Australia ICOMOS

Australia ICOMOS is the peak cultural heritage conservation body in Australia. It is a branch of the United Nations-sponsored International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a non-government professional organization promoting expertise in the conservation of cultural heritage.^[1] Its secretariat is based at the Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University.

Formation and role

Australia ICOMOS was formed in 1976 and is one of over 100 current ICOMOS national committees. ICOMOS was formed in 1965 to advise UNESCO in the assessment of sites proposed for the World Heritage List. Membership of Australia ICOMOS comprises over 650 members, managed by an Executive Committee of 15 people who are elected from the membership. Several Australia ICOMOS members are also represented on various ICOMOS International Scientific Committees, and expert committees and boards in Australia.^[2] It plays an important role in co-ordinating advocacy activities to raise the profile of Australia's cultural heritage.^[3]

The first meeting which led to the formation of Australia ICOMOS was in Melbourne on 20 October 1976, and the first ICOMOS conference was in Beechworth in 1978, where they devised a committee to work up a local version of the Venice Charter. The actual ICOMOS meeting where the committee's draft was provisionally endorsed was in the town of Burra in 1979.^[1][4][2] Australia ICOMOS played the pivotal role in developing and Burra Charter, regarded as the best-practice standard for cultural heritage management in Australia, which has influenced subsequent heritage legislation and conservation guidelines and practices in Australia.^[1][5]

Australia ICOMOS has also been responsible for producing the Australia State of the Environment Report (SoE), to advise the Minister for Environment on ...the current condition of the Australian environment, the pressures on it and the drivers of those pressures.^[6]

Australia ICOMOS also organises an annual national conference on themes relevant to conservation and heritage in Australia and South East Asia, often on a specific heritage and conservation theme for example on the Australian Capital city's 100th anniversary in 2012.^[7]

Recent collaboration between the Chinese government, the Getty Conservation Institute and Australia ICOMOS has seen the export of Australian conservation expertise in developing China Principles, ...the Middle Kingdom's statement of conservation philosophy and method that is based on Australia's highly regarded Burra Charter.^[8] Australia ICOMOS and the Burra Charter have also been held up as a world standard in Malta.^[9]

Historic Environment

Australia ICOMOS publishes Historic Environment (ISSN 0726-6715), a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering cultural heritage and heritage conservation,^[10][11] first published by the Council for the Historic Environment, from 1980-1991, then by Australia ICOMOS and the Council for the Historic Environment in 1992 and by Australia ICOMOS alone from 1993.^[12] Editions are often on a specific heritage and conservation theme, for example 'Canberra's 100th anniversary' in 2012.^[7] and 'Extreme Heritage' dealing with ... managing heritage in the face of climatic extremes, natural disasters and military conflicts in tropical, desert, polar and off-world landscapes.^[13]

The journal is the pre-eminent publication on heritage conservation in Australia, is allied to the international organisation ICOMOS, it is cited extensively in conservation literature, records the major heritage conferences in Australia, and has been in publication for over 30 years.^[10][11] The journal aims to bring together … dynamic, critical interdisciplinary research in the field of cultural heritage and heritage conservation. The journal has an editorial committee of five with lead editor Dr Tim Winter in 2013. It was ranked ‘A’ by the Excellence in Research for Australia classification scheme.^[10][14]

Accessed on-line via State Library of New South Wales,^[15] and indexed through various index services including RMIT's Australian Heritage Bibliography,^[11] and the Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS).^[16] It is held in over 80 libraries world wide including all of the Australian state libraries and major Australian and New Zealand university libraries.^[17] and was ranked ‘A’ by the Australian Research Council Excellence in Research for Australia classification scheme.^[10][14] Australia ICOMOS also publishes the Australia ICOMOS newsletter (ISSN 0155-3534) on a regular basis.

Mentoring

Australia ICOMOS provides a mentoring program for cultural heritage students as well as architectural students who have completed subjects in architectural conservation^[18] and the Australia ICOMOS Victorian Scholarships.^[19] Australia ICOMOS projects extend to providing experise and fund-raising for restoration projects in the wider Asia and Pacific region, including the Streetwise Asia School Restoration Project in the Philippines.^[20] Australia ICOMOS, and in particular Dr Richard Mackay, have been involved in conservation management advice for the World Heritage Listing of Ankor Wat in Cambodia for many years.^[21]

References

External links

• Official website
• A volume revisited: a retrospective review of Historic Environment Volume 11 Nos. 2 & 3: managing a shared heritage (1995) Australia ICOMOS E-Newsletter, 243 . pp. 3–5.