Celebrating Our History – Heritage Strategy on Display
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Protecting and celebrating the physical European and Aboriginal history of the Coffs Harbour area is the aim of the Draft Heritage Strategic Plan 2021-2024 which is now out for public consultation until Monday 21 June.
“As well as the Aboriginal cultural heritage of the local Gumbaynggirr people, our district also contains items related to our industrial history and early periods of European settlement,” said Ian Fitzgibbon, Council’s Group Leader Sustainable Places.
“Having a planned conservation approach means we can look after the places of particular significance to the area’s original inhabitants, as well as protect the artefacts and buildings of the earliest European settlers.
“But it’s not just about the past. Conserving our heritage helps us understand our history, but it also reinforces our sense of continuity and belonging,” he said.
Heritage items include buildings, sites, relics, heritage landscapes, local streetscapes, cemeteries, archaeological sites, industrial heritage sites and movable items. In partnership with the NSW Government’s Heritage NSW agency, Council also operates a Local Heritage Fund to assist the owners of heritage-listed sites in the general maintenance and care of their properties.
A Heritage Strategy has been operating for the Coffs Harbour City Council local government area since 2003 and its work is supported by a Heritage Advisory Committee.
Since 2003, the strategic approach adopted by Council has been instrumental in establishing a series of popular heritage trails and promotional brochures. The State Heritage Listing of the First Sikh Temple in Hastings Street Woolgoolga and nomination of State Heritage Listing for the Arrawarra Fish Traps, the Coffs Harbour Jetty and the Ulong Sawmill are also the result of previous heritage strategies.
The Draft Heritage Strategic Plan 2021-2024 proposes:
the continuation of the Heritage Advisory Committee; the identification and review of potential heritage items; the continued production of heritage brochures; the continued administration of the Local Heritage Fund; the continued production of themed heritage trails; and the promotion of cultural heritage awareness.The Draft Heritage Strategic Plan 2021-2024 is on display on Council’s Have Your Say website for comment until 21 June 2021.