The Venice Charter Down Under: Its Legacy in Landscape Preservation

In examining the Venice Charter, Australia ICOMOS found its principles to be universally sound but not applicable to an ancient landscape with only two hundred years of settler society. In response, Australia ICOMOS members created the Burra Charter to deal with conservation of places of cultural significance, and in the years since 1981, it has been updated to reflect contemporary practice and improved understanding. It does have relevance to large landscapes, and although its principles and planning steps have been followed for large publicly-owned conservation landscapes such as national parks, the challenge is to apply it to freehold landscapes with significant cultural heritage values. Landowners, farmers, managers, politicians, and planners need to be convinced of its relevance. This paper examines a methodology involving landscape art, history, and literature to supplement more standard land-use classification and heritage assessment as a way of generating wider public support.