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Greater Shepparton Biennial Bruce Wilson Memorial Heritage Lecture

Look back 50 years to the 1970s and forward into the future with heritage expert Ms Christine Johnston as we explore changing ideas about heritage and contemplate the future of heritage.

When:
Wednesday 18th of August, 2021,
Where:
Senior Citizens’ Centre, 132 Welsford St, Shepparton - and interactively via Zoom and livestreamed on this page below.
Cost:
Free
Contact:
Building Planning and Compliance Department by email or by phone (03) 5832 9700.
Website:
greatershepparton.com.au/bpi/planni…

The 2021 Lecture marks the third in Council’s biennial heritage lecture series, named in honour of Bruce Wilson, former Mayor, long-time Councillor, history and heritage enthusiast, and inaugural Chair of Council’s Heritage Advisory Committee (the organising body for this Lecture). The Lectures usually alternate with the very successful biennial Cultural Heritage Awards, another of Council’s innovative heritage initiatives, although due to the pandemic, the 2020 Awards were postponed until May 2021.

This year, the 2021 Lecture will also be available to watch and interact with online for those who cannot attend in person. This ensures that those who cannot attend the event in person can still watch the lecture and ask questions of the guest speaker, Chris Johnston. 

Watch the Lecture

Audiences were invited to watch and interact with the livestream sessions via Zoom and YouTube.

Session one: 1pm on 18 August 2021 - Watch on YouTube

Session two: 6pm on 18 August 2021Watch on YouTube

Navigating heritage: past, present, future

Heritage places offer us ways to connect to the past, to our own stories and memories, as well as creating an inheritance for the future. What does our heritage scorecard look like today? And what new directions might shape heritage into the future?

In her Lecture, Chris will examine these issues, the importance of concepts such as place attachment, and differing ideas of heritage value. She will also look at (human-created) heritage landscapes, and intangible heritage such as customs, traditions and practices, as she looks towards the future of heritage.

When?

The Lecture will be held via Zoom twice on Wednesday 18 August 2021: at 1pm and 6pm, to allow people who may not be able to attend during the day to come at the later time.

About Chris Johnston

Chris Johnston is one of the stars of the heritage world in Australia. She has been one of the nation’s leading heritage figures for decades, at the forefront of heritage discussion and practice, with a long, extremely productive and influential career.

Chris founded Context, Victoria’s foremost heritage consultancy, in 1988, building its national reputation for community-connected projects over nearly 30 years. Chris is now an independent heritage specialist.

Her expertise has been widely recognised. Among countless heritage studies, assessments and management plans, her company has been entrusted to produce reports of both national and state importance, for example the Heritage Strategy for Victoria, Victoria’s Framework of Historical Themes, management plans for Port Arthur in Tasmania, and she has managed consultations for the Australian War Memorial.

However Chris’s heritage work has been wide-ranging: from the City of Melbourne Heritage Strategy to the social values assessment of La Perouse at Botany Bay; from the Aboriginal heritage of both the Atherton Gardens high-rise in Fitzroy and the Australian Alps to Ballarat’s Historic Urban Landscape; from the Lake Boort Management Plan to that of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra; from the aesthetic values of Broken Hill to those of the Barrier Reef.

Chris undertook many heritage studies across regional Victoria, including those of the City of Sale, Latrobe Valley, Stonnington, Yarra Ranges, Brunswick, Wyndham, East Gippsland and others, working with local councils.

It was Chris’ work that led the heritage world in Australia to accept the heritage value of buildings and places beloved and valued by local communities, not just those that were seen as historic or of architectural interest. Social value – the special importance of places to communities – is now a prominent aspect of heritage evaluation, and her paper, ‘What is Social Value?’ has become a standard reference.

If ‘social value’ had been an accepted measure of heritage significance in the 1970s, the treasured Shepparton Post Office may still be standing tall in Wyndham Street!

As a heritage consultant, Chris has worked with many communities across Australia, helping document and advocate for the places they value.

Some of her recent projects have involved Aboriginal heritage. Most recently she managed a project that developed the Budj Bim World Heritage Nomination Dossier, which saw the wonderful eel aquaculture systems at Tae Rak (Lake Condah) being recently placed on the World Heritage List, one of only twenty Australian places.

Chris is an Honorary Research Associate at La Trobe University. She is also a member of the International Scientific Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage, a sub-committee of the International Committee on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the principal non-governmental world heritage body.

Chris was also part of the Burra Charter Working Group that in 1999 and 2013 revised the Burra Charter 1999, the document which defines the basic principles and procedures to be followed in the conservation of Australian heritage places. The Burra Charter is respected and used as a reference throughout the world.

Over many years Chris has run training courses for local government planners; she has also taught at La Trobe University, and developed heritage-related curriculum for Deakin University. She has written many journal articles and book chapters.

About the Lecture

The Greater Shepparton Heritage Advisory Committee organises the biennial heritage lecture series to promote an understanding of cultural heritage and conservation, as well as pride and interest in the many facets of cultural heritage significance in Greater Shepparton.

The 2021 Lecture marks the third in Council’s biennial heritage lecture series, named in honour of Bruce Wilson, former Mayor, long-time Councillor, history and heritage enthusiast, and inaugural Chair of Council’s Heritage Advisory Committee (the organising body for this Lecture). The Lectures usually alternate with the very successful biennial Cultural Heritage Awards, another of Council’s innovative heritage initiatives, although due to the pandemic, the 2020 Awards were postponed until May 2021. 

 

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