About Us

Board Members

The National Trust of Australia is a community-based, non-government organisation, committed to promoting and conserving Australia's indigenous, natural and historic heritage through its advocacy work and its custodianship of heritage places and objects.

The Australian National Trust movement was established in New South Wales in 1945 by Annie Wyatt who, along with a group of other citizens, raised community consciousness of widespread destruction of the built and natural heritage in Sydney. The National Trust movement quickly spread across Australia with the other States establishing National Trust offices throughout the 1950's and 60's. The Northern and Australian Capital Territories were the last to establish a National Trust in 1976. Each State and Territory National Trust is fully autonomous entity in its own right responsible for managing its own affairs.

The Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT) was formed in 1965. It represents the interests of the National Trust at the federal level, provides a forum for information exchange and increasingly coordinates the work of the constituent bodies.

Collectively the organisation owns or manages over 300 heritage places (the majority held in perpetuity), manages a volunteer workforce of 7000 while also employing about 350 people nationwide.

We rely heavily on community support generated through membership subscriptions, sponsorship, donations and bequests, property admissions and retail sales . Of the collective total operational revenue generated by the organisation less than 10% is sourced from government.

National Trust Policies

National Trusts around Australia develop policies to direct the advocacy and conservation work of the Trust, and to provide guidelines for government and community decision making regarding heritage matters.

Policies are official statements of principles and practice which have been endorsed by the respective Board or Council of the Australian Council of National Trusts, or the State and Territory Trusts. They define the principles that are used to guide the work of the Trust on particular issues, and they provide practical guidelines regarding heritage identification, protection and conservation practice for the Trust and for the wider community.

State and Territory Trusts develop policies regarding State/Territory issues, while the Australian Council of National Trusts develops national policies in consultation with State and Territory Trusts. They direct the work of the Trust regarding significant conservation issues such as the protection of Indigenous cultural heritage and cover matters such as classification of heritage sites, management and presentation of National Trust properties and their collections, the conservation of specific types of heritage, and of particular places.

CHAIRMANS MESSAGE

Message from the new chair of the ACNT

Dr Graeme Blackman

I came to the position of chair of the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT) at a time that presented a number of exciting challenges for the National Trust movement and for heritage conservation in Australia. It is a time for Government to embrace cultural heritage conservation as a work of national importance by providing national leadership and adequate funding assistance to private owners of heritage properties, state and local government, and organisations such as the Trust.

The Australian Council of National Trusts is working with the Minister and government to play its part in meeting this challenge and has had a number of personal meetings with him and his staff. I can assure members that the Trust is held in high regard by our Federal Minister as the key independent voice for our cultural heritage.

The ACNT is the National voice in Canberra of the Australia-wide National Trust movement and it is our challenge to make effective, positive representations to the minister on behalf of the 80 000 Trust members in all States and Territories.

Our vision is for Australia to be a nation celebrating and conserving its built, cultural, Indigenous and natural heritage for present and future generations.

We will achieve this through advocacy, research and promotion and support of the Australian State and Territory National Trusts in conserving Australia’s heritage on behalf of its 80,000 members.

I personally will continue to bring these messages home to the government and look forward to working on your behalf in this endeavour. We are now actively engaged in promoting the adoption of government policies that deliver better integration of the three levels of government.

I look forward, with your help as members, to ensure that our organisation can develop and flourish for the benefit of our heritage and our community.

Dr Graeme L Blackman

Chairman

September 2009

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