Northern Territory

Legislation
Heritage Conservation Act 1991
Heritage Conservation Amendment Act 1998
Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act 1989

The Northern Territory Heritage Conservation Act 1991 provides a system for the identification, assessment, protection and conservation of the Territory’s natural and cultural heritage. Such heritage includes fossils, buildings, gardens, ruins, archaeological sites, landscapes, ecosystems, coastlines, plant and animal communities.

Heritage Advisory Council
The Heritage Advisory Council (HAC) is a nine-member body established under the Heritage Conservation Act which has a range of functions that may be broadly summarised as advising the Minister on all matters affecting the natural and cultural heritage of the Territory. This includes carrying out research and evaluating the heritage value of places/objects nominated to the Heritage Register, advising the Minister on the conservation and use of heritage places/objects, promoting public appreciation and use of the Territory’s heritage where appropriate, preparing conservation management plans, advising the Minister on financial incentives for heritage conservation and so on.

Register
The Northern Territory Heritage Register (NTHR) lists all the places and objects declared to be heritage places and objects by the Minister. It also includes interim conservation orders, conservation management plans and heritage agreements.

Place refers to any part of the cultural and natural environment having a fixed location: including natural areas and their flora and fauna; architectural and industrial sites and structures; Aboriginal and other non-European sites; archaeological sites; cultural landscapes and townscapes; geological sites.⁽¹⁾

What is included on the Register
The NTHR includes places and objects of pre-historic, proto-historic, historic, social, aesthetic or scientific value to the Territory. As indicated above, places and objects may be natural features, archaeological sites, buildings, gardens, landscapes, coastlines, and plant and animal communities or ecosystems.⁽²⁾ For example the NTHR currently includes such diverse places as the Alcoota Fossil Beds, Darwin Botanic Gardens, MacClark (Acacia peuce) Conservation Reserve, Alice Springs Heritage Precinct, Bamboo Creek Tin Mine, Brocks Creek Cemetery, Old Hamilton Downs Station and WWII Shipwrecks.

The NTHR is available on line and can be searched from the government’s heritage web page at http://www.lpe.nt.gov.au/heritage/register/list/default.htm an alphabetical listing of declared places and objects. At http://www.lpe.nt.gov.au/heritage/register/default.htm you can search by selecting a category such as declared places and objects, nominations, proposed recommendations or heritage agreements.

Anyone can nominate a place or object to the Heritage Register by completing a nomination form available from Heritage Conservation Services. The Heritage Advisory Council then assesses that place/object against the heritage assessment criteria and makes recommendations to the Minister accordingly, following a period of public comment and consultation.

Criteria for inclusion of a place or object on the register
The criteria for inclusion of a place or object on the NTHR are specified in the Regulations of the Heritage Conservation Act. According to the Regulations a place/object must be of special significance to the Territory and meet at least one of the following criteria:

• for the evolution of flora, fauna, landscape or climate;
• because of the diversity or richness of its flora, fauna, landscapes or cultural features;
• because it contains rare, endangered or uncommon flora, fauna, biotic communities, ecosystems, natural landscapes or phenomena;
• in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the range of landscapes, environments or ecosystems, the attributes of which identify them as being characteristic of their class;
• as wilderness;
• for the maintenance of existing natural processes or systems;
• because it contributes to a wider understanding of natural history by virtue of its use as a research site, a teaching site, an example of a type of locality or reference area;
• by virtue of its association with events, developments or cultural phases in human occupation and evolution;
• by providing information contributing to a broader understanding of the history of human occupation;
• in demonstrating a way of life, custom, process, land use, function or design no longer practised, in danger of being lost or of exceptional interest;
• in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the range of human activities which take or have taken place in the Territory, including ways of life, customs, processes, land uses, functions, designs or techniques;
• by virtue of aesthetic characteristics or through technical, creative, design or artistic excellence, innovation or achievement held in high esteem or otherwise valued by a community;
• in being highly valued by a community for religious, spiritual, symbolic, cultural, educational or social associations; or
• through its close association with individuals whose activities have been significant in the history of the Territory.

Responsibilities
Heritage Conservation Services (HCS) is part of the Office of Environment and Heritage, situated within the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment. Services provided by Heritage Conservation includes:

• Searches of the NT Heritage Register and Archaeological Resource Database,
• Advice on the nomination and assessment process for places and objects nominated to the NT Heritage Register,
• Advice on the impact of various development proposals on the Territory’s heritage,
• Processing of the rate rebates for owners of declared heritage places,
• Processing of applications to undertake research on archaeological sites,
• Provision of scope of works for archaeological surveys prior to development projects and contact details for consultant archaeologists,
• Advice regarding the most appropriate methods of conserving archaeological sites, including both short and long term management strategies,
• Advice regarding the interpretation and presentation of sites for visitors.
• Processing of applications to undertake works on declared heritage places and objects,
• Advice on the most practical ways to conserve heritage places,
• Advice on the compatible or adaptive re-use of heritage places,
• Access to the free conservation specialist advice service available to owners of heritage places and objects,
• Assist with the development of conservation and management plans,
• Advice regarding the interpretation and presentation of sites for visitors.
• Processing NT Heritage Grant applications,
• Assistance with developing grant applications, and
• Provision of a Secretariat function for HAC.

Government heritage grant programs
The NT Heritage Grant Program (NTHGP) is an annual funding program that provides monies for the conservation, documentation and promotion of the Territory’s heritage. Further information regarding the NTHGP including eligibility criteria and current Ministerial priorities is available on-line at http://www.lpe.nt.gov.au/heritage/grants/default.htm.

Web page(s) and Territory government agency address
http://www.heritage.gov.au/index-nt.html lists the territory government heritage agencies, database, legislation and non-statutory heritage sites with links to them.
http://www.lpe.nt.gov.au/heritage has information on legislation, the NTHR and Heritage Advisory Council and has links to relevant web pages including the Territory’s grant program.

For more information write to the Heritage Conservation Services, Office of Environment and Heritage, Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, GPO Box 1680, Darwin NT 0801 or phone (08) 8924 4143.

Other statutory listings
The Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA) maintains a register of Aboriginal sacred sites. Visit http://www.nt.gov.au/aapa/text/contents.htm or ring (08) 8981 4700 for more information.

Non-statutory registers
National Trust of Australia (NT) web page is http://www.northernexposure.com.au/nationaltrust.html and postal address is National Trust of Australia (NT), GPO Box 3520, Darwin NT 0801. The telephone number is (08) 8981 2848 and e-mail national.trust@octa4.net.au. Places identified by the Trust have an entry on the heritage register database, the entry includes the status.

Other agencies and grants
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) provides professional advice, information and assistance in all aspects of museums practice through its Regional Museums Support Program. Grant funding is provided to Northern Territory museums and keeping places through the Regional Museums Grant Support Program. This program funds projects that assist community based and volunteer run museums in the preservation, collection and interpretation of community heritage. For further details visit http://www.nt.gov.au/cdsca/dam/magnt_regio.htm or telephone (08) 8999 8161. The contact address is Regional Museums Support Officer, Museums and Art Galleries of the NT, PO Box 4646, Darwin NT 0801.⁽³⁾

History grants from the Northern Territory Archives Services may be a useful source of funding to assist identifying and researching heritage places. Offered on an annual basis in the form of monetary grants, they are designed to encourage and support the work of researchers who are recording and writing about Territory history. Information is at http://www.nt.gov.au/dcis/nta/7_history/history.htm. For further details write to the Northern Territory Archives Service, GPO Box 874, Darwin NT 0801 or ring (08) 8924 7677.

1   http://www.lpe.nt.gov.au/HERITAGE/grants/default.html
2   http://www.lpe.nt.gov.au/heritage
3   http://www.nt.gov.au/cdsca/dam/magnt_regio.htm

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