State Government agencies, local government and private individuals in relation to Aboriginal cultural heritage issues.
   
• The Tasmanian Heritage Register, established under the Historic Cultural Heritage Act 1995, provides information to mitigate impacts of development on heritage sites. The Register also provides information to the community, encouraging people to become more closely informed about, and involved with, their heritage.
   
• A range of initiatives being undertaken by the Tasmanian Heritage Council and the Department of Tourism, Parks, Heritage and Arts, may be improving the problem of heritage loss in Tasmania (e.g. efforts to create a greater awareness of heritage values and to inform people of heritage regulatory controls).
   
• An infrastructure for Museum Technical Training has been established at TAFE, but has yet to commence as a course.
   
• Various museum initiatives have been developed that enhance the promotion and interpretation of heritage objects and archives in the State, including:
   
• the Arts Grant program for small museums and collections;
   
• the opening of the Inveresk site of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery;
   
• the acquisition of he National Archives repository site by the State Government for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; and
   
• the resurgence of several small museums across the State (e.g. new museum at Port Arthur Historic Site).
   
• The ABT railway has been commissioned, which provides greater public access to, and awareness of, many cultural heritage landscapes, places, features and objects.
   

Tasmania Together

Relevant Tasmania Together goals and standards for 'Cultural Heritage' are listed in the linked file. The Tasmania Together Progress Board reported on progress toward targets for benchmarks set (Tasmania Together Progress Board 2003). Indicators, targets and baseline data are available in the latest Progress Report June 2003. Further information, including progress report updates, is available from Tasmania Together.

Related Issue Reports