Heritage management
The management of all cultural heritage is important to Parks Victoria and is a core park management function.
Parks Victoria is responsible for the largest and most diverse collection of heritage places on public land in Victoria. These heritage places include cultural landscapes, buildings, infrastructure, significant trees, objects and artefacts, archaeological sites, and shipwrecks.
There are strong nature-culture linkages between our cultural heritage and the environment. Our multi-layered cultural landscapes include the nationally significant Alpine National Park, Point Nepean National Park, and Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park. Parks Victoria manages more than 3,000 historic assets including around 300 substantial buildings and structures, 70 huts (mainly in the high country) and more than 1,200 registered historical archaeological sites, and numerous shipwrecks. Many sites also hold collections, large and small, of movable heritage objects with around 20,000 items documented to date.
Heritage listed places and objects are protected under local, state, and federal legislation which places statutory requirements on their management. Our heritage estate includes six cultural landscapes that are on the National Heritage List, over 150 heritage places in parks, sanctuaries, and reserves that are included on the Victorian Heritage Register, and many more that are of local significance to communities.
Parks Victoria is committed to working with the broader community to identify, assess, manage, and interpret the cultural values of the places and objects we manage. We know that all parts of the landscape are alive with cultural meaning and provide meaningful connections for communities.
Parks Victoria’s historic heritage team provides state-wide support and oversight to the organisation in the conservation, celebration, and activation of the vast historic heritage (non-Aboriginal) estate. The team guides strategy and policy, conservation works and maintenance programs, partnerships, community participation and ongoing use, and promotion and heritage storytelling.
Parks Victoria works to identify, protect, conserve, and activate the historic cultural heritage of our estate for current and future generations.