8 minute read
Celebrate
History is Young Again
BY ANTHONY BURKE, PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE
Anthony Burke argues that we live in a time of radical change for all things heritage. He claims that history – at least the way we understand it to construct our heritage – is young once again. Here is an edited version of Anthony's keynote at this year’s Heritage Awards.
History is an area of enquiry that is full of vitality and opportunity. For those of us invested in Australia’s built, cultural and natural heritage, we are at a moment of profound importance. I see three newly intersecting ways of understanding history that are re-energising the term ‘heritage’ and creating incredible opportunities for our field and our shared cultural project.
The first is the growing appreciation of Indigenous perspectives of country, care, and design process that embrace a fundamentally different understanding of time and responsibility. The inclusion of First People’s perspectives in Australia’s heritage register extends our field of reference and scholarly enquiry from 230 years to about 80,000 – a 60,000% increase. This fact alone should be enough to convince us that there is much to gain by embracing Indigenous heritage and all it has to teach us.
Then there is the growing partnership of heritage with the issues of sustainability and climate change. As someone interested in architecture, it’s not lost on me that “the most sustainable building is the one that is already built”. Science and economics tell us that it’s better to reuse an old building than to build a new one. This need for a far more sustainable approach to our built environment, coupled with a renewed investment in heritage practice and scholarship, is incredibly exciting. To me, it’s the most progressive edge of design at the moment: making built heritage no longer an issue of fussy or contested historic preservation but of survival.
The last point is the issue of media and communications, which with a few exceptions, have been only gingerly embraced by the heritage community. While official channels are slow to act, a groundswell of public voices has entered the fray on social and broadcast media, from community groups like Beaumaris Modern to a general surge in “Ruin Porn” (more tastefully known as beautiful pictures of crumbling buildings). A public fascination with heritage and new ways of engaging with it is well and truly on the rise.
Our current moment is one of shifting contexts – culturally and physically. I suggest we need to seize the moment, seize the imagination of a newly emerging audience and general interest, and perhaps promote the reimagination of heritage for ourselves as a living and breathing question that is far from settled. Heritage can be less about where we’ve come from and more about where we are heading. Ironically, by reframing heritage from a conversation of preservation to one about the future, history becomes all about tomorrow. Aren’t we fortunate that history is young again?
Above Anthony Burke is a Professor of Architecture and Director of the Master of Architecture program at the University of Technology Sydney. Anthony is a regular contributor to academic and popular discourse on architecture and hosts ABC TV's Restoration Australia.
Opposite Judge's Choice winner: The Great Cobar Museum and Visitor Information Centre, Dunn & Hillam Architects (photo by Kathrine Lu).
Opposite President's Prize winner: Dawn Fraser Baths, TKD Architects (photo by Martin Mischkulnig).
Clockwise from top Adaptive Re-use winner: Stephenson's Mill, Susan Hutton (photo by Neil Waldron); Education & Interpretation winner: Old Dubbo Gaol Upgrade – Stage 1, Dubbo Regional Council (photo by Dilon Price Photography); Adaptive Re-use winner: Ngununggula, Southern Highlands Regional Art Gallery at Retford Park, Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects (photo by Zan Wimberley); Events, Exhibitions & Tours winner: Locomotive 3801 Relaunch Events Program, Transport Heritage NSW (photo by Steve Burrows/THNSW); Adaptive Re-use winner: Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects (photo by Brett Boardman).
This year's National Trust Heritage Awards saw 16 winners recognised across eight categories, two individual prizes, a special President’s Prize and the highly sought-after Judges’ Choice Award. Each winner demonstrated an outstanding contribution to the conservation, protection, and interpretation of heritage over the past year.
ABORIGINAL HERITAGE Woollahra Aboriginal Heritage Study Woollahra Council Woollahra Council engaged Aboriginal Heritage Consultants Coast History & Heritage to work closely with the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council in undertaking an Aboriginal Heritage Study for the Woollahra Municipality. “The study provided Council with a much better understanding of the Aboriginal history and heritage of Woollahra; where traces of that history are known, and where others are likely to be.”
ADAPTIVE RE-USE Stephenson's Mill Susan Hutton For more than a decade no one wanted empty Stephenson's Mill in the historic town of Crookwell, NSW dating from 1871. It took trusting relationships between a prospective purchaser and her architect and the consent authority to adapt it into a house. “This project shows how effective adaptive re-use requires a willingness to change the place and the imagination to do so in the spirit of the place.” Ngununggula, Southern Highlands Regional Art Gallery at Retford Park Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects Ngununggula, meaning 'belonging' in the traditional language of the Gundungurra First Nations people, is the first regional art gallery in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. “Making Ngununggula involved the adaptive re-use of two underutilised and deteriorating buildings within Retford Park. These, as well as a third contemporary pavilion, were reimagined as a state-of-the-art Regional Gallery.”
Walsh Bay Arts Precinct Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects This project involved the conservation and adaptive reuse of the state heritage listed Pier 2/3, Wharf 4/5 and the associated Shoresheds to provide state-of-the-art performance theatres, rehearsal studios, workshops and function spaces for nine of Sydney's premier arts companies. “The adaptive re-use and refurbishment of existing facilities create an arts ‘ecosystem’, where the synergy of co-located creatives will generate a powerful cultural energy, open and visible to the public.”
SHOP
Spotlight on Australian architecture
Read the book that won this year’s National Trust (NSW) Heritage Awards! In this landmark publication, authors Bernice Murphy and Leon Paroissien draw on interviews and research to illuminate the life and achivements of the distinguished architect, Andrew Andersons.
Andersons’ work reimagined industrial areas of Sydney’s shorelines, transforming Darling Harbour, Walsh Bay, Jones Bay and Barangaroo, and redefined the Sydney Opera House and East Circular Quay as Australia’s ‘first national precinct’ and pre-eminent civic gathering place. Andrew Andersons: Architecture and the Public Realm is a fascinating read for anyone interested in Sydney’s built environment and the workings of a long and creative architectural career.
PURCHASE YOUR COPY ONLINE | shop.nationaltrust.org.au
CONSERVATION – BUILT HERITAGE The Great Cobar Museum and Visitor Information Centre Dunn & Hillam Architects In 2019, Cobar Shire Council engaged Dunn & Hillam Architects to work with Peter Freeman Conservation Architects and Planners to provide a master plan for the Great Cobar Museum and Visitor Information Centre’s 8,000 square metre site. “The project breathes new life into this significant heritage building, physically and culturally at the heart of Cobar, serving visitors and a vibrant local community.”
CONSERVATION – INTERIORS & OBJECTS Tulkiyan Interiors Conservation Ku-ring-gai Council Tulkiyan, a house museum in Gordon, NSW, underwent extensive restoration after suffering damage caused by water, steam and mould. “The internal restoration has extended the life of this house museum and secured its future.”
The Discovery of an Old Master Panel Painting Masquerading as a 19th Century Copy International Conservation Services (ICS) Expert conservation resulted in the discovery of a seventeenthcentury Dutch Master treasure in the National Trust's collection. “This brilliant result has changed the painting from a merely beautiful painting to a jewel in the National Trust Collection of major international and historical significance.”
CONTINUING TRADITION Boer War Memorial Conservation Works Parramatta Park Trust A conservation works project for the stone and metalwork of the Boer War Memorial in Parramatta Park. “This was the ideal project for a team of stonemason apprentices to learn, practise and expand their craft, supporting the continuation of this critical heritage skillset from one generation to the next while securing the ongoing conservation of significant heritage stone structures.”
EDUCATION & INTERPRETATION Old Dubbo Gaol Upgrade – Stage 1 Dubbo Regional Council The upgrade to Old Dubbo Gaol resulted in a huge transformation of one of Dubbo’s most highly visited cultural tourism attractions. “The treatments conserve and showcase the state significant buildings, grounds and collections of ODG in a fully reversible manner, while providing a compelling visitor experience.” EVENTS, EXHIBITIONS & TOURS In Search of... My First Nations of Australia Ancestors Society of Australian Genealogists This online conference featured inspirational, educational and moving accounts from Society members and friends sharing their stories on the challenges of uncovering family members and their official records. “The conference attracted almost 100 participants and was the first time in its ninety years of operation that the Society held a dedicated event focused on First Nations family history research.”
Locomotive 3801 Relaunch Events Program Transport Heritage NSW This program supported the return to service of steam locomotive 3801, following an over decade-long restoration by Transport Heritage NSW. “The relaunch program saw the restored 1940s steam locomotive travel over 6,000 kilometres, engaging thousands of people in communities across both Sydney and regional NSW.”
RESOURCES & PUBLICATIONS Andrew Andersons: Architecture and the Public Realm NewSouth For this landmark book, Bernice Murphy and Leon Paroissien drew on interviews and research over many years to illuminate acclaimed Australian architect Andrew Andersons’ life and achievements.
JUDGES’ CHOICE The Great Cobar Museum and Visitor Information Centre Dunn & Hillam Architects
PRESIDENT'S PRIZE Dawn Fraser Baths TKD Architects
HERITAGE SKILLS AWARD Rick Allan, Heritage Glass Conservator
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Bruce Pettman, Conservation Architect
Find out more about the winning projects
Visit our website to read the full winners showcase booklet. nationaltrust.org.au/heritage-awards-nsw
Opposite Conservation – Built Heritage winner: The Great Cobar Museum and Visitor Information Centre, Dunn & Hillam Architects (photo by Kathrine Lu). The National Trust Heritage Awards is a signature event of the Australian Heritage Festival in New South Wales and is proudly supported by the NSW Government through Heritage NSW.
