Council members
The Chairman, six other members and up to two associate members are all appointed by the Minister. The Chairman must have substantial experience or expertise concerning heritage while two members must be similarly qualified in natural heritage, two in historic heritage and two must be Indigenous persons with substantial experience or expertise in Indigenous heritage, at least one of who must represent the interests of Indigenous people. An associate member must have expertise in any one of these areas.
The Council was first appointed on 19 February 2004 for a three year term. In May 2007 the Minister reappointed the Chairman, Mr Tom Harley, and three members, Dr Jane Lennon, Dr Denis Saunders and Dr Gaye Sculthorpe. Three new appointments were also made, Mr Howard Tanner, Dr Libby Mattiske and Mr Rodney Dillon. The Hon Richard Lewis continues as an Associate Member.
Mr Tom Harley (Chairman)
Mr Tom Harley was the first and is the current Chairman of the Australian Heritage Council. He was previously the Chairman of the Australian Heritage Commission. He is President Corporate Development at BHP Billiton and Chairman of the Menzies Research Centre.
Mr Harley was a Director of UNICEF Australia from 1988 to 2005 and was President between 1997 and 2001 and was appointed a Member of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations in January 2003.
He is a graduate of RMIT and Oxford University. He has written on Australia's history, business and politics.
Historic Experts:
Dr Jane Lennon AM
Dr Jane Lennon is a heritage consultant in Brisbane. She has a long involvement with heritage conservation in national parks, forests, coasts, goldfields, inner urban areas and museums through her work in the Victorian public service (1973-93) and as a member of numerous professional and community associations. She has an MA (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and a PhD from Deakin University.
Dr Lennon is a former Australian Heritage Commissioner and member of the Council of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome (ICCROM), and currently an adjunct professor in Cultural Heritage Studies at Deakin University. Her most recent work has involved rural places heritage strategies, cultural landscape management guidelines and state of environment reporting.
Mr Howard Tanner
Mr Howard Tanner is a leading Sydney architect with long-established interests in landscape design and history. He has a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Sydney and is a fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Mr Tanner has written extensively on Australian architecture, housing and gardens and was a senior lecturer in Architecture at the University of Sydney.
Mr Tanner was an architect or architectural heritage advisor for several significant Australian buildings including, Old Parliament House, Canberra; Sydney Town Hall, Sydney; Admiralty House, Kirribilli; and also for New Zealand Parliament Buildings in Wellington, New Zealand.
Mr Tanner is currently National President-elect of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Vice President of the Art Gallery of NSW Art Gallery Society, and Chairman of the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. He was a former Chairman of the Heritage Council of NSW and Councillor and Vice President of the National Trust of Australia (NSW).
Indigenous Experts:
Dr Gaye Sculthorpe
Dr Gaye Sculthorpe is a full-time Member of the National Native Title Tribunal and former head of the Department of Indigenous Studies at Museum Victoria. She holds a PhD in Aboriginal Studies from La Trobe University and has worked extensively with Aboriginal heritage issues across a number of states.
Dr Sculthorpe is also a member of the Council of La Trobe University, a member of the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee and a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
She is a descendant of the Pyemmairrener people of northeast Tasmania.
Mr Rodney Dillon
Mr Rodney Dillon is the Indigenous Campaigner for Amnesty International and current Chair of the National Reference Group for Repatriation of Australian Indigenous Remains. He has been instrumental in changes to British repatriation policies and to the repatriation of many remains of Aboriginal Australian people.
Mr Dillon is a former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Commissioner for Tasmania, serving for three terms, and a member of the Stolen Generation Alliance: Australians for Truth, Justice and Healing, which saw Tasmania become the first state to remunerate members of the Stolen Generation. He has been involved in Aboriginal fishing rights at state and national levels and chaired a World Indigenous Fishing Conference in Vancouver. He is a founding member of the South East Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre and current Chair of the newly formed Weetapoona Aboriginal Corporation. He was named National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee Person of the Year in 2005 in recognition of his long term contribution to Aboriginal people. Mr Dillon is a Tasmanian Aborigine (Palawa).
Natural Experts:
Dr Denis Saunders AM
Dr Denis Saunders is a respected authority on nature conservation, biological diversity and landscape ecology. His research interests include the integration of nature conservation with agricultural production in a total landscape management approach and the conservation and management of remnant native vegetation and associated fauna. He has specific experience in state of the environment reporting.
Dr Saunders, a former Australian Heritage Commissioner, has a strong commitment to communicating landscape ecology and conservation to all members of the community. He has received awards for contributions to conservation biology and for landscape ecology, and has written and edited numerous papers, books, reports and other scientific publications. He is President of the World Wildlife Fund and a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.
Dr Libby Mattiske
Dr Libby Mattiske has over thirty years' experience in flora and vegetation surveys in Australia and Australian External Territories. She is a consultant specialising in plant ecology and has a Bachelor of Science, PhD from Adelaide University.
Her particular interests are in the flora, vegetation and ecology of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. She also has a strong interest in biodiversity, ecosystems and in the rehabilitation and restoration of vegetation on highly disturbed landforms.
Dr Mattiske is a former Australian Heritage Commissioner and a former member and Deputy Chairman of the Western Australian National Parks and Nature Conservation Authority. She is also a former member and Deputy Chairman of the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority, the National State of Environment Committee and the Threatened Species Scientific Committee under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Hon Richard Lewis - Re-appointed August 2007 (associate member)
Mr Richard Lewis is a company director and by profession a cartographer, engineering and registered land surveyor with experience in Government and as a principal in private practice.
Mr Lewis was a councillor on the City of Melville serving three years as Deputy Mayor. He also served as a member of the Metropolitan Region Planning Authority and the Premier's Capital City Committee in Western Australia. In 1986 Mr Lewis was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly serving for eleven years during which he was Minister for Planning and Heritage for four years, also serving as Minister for Housing and Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport. Mr Lewis has also sat on various company boards and was Chairman of the East Perth Redevelopment Authority for five years.
Mr Lewis is a Fellow of the Spatial Sciences Institute, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Western Australian Institute of Surveyors. He was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003 "for long and devoted service to local and state governments through heritage and planning".
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