Protecting Heritage Places
10 steps to help protect the natural and cultural significance of places
Australian Heritage Commission, 2000
Step 4: Why is this place important?
To make good decisions about a heritage place, it is essential to understand its significance.
We need to be clear about the significant elements of a place, so what makes a place important is protected. Understanding significance provides the basis for appropriate management. It also provides information that can help with development of educational material, interpretation or funding applications.
Important elements of the place are called 'heritage values'.
Heritage values are often described as natural or cultural. Cultural heritage values encompass both Indigenous and historic elements. You may find it useful to look at some examples of heritage values.
Assessing significance helps work out exactly why the values of a place or area are important. A range of people may need to be involved in assessing the significance of a place.
The key outcome of this step is the development of a statement of significance. There is no set way to draft a statement, but some tips for writing a statement of significance and examples of statements of significance will help.
Key
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