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Heritage

The primary beneficiaries of heritage conservation are the local community.

What is Heritage

The Heritage of a community includes all of the written and oral histories and the traditions of that community. It includes all the artefacts, the built environment, the cultural landscapes, the transport routes of the distant and recent past. The heritage of a community is the sum of these parts, and their loss reduces the connection of the community to its heritage.

What are Heritage Sites?

These include landscapes such as gardens and particular rural settings, transport routes - old road alignments and railways, industrial sites and structures, sites of agricultural activity and related buildings and cemeteries. Some sites of former activity have few visible traces but have potential archaeological interest. Heritage sites are not restricted to the abodes of the rich and famous; the humble cottage dwelling from the great depression is as evocative of our past as the imposing town residence, and the simple station hut is as the large homestead. Heritage sites do not have to be pure and unaltered, or frozen in time to have value. In fact sites with many successive alterations can tell us more about changing local needs.

Why keep Heritage, and how much do we need?

The primary beneficiaries of heritage conservation are the local community. Heritage sites reflect triumphs and failures, they can be beautiful or forlorn but they are part of everyone's surroundings and contribute to the communities sense of belonging or feeling at home. The decision to keep heritage is the responsibility of the community.

© 2008 Bland Shire Council
This page: http://www.bland.local-e.nsw.gov.au/planning/11939.html