In line with the Australian Heritage Festival theme, Change, this online public forum explores how the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage bid reflects on the evolution of how World Heritage is understood, assessed and protected.
Heritage is neither old nor fixed — it evolves as our understanding of history, place and social value changes. While the UNESCO World Heritage List has existed for more than 50 years, the processes for adding places to the list — and the values that underpin it — have continued to develop. Examples such as the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape World Heritage–listed site demonstrate an approach led by Traditional Owners and the community.
The Victorian Goldfields World Heritage bid also reflects this approach, which has been evolving for more than three decades. Rather than focusing on individual properties or simplified pioneer narratives, it focuses on integrating broader values and bottom-up approaches embedded in Country and shaped by community, place and continuing history.
The bid also focuses on delivering lasting benefits for local citizens and Traditional Owners—including increased investment, improved quality of life, strengthened cultural storytelling, and a deepened sense of pride and place—guided by local stakeholders, Registered Aboriginal Parties, and communities, and grounded in the conservation of heritage.
This rare opportunity brings together leading World Heritage experts and stakeholders directly involved in the current nomination process, for a discussion driven entirely by audience questions, addressing what has changed in the World Heritage process — from new approaches to Traditional Owner and community consultation, to the growing influence of sustainable development and climate considerations and the role of preliminary assessments.
The session is structured as an open public forum. Participants are invited to submit questions when registering with a moderator guiding the conversation and the panel responding directly to the issues raised by the audience.
This forum offers an opportunity to reflect on how heritage has shaped us — and how, through changing values and expectations, we continue to reshape heritage for the future. The discussion will be recorded and made available after the event.
This webinar is presented as part of the Australian Heritage Festival (Victoria) and in partnership with the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid.
Image credit: Lalgambuk (Mt Franklin) is included the Victorian Goldfields submission on Australia’s World Heritage Tentative list solely for First Peoples values. DJAARA Country. Image: Barry Gamble (2024)
