Heritage plans play a crucial role in protecting our valuable assets and providing guidance on how to manage them for the future.

The Heritage Strategy 2024-34, endorsed at the August 2024 meeting, provides a framework to ensure the City’s rich combination of traditions, memories, places and objects are identified and protected. It will guide Council on heritage matters within the organisation, along with Traditional Custodians, local community organisations and the broader community.

Developed over a period of more than two years, the endorsed Strategy was informed by a review of the previous plan, input from internal stakeholders, feedback from three rounds of community engagement, and consultation with the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation and Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, and local heritage organisations.

The new approach responds to contemporary challenges and new opportunities in our City and includes a greater focus on:

• partnering with and supporting Traditional Custodians to understand and better protect pre-contact and contemporary Aboriginal cultural heritage
• addressing knowledge gaps to better understand and protect diverse cultures and histories
• tangible and intangible heritage
• adapting our heritage places for climate resilience and providing sustainable heritage buildings and places for people to live, work and enjoy
• exploring contemporary methods and emerging technologies to raise awareness and appreciation of the City's heritage and create experiences that connect with the stories of place.

The Strategy is premised on short, medium and long-term actions to deliver on seven key objectives. You can read more in the report to Council, or view a livestream of the August City Development Delegated Committee meeting on our website

Several changes were made to the Strategy based on community feedback and stakeholder comments, including placing greater emphasis on building community understanding and participation in the conservation, appreciation and enhancement of our City’s heritage, and further recognising the work and role of local heritage organisations.

The Strategy also includes amendments to actions relating to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage to further strengthen working with Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs), as well as their inclusion along with local heritage organisations in the five-year review. Finally – for consistency – the Strategy has consolidated and refined actions relating to similar themes.

For more information on the engagement and feedback received, view the Engagement Summary Report.

From April to May 2023, we shared a Challenges and Opportunities Paper for further feedback that outlined 11 potential opportunities to address identified challenges. This was to ensure that the foundation of the proposed approach for heritage management aligned with community values.

The Challenges and Opportunities Paper was informed by learnings from an internal review of the previous Heritage Plan, and the first conversation with stakeholders and the broader community.

From the 50 responses received, almost all supported addressing knowledge gaps and growing community awareness of heritage; the majority favoured balancing heritage protection with property growth, and protecting indigenous and natural heritage; and there was strong support for the remaining seven opportunities.

Across both conversations you told us:

• overall, there’s a sense of comfort with proposed heritage opportunities
• you would like Council to take a stronger stance in safeguarding heritage assets
• you are also keen to see heritage buildings adapted to today’s climate
• First Nations, natural and built heritage were top priorities from those who responded
• more festivals, events and creative ways to share and celebrate our heritage would be welcomed, along with more engaging and innovative ways to connect with your cultural roots and appreciate the history that surrounds them.

You can read more about our engagement approach and what we heard in the Heritage Challenges and Opportunities Engagement Summary Report, located in the Document Library.

During our first community conversation in 2022, you shared with us your heritage aspirations and what you believed was worth valuing and protecting into the future. This feedback helped inform 11 key opportunities we proposed for future heritage management.

Some of your comments included: