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In the Great Victoria Desert of central Australia, 900 kilometres north-west of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, is the remote Ilkurlka community. It is located in the Spinifex Native Title Determination Area, covering 55 000 square kilometres. The local Spinifex People have an extremely rich cultural heritage but like many Aboriginal communities, keeping their culture alive is an ongoing challenge.

The 2009–10 Heritage Projects (Jobs Fund) grant of more than $55 000 means the community now has the capability to properly undertake and document heritage activities.

The project had two components. The first was the purchase of a Toughbook computer and associated technology to use in the field. Using this technology the community members on bush trip expeditions can connect a GPS receiver to the computer and work directly from maps. This state-of-the-art technology has already enabled 20 new sites of cultural significance to be located, and to develop new land management regimes consistent with traditional culture and heritage values.

The second component of the project was to design, transport and construct a large and versitile storage shed in the central and northern zone of the Spinifex Native Title Area. The beautiful construction, designed and largely built by the community, is used as the base for all heritage field trips. The shed provides safe and secure storage for expensive equipment and vehicles and serves as a venue for ongoing training and employment opportunities. It is also used by the community for a range of other purposes.

The project has already made a direct and substantial contribution to the Spinifex community’s long-term future. The variety of survey and research projects that have been made possible through the new technology and the storage shed have secured the documentation and transmission of traditional Spinifex culture. This in turn has raised local pride in heritage and community, and will ultimately enhance community stability and security.

Building the roof structure of new storage shed at Ilkurlka. (Louise Allerton, Ilkurlka Aboriginal Corporation)

Case study 3: Jobs Fund Heritage: Shark Bay

Jetty at Monkey Mia, Shark Bay. (Rory Chapple [CALM])

In a bid to secure their place on Western Australia’s tourism trail, upgrading work funded under the Jobs Fund Project was undertaken at Monkey Mia, Little Lagoon and Peron Heritage Precinct.

These heritage places are key visitor sites within the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, but in the past 10 years, visitor numbers to Shark Bay have declined because of competition from other dolphin-related tourism products in WA. The Shark Bay community relies heavily on tourism, with most of the 700 local residents involved directly or indirectly in the dolphin tourism industry.

The Jobs Fund Project (October 2009 to March 2011) helped upgrade high-usage walking trails at Monkey Mia and Peron Heritage Precinct, improving access and facilities, protecting Aboriginal sites and providing interpretive signage. Funding was also used to upgrade previously unplanned and substandard facilities at Little Lagoon providing a car park, shade shelters, barbecues and interpretive signage.

This project raised the facility standards to a level appropriate for its World Heritage status with the aim of developing a strong tourism product that provides long-term tourism employment for the local community.

Case study 4: Jobs Fund Heritage: Sacred Heart

Under funding provided through the Jobs Fund Project, the Sacred Heart Convent in Abbotsford, Victoria—unused for over 20 years—is now generating income for the Convent Foundation.

Formerly called the Convent of the Good Shepherd, the convent was built in 1877 and designed by Thomas Kelly, a renowned architect at that time.

For a century it provided shelter, food and work for thousands of poor and vulnerable women and girls. With farming, industrial school and laundry operations, the convent was fully self-sufficient, and over its operational lifetime accommodated around 1 000 orphans, wards of the state and girls considered to be ‘in moral danger’. Most of these women worked in the industrial laundry or operated the industrial sewing machines.

The Convent is the last standing Magdalene Asylum in Australia and one of the last in the world. Its heritage values are derived from the size and architectural qualities of the buildings in the precinct, its rich history and culture, and its unique position on the banks of the Yarra River.

Funding from the Jobs Fund Project was used to help rejuvenate the ground floor as an artistic hub for artisans and artists to work, display and sell their work. This encouraged new community access to the arts and a showcase for Australia’s creativity.

The funds of $2 million were insufficient to complete the adaptive re-use, so the project concentrated on bringing the building into compliance with modern safety requirements. This has allowed the Convent Foundation to run income-generating activities in the building such as markets, exhibitions, concerts and symposiums. Interpretative tours are held in the building, highlighting key elements of the site’s complex, controversial and interesting past.

Refurbishment of windows and doorway, Sacred Heart Convent in Abbotsford, Victoria. (The Abbotsford Convent Foundation)

Case study 5: Heritage workshop for Commonwealth agencies on 12 May 2011

At a heritage workshop for Commonwealth agencies held on 12 May 2011, participants took advantage of the networking opportunities to explore how other agencies managed their heritage sites.

Property and facilities managers and heritage officers from 15 Australian Government departments and nine other Commonwealth agencies attended the workshop.

Hosted at the Shine Dome—the National Heritage-listed Australian Academy of Science—the workshop covered all EPBC Act requirements for Commonwealth agencies.

As well as sharing experiences and knowledge, the workshop helped Commonwealth agencies better understand their responsibilities to conserve and manage heritage places under Commonwealth custodianship.

Departmental officers facilitated the workshop and various agencies presented case studies about managing their heritage assets. Sessions included:

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  Airservices Australia on heritage strategies
  
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  Australia Post on identifying heritage values and creating a heritage register
  
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  Department of Defence on managing heritage places
  
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  Department of Finance and Deregulation on managing property disposals.
  

Materials to help agencies understand and comply with the EPBC Act were also distributed at the workshop.

Case study 6: Commonwealth Heritage List. Streamlined approach to conducting an assessment of Commonwealth heritage assets

In a streamlined approach to assessing Commonwealth heritage assets, Australia Post engaged heritage consultants to assess about 120 properties across Australia.

The consultants initially undertook a study of post offices nationally. Half of the properties assessed were nomination to the Commonwealth Heritage List. Of the 60 post offices, 14 were already on the list provided and therefore needed only an amendment, addition or deletion to the values. A further two were ineligible, having been sold, and another two were deferred.

Therefore 56 post offices in the first tranche of Australia Post places were assessed (or revised) for their Commonwealth Heritage values.

Airservices Australia took a similar approach to Australia Post, undertaking a national survey and interim assessment—in this case, of 28 air traffic control towers. From a study giving an historical overview of the development of control towers in Australia, Airservices Australia identified a series of broad tower types. Thirteen properties were assessed and six were then nominated for the Commonwealth Heritage List.

The Australian Heritage Council assessed the Commonwealth heritage values of the post offices and control towers and presented its assessments to the minister in June 2011.

Case study 7: Indigenous Heritage Program

Senior women of the Ngaanyatjarra lands look out across country from an important women’s site on the Seven Sisters dreaming track in central Western Australia. The Indigenous Heritage Program enabled the women to record the Seven Sisters sites and dreaming stories for future generations. (Leigh Holdaway)

The Ngaanyatjarra Council Aboriginal Corporation knew that if urgent action wasn’t taken, detailed knowledge of the sites and dreaming stories along the Marlu and Seven Sisters Dreaming Tracks would be lost forever.

The cultural knowledge of this area, south of Warburton in Central Western Australia, was largely held by a few remaining elderly people who had walked the country more than 50 years ago. Through this $110 000 project, senior traditional owners, anthropologists and younger traditional owners participated in field surveys and identified over 40 sites, providing detailed recordings and maps of 25 sites.

The project will ensure the information is not lost and is shared with younger generations. The recordings will also help the future conservation, protection and management of these sites.

Zuytdorp coastline. (Patrick Baker, Western Australian Museum)

Case study 8 Maritime 1: Successful prosecution of Geraldton man for offences relating to Commonwealth historic shipwreck relics

The Dutch East Indiaman, Zuytdorp was wrecked off Western Australia in 1712. Three other old Dutch ships were also wrecked off the West Australian coast: Batavia (1629), Vergulde Draeck (more commonly known as the Gilt Dragon) (1656) and Zeewyk (1727). These four shipwrecks are covered under an Agreement between Australia and the Netherlands Concerning Old Dutch Shipwrecks signed on 6 November 1972. As with all shipwrecks older than 75 years and within jurisdictional waters, these four shipwrecks are protected under the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 (Shipwrecks Act).

Anybody in possession of shipwreck relics in Western Australia when the Shipwrecks Act came into effect was required to register the objects. The Shipwrecks Act also declared a protected zone around the wreck to prevent looting of coins and relics. Under a nationwide amnesty people had from 1 May to 30 October 1993 to notify discovery and possession of relics that were not notified before 1 April 1993.

After an investigation by the department, 1 433 undeclared Dutch coins and seven furniture tacks from the Zuytdorp were found. Dominic William Lamera was convicted in the Geraldton Magistrates Court of dishonestly retaining Commonwealth property and was fined $3 000.

Case study 9 Maritime 2: Supporting capacity building in underwater cultural heritage management in the Pacific

To help maintain the rich underwater archaeological sites in the Asia-Pacific region, in February 2011 the department sponsored Mr Elia Nakoro of Fiji to attend the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Third Foundation Course on Underwater Cultural Heritage in Chanthaburi, Thailand.

The course is a regional training platform to facilitate the training of underwater archaeological site managers and conservation professionals from Asia and the Pacific. It helps build regional capacities so that countries in the Asia-Pacific region can protect and manage their own underwater archaeological sites.

Expert trainers are a critical part of the process. UNESCO Bangkok asked department officer Andrew Viduka, a qualified maritime archaeologist and archaeological objects conservator, to be an expert trainer at the Third Foundation Course in Thailand. Andrew delivered seminars on Material Culture Analysis, Finds Handling and Conservation, and Introduction to Intrusive Archaeology. The course was attended by 20 trainees from 11 different countries in the Asia-Pacific, Central Asia and Africa regions including Laos, Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan and Thailand.

Highlights

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  Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia was inscribed in the World Heritage List on 24 June 2011.
  
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  The World Heritage Committee added the Koongarra area to the Kakadu World Heritage Area on 27 June 2011.
  
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  Seven places were added to the National Heritage List: the Great Ocean Road and Scenic Environs and Coranderrk in Victoria; the Wilgie Mia Aboriginal Ochre Mine and Goldfields Water Supply Scheme in Western Australia; Ngarrabullgan in Queensland, and off the coast of Western Australia, HMAS Sydney II and HSK Kormoran Shipwreck Sites. The Jordan River levee site in Tasmania was added as an emergency listing.
  
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  The National Heritage List included 95 places at 30 June 2011. Two places were added to the Commonwealth Heritage List in 2010–11, bringing its total to 325.
  
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  The inaugural National Historic Sites Program funded 47 projects to support Australia’s most significant historic heritage.
  
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  The inaugural Australian Heritage Week in April 2011 was a great success with 321 events across the nation registered on the department’s Australian Heritage Week website.
  
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  The department had an active year protecting Indigenous heritage places and reforming Indigenous heritage protection legislation. There was a 66 per cent increase in the number of requests made to the department under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984.
  
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  The department assisted three neighbouring governments to strengthen implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Pacific region. This included the development of initiatives aimed at enhancing regional networks for heritage managers.
  

Outcome 5, program 5.2

Deliverables

Deliverables	Results
Provision of grant funding to assist protection, conservation and promotion of nationally significant historical heritage places, and for the identification, conservation and promotion of the Indigenous heritage values of places important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.	Grants programs were successfully administered, delivering funding to support heritage protection, conservation and interpretation.
Additional places listed on the National and Commonwealth Heritage Lists under the EPBC Act, and effective heritage management arrangements are supported for World, National and Commonwealth Heritage Listed places.	Additional places were listed on the National and Commonwealth Heritage Lists.
Assisting Australians to learn about, access and enjoy their heritage, including through raising the profile of heritage and awareness of the contribution it makes to our lives.	The Australian Heritage Week was implemented successfully, and the National Historic Sites Program launched.
Provision of funding to state and territory agencies to help protect and manage shipwrecks and their relics that are in waters covered by the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976.	The Historic Shipwrecks Program funded administration by states and the territories of the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976. In 2010–11 the department successfully moved from a grant-based funding program to multi-year Service Level Agreements with the states, the Northern Territory and Norfolk Island.
To strengthen the integrity of the World Heritage Convention, and to assist countries in Australia’s region with its implementation, including: Working with UNESCO and other World Heritage Committee members to improve the policies and processes of the Convention; Working with UNESCO and the Cambodian Government to help protect Angkor, and Assisting Pacific Island countries with implementation of the World Heritage Convention.	Key initiatives were submitted by Australia for adoption by the World Heritage Committee to increase the integrity of the World Heritage Convention. Provision of assistance to Pacific Island countries to nominate new places to the World Heritage List and to protect places already inscribed.
To assist Papua New Guinea to protect the historic values of the Kokoda Track.	Assistance provided to Papua New Guinea to protect the historic values of the Kokoda Track and improve the livelihood of local communities along the Track.

Outcome 5, program 5.2

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

KPIs	Results
In 2010–11 the program will:
Provide funding for at least 20 projects to protect and conserve nationally significant historical heritage places (including memorials to eminent Australians), and for 50 projects to identify, conserve and protect Australia’s Indigenous Heritage.	Jobs Fund Heritage program delivered funding of $45 million to 158 projects; 191 Jobs Fund Heritage projects completed. National Heritage Sites program funded 47 projects. National Trust Partnership Program was established, providing $2.7 million over three years. Commemorating Eminent Australians program supported five projects. The Indigenous Heritage Program provided $3.6 million to 55 projects.
Protect and identify Australia’s heritage areas by listing: 10 new National Heritage places.	Seven places listed. Two places received final assessments for a listing decision. Five places under consideration for listing under extended deadlines.
60 new Commonwealth Heritage places.	Two places listed. Consideration on 58 final assessments for listing.
Consider and process 100% of applications or referrals under Australian heritage laws.	96 referrals for proposed actions considered.
Launch Australian Heritage Week including the National Historic Sites Program.	Australian Heritage Week launched in April 2011. $300 000 provided for 31 projects. 321 events registered on the Australian Heritage Week website.
Provide funding to state and territory agencies to help protect and manage shipwrecks and relics in waters covered by the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976.	$440 000 provided. Adaption of multi-year Service Level Agreements.
Actively contribute to improving World Heritage Committee policies and practices.	Support was given to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Kiribati to implement the World Heritage Convention.
Assist five countries in our region to identify or protect their World Heritage.	The Solomon Islands were supported to establish partnerships with non-government organisations.
Ensure the Kokoda Track is well-managed, improved services and opportunities are provided to Track communities, and progress the development of a long-term plan to protect its values.	$14.9 million provided under the Kokoda Initiative. $4.9 million provided under the Kokoda Track Safety Package (2009–2011).