More heritage buildings protected for future generations

Published Thursday, 24 August, 2017 at 02:46 PM

Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection and Minister for National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef
The Honourable Steven Miles

More State heritage places are being better protected thanks to tighter laws and tougher penalties passed by the Palaszczuk Government.

Heritage Protection Minister Steven Miles said the passage of the Local Government Electoral (Transparency and Accountability in Local Government) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016, and the new Planning Act 2016, were key to protecting heritage buildings from inappropriate demolition.

Queensland now has 1,741 places protected by the Heritage Register,” Mr Miles said.

“Our new laws are helping to protect our cherished heritage places for future generations to ensure we do not lose them at the stroke of a pen.

“We have seen several incidences of private certifiers signing off on inappropriate demolitions.

“Our new laws deliver tougher penalties that will assist in stamping out this practice.

“Today also marks 25 years of the Queensland Heritage Act 1992 which was introduced under the Goss Government to ensure heritage places could not be demolished or bulldozed in the dead of night.

“Had these laws existed in the 1970s, the cultural vandalism that led to the demolition of the Bellevue Hotel, Her Majesty’s Theatre and Cloudland Ballroom could not have occurred.

“By contrast, the CSR Refinery at Newstead, the Petrie Terrace police barracks, the former School of Arts in Rockhampton, and St Paul’s Uniting Church in Mackay are among the places that have been saved since the Heritage Act came in.”

The Wiss Brothers Store and Dwelling at Kalbar was the first place to be added to the Heritage Register on 29 October 1992. The Queensland Cultural Centre is one of the most recent additions to the Register, added on 12 June 2015.

Queensland Heritage Council Chair Ms Debbie Best said the Heritage Council would officially mark the 25th anniversary of the Queensland Heritage Act in a special meeting today (24 August.)

“The Council is the guardian of Queensland’s precious heritage places and members consider it a great privilege and honour to undertake this role,” Ms Best said.

“A key priority for the Council is to work collaboratively with owners and communities to conserve culturally-significant Queensland places and spaces.”

To be heritage-listed, a place must meet at least one of the following criteria:

  • demonstrate the evolution or pattern of Queensland’s history
  • be rare, uncommon or an endangered aspect of Queensland’s cultural heritage
  • contribute to our understanding of the history of Queensland
  • is a good example of a cultural place
  • is aesthetically significant
  • shows a high standard of creative or technical achievement in its time period
  • is important to a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons
  • is associated with the life or work of important people, groups or organisations in the history of Queensland.

Anyone can apply to enter a place in the Queensland Heritage Register.

A guide on how to prepare a heritage application is available at www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/heritage/register/changes

The register is at www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/heritage/register

ENDS

Media contact: Alison Brown - 0477 377622