Throughout 2020 and 2021, the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council has progressed broad community consideration of the practical application of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (VIC), its failures and successes. Through this process, Council has been forced to reassess the commitment of both the community and the government to self-determination.The time has come for Traditional Owners to do more than play a part, they must realise their rights to control their Cultural Heritage through the law that governs the protection and management of that Cultural Heritage. Council has made 24 recommendations to the Victorian Minister for Aboriginal Affairs for fundamentally necessary reforms of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (VIC). It is essential that, as a society, we truly understand that Traditional Owners are the only comprehensive knowledge holders of their Cultural Heritage. Once we understand that one, fundamental truth, then the changes we now recommend for their management of that Cultural Heritage are clear and purposeful. Such understandings are in step with the international benchmark set by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. If these reforms are affected, the positive change for protection, management and lived engagement with Cultural Heritage will be profound.

The fourth in a series that documents architectural conservation in different parts of the world, Architectural Conservation in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands: National Experiences and Practice addresses cultural heritage protection in a region which comprises one third of the Earth’s surface. In response to local needs, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands have developed some of the most important and influential techniques, legislation, doctrine and theories in cultural heritage management in the world. The evolution of the heritage protection ethos and contemporary architectural conservation practices in Australia and Oceania are discussed on a national and regional basis using ample illustrations and examples. Accomplishments in architectural conservation are discussed in their national and international contexts, with an emphasis on original developments (solutions) and contributions made to the overall field. Enriched with essays contributed from fifty-nine specialists and thought leaders in the field, this book contains an extraordinary breadth and depth of research and synthesis on the why’s and how’s of cultural heritage conservation. Its holistic approach provides an essential resource and reference for students, academics, researchers, policy makers, practitioners and all who are interested in conserving the built environment.

Planning for Urban Country addresses a major gap in knowledge about the translation of Aboriginal values and Country Plans into Australia’s built environment contexts. How do you ‘heal’ Country if it has been devastated by concrete and bitumen, excavations and bulldozing, weeds and introduced plants and animals, and surface, aerial and underground contaminants? How then do Aboriginal values and Country Plan aspirations address urban environments? In this book, David Jones explores the major First Nations-informed design and planning transformations in Djilang / Greater Geelong since 2020. Included are short-interlinked essays about the political and cultural context, profiles of key exemplar architectural, landscape and corridor projects, a deep explanation of the legislative, policy and statutory precedents, opportunities and environment that has enabled these opportunities, and the how Wadawurrung past-present-future values have been scaffolded into these changes.