Nominating Canberra for National Heritage Listing

Abstract

Australia is one of the world’s oldest modern democracies. The Federation formed by the six disparate States and established by Australia’s Constitution in 1901, also created the National Capital. Canberra is the city that Federation created and Australia’s only fully planned city. It is one of a few of the world’s capital cities that were designated as such before they were created. In 2009, the then Minister for the Environment and Heritage, the Hon Peter Garrett, invited nominations for entry on Australia’s National Heritage List under the theme of ‘Australian Democracy’. It was in response to this invitation that seven professional and generally like-minded people got together and nominated Canberra to be entered on the National Heritage List. The seven people were: Associate Professor Dianne Firth, Romaldo Giurgola AO, David Headon, Stuart Mackenzie, Associate Professor Graham Sansom, Greg Wood and Ed Wensing. Canberra’s unique design and planning over the past one hundred years embodies many of the ideas and messages incorporated in the theme of Australian Democracy. We nominated virtually the whole of the ACT (with some notable exceptions), and identified many features and elements that could easily satisfy at most of the criteria for National Heritage Listing. This presentation will elaborate on the values for which Canberra can be entered on the National Heritage List. These are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of my fellow nominees. Show more