National heritage organisations

Government organisations

Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

The role of the department is to focus on national environmental issues by:

Advising the Australian Government on its policies for protecting the environment and water resources
Administering environment and heritage laws, including the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Managing the Australian Government's main environment and heritage programmes including the $3 billion Natural Heritage Trust
Implementing an effective response to climate change
Representing the Australian Government in international environmental agreements related to the environment and Antarctica

Website: Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

The Australian Heritage Council

The Australian Heritage Council is a body of heritage experts established by the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003. The Council replaced the Australian Heritage Commission as the Australian Government's independent expert advisory body on heritage matters, when the new Commonwealth heritage system was introduced in 2004 under amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Website: Australian Heritage Council

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) provides information and research about the cultures and lifestyles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The Institute undertakes and encourages scholarly, ethical community-based research, holds a priceless collection of films, photographs, video and audio recordings, printed and other resource materials for Indigenous Studies, and has its own publishing house.

Website: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Environment Protection and Heritage Council

The scope of the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) includes environment protection and heritage (natural, historic and indigenous heritage) responsibilities. Heritage responsibilities include:

natural and cultural heritage (historic and indigenous heritage)
world and national heritage listings and management
national heritage policy
legislative framework for heritage protection

Website: Environment Protection and Heritage Council

Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination

The Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination (OIPC) coordinates a whole-of-government approach to programs and services for Indigenous Australians. OIPC's functions are:

to provide advice to the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
to coordinate and drive whole-of-government innovative policy development and service delivery across the Australian Government
to coordinate the Single Indigenous Budget
to broker relations with State and Territory Governments on Indigenous issues
to evaluate and report on the performance of government programs and services for Indigenous people to inform policy review and development
to support the work of the Ministerial Taskforce on Indigenous Affairs, Secretaries' Group on Indigenous Affairs and National Indigenous Council.

Website: Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination

Wet Tropics Management Authority

The primary goal of the Web Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) is to provide for the implementation of Australia's international duty to protect, conserve, present, rehabilitate and transmit to future generations the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area, within the meaning of the World Heritage Convention.

Website: Wet Tropics Management Authority

Non-government organisations

Australian Council of National Trusts

The Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT) was formed in 1965. It represents the interests of the National Trust at the federal level, provides a forum for information exchange and increasingly coordinates the work of the constituent bodies.

Collectively the organisation owns or manages over 300 heritage places (the majority held in perpetuity), and manages a volunteer workforce of 7000 while also employing about 350 people nationwide.

Website: Australian Council of National Trusts

Royal Australian Institute of Architects

The Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) exists to:

advance the interests of members, their professional standards and contemporary practice
expand and advocate the value of architects and architecture to the sustainable growth of our community, economy and culture.

Website: Royal Australian Institute of Architects

Engineering Heritage Australia

Engineering Heritage Australia (EHA) has carriage of Engineers Australia's concerns for engineering, industrial and technological heritage and provides leadership in its protection, conservation and recording.

Website: Engineering Heritage Australia

Australia ICOMOS

The International Council on Monuments and Sites is an association of professionals throughout the world that currently bring together over 7500 members. ICOMOS works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places. It is dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology, and scientific techniques to the conservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage.

Australia ICOMOS acts as a national and international link between public authorities, institutions and individuals involved in the study and conservation of all places of cultural significance. Australia ICOMOS was formed in 1976.

Website: Australia ICOMOS

Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology

The Australian Society for Historical Archaeology was founded in 1970 to promote the study of historical archaeology in Australia. In 1991 the Society was extended to include New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region generally, and its name was changed to the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Society's activities include public lectures, and an annual conference with papers presented by national and international speakers. It promotes the exchange of information and reference material relating to historical archaeology both in Australia and overseas. It publishes the ASHA Newsletter and the journal Australasian Historical Archaeology, which are distributed free of charge to members of the Society, as well as the Occasional Papers series and monographs.

Website: Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology

Federation of Australian Historical Societies

The objects of the Federation of Australian Historical Societies are:

to promote the views of Constituents and give a national focus to matters of general concern to Constituents especially with regard to major issues of cultural heritage
to encourage the study of Australian history, the preservation and publication of historical material and, for those objects to encourage public access to historical material
to promote communication and mutual assistance within the historical society movement
to assist the work of Constituents
to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on historical matters throughout Australia.

Website: Federation of Australian Historical Societies

Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology

The Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of underwater cultural heritage, and promotion of maritime archaeology conducted in accordance with internationally accepted ethical standards. Based in Australia, it has sponsored work throughout Australia, Asia and the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions.

AIMA works closely with and provides advice to the Australian Government on policy pertaining to underwater cultural heritage, such as the Australian National Historic Shipwrecks Research Plan, and the UNESCO Convention on the protection of the underwater cultural heritage.

Website: Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology

Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material

In Australia, the national organisation for conservators and people interested in the preservation of cultural material is the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material Inc. (AICCM).

As the peak body for materials conservation practice in Australia the AICCM has an ongoing interest in raising both the profile of the conservation profession and promoting the skills and professionalism of its members.

Website: Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material

Collections Australia Network

The Collections Australia Network (CAN) portal is a public gateway to collecting institutions across Australia including small to medium regional institutions.

Website: Collections Australia Network

Collections Council of Australia

The Collections Council of Australia (CCA) was established by the Cultural Ministers Council in 2004 to represent Australia's diverse collections sector of archives, galleries, libraries and museums. The CCA aims to build collaborative relationships within the sector, with governments, and between the sector and other areas.

The CCA has three main aims: developing long-term strategies to address issues facing collections; undertaking industry support; and implementing initiatives to address cross-sectoral issues.

The CCA also represents the Australian collections sector by providing the latest information on developments and issues concerning the sector. It also develops strategic references and tools for the use of the collections sector and the broader public, such as Significance, which provides guidelines to help people determine the significance of cultural and heritage objects, and the web-based resource, Collections Law.

Website: Collections Council of Australia

Australian Conservation Foundation

The Australian Conservation Foundation is committed to inspiring people to achieve a healthy environment for all Australians. For 40 years they have been a strong voice for the environment, promoting solutions through research, consultation, education and partnerships. The ACF works with the community, business and government to protect, restore and sustain the Australian environment.

Website: Australian Conservation Foundation

World Wide Fund for Nature - Australia

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - Australia is part of the WWF International Network , the world's largest independent conservation organisation. It has close to five million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries.

WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:

conserving the world's biological diversity
ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable
promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

Website: WWF - Australia

Planning Institute of Australia

The Planning Institute of Australia is the peak body representing professions involved in planning Australia's cities, towns, regions and places. PIA is a not-for-profit association with over 5000 members nationally.

Website: Planning Institute of Australia

The Heritage Chairs and Officials of Australia and New Zealand

The Heritage Chairs and Officials of Australia and New Zealand first met in 1996 as an extension of the Heritage Officials meetings, which began in the early 1990s. These meetings were established as a way of ensuring coordination and cooperation between State, Territory and Commonwealth heritage agencies with responsibilities for historic places in relation to policy, publicity and projects with a national focus. The Chairs and Officials were the standing committee for the Heritage Ministers Ministerial Council until 2001. These ministerial council meetings have now been superseded by the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC)

The Chair of the Maori Heritage Council and Chief Executive of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust were invited to attend these meetings in 2001 and since then have become standing members. At the 2003 meeting, the name of the group was formally changed to the Heritage Chairs and Officials of Australia and New Zealand (HCOANZ). HCOANZ meets twice a year and secretariat support is provided by the Heritage Division of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA).

HCOANZ members include the chair of State, Territory and the Australian heritage councils and the manager or executive director of each respective State, Territory and Commonwealth heritage agency.

HCOANZ members (PDF - 66 KB)

HCOANZ terms of reference include identifying projects of national priority which provide significant benefits for government agencies and heritage place owners and managers.

HCOANZ terms of reference (PDF - 216 KB)

Recent and ongoing cooperative HCOANZ work includes priority projects agreed by the EPHC under the Cooperative National Heritage Agenda (CNHA) which include, amongst others, the creation of an Australian Heritage Places Inventory where State, Territory and Commonwealth heritage registers may be searched online, and the Australian Heritage Information website which provides a central place to find useful Australian heritage information from all jurisdictions including tools for local government and the education sector, as well as guidelines for owners of heritage places.

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