Heritage Survey - Community Consultation
Council has engaged a consultant to conduct a Local Heritage Survey including a review of heritage sites, places and significances.
Please come down to one of the community consultation sessions in either Derby or Fitzroy and have your say on heritage in your towns:
Derby: Thurs 13th June from 2:00 - 4:00pm at the Shire Administration Building, Meeting Room
Fitzroy Crossing: Fri 14th June from 12:00 - 2:00pm at the Fitzroy Crossing Visitor Centre Conference Room
If you cannot attend the community consultation, you can nominate a site which you think should be included in the review by filling out this form: Local Heritage Survey Nomination Form. You can send in your form to osd@sdwk.wa.gov.au or drop it into the Shire Administration Office.
In response to the requirements of the Heritage Act 2018, the Shire of Derby West Kimberley has engaged a heritage consultant to undertake a review of the 1995 Municipal Inventory of Heritage Places.
The consultant is experienced in heritage in the regions, has been engaged to undertake the review. Community consultation is an important part of the review because it is about your heritage.
Heritage is understood as that which we value, although for this project, we are considering place built places and sites of cultural significance.
The review will update the original 1995 inventory and prepare the 2024 heritage inventory to form a Local Heritage Survey, as the inventories are now known.
The Local Heritage Survey will include the 1995 places, and any other places that members of the community and others may consider of heritage value.
There are guidelines for the assessment of heritage value, that the consultant will reference, as determined by the State Planning Policy 3.5 and The Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage’s Guidelines for the assessment of local heritage places (2022) for the purpose of compiling Local Heritage Surveys.
The guidelines and assessment criteria provide a base line so that all heritage places in Western Australia are assessed at the same level.
The Heritage Council’s inHerit database lists 100 places in the Shire of Derby West Kimberley. A number of those places are landmark natural heritage, not strictly relevant to the Local Heritage Survey. Twenty of the 100 places are on the Register of Heritage Places. Those places of State significance are protected under the Heritage Act 2018. That is the highest level of significance.
The places on the existing 1995 list and any that the community nominates, will be of varying degrees of significance and will be assessed against the criteria, by the consultant. Places assessed as having a higher level of significance will form a “Heritage List” within the Local Heritage Survey. The “Heritage List” places will have some requirements relevant to the Shire’s planning scheme with the intention of retaining the cultural heritage significance of that place when considering future development. Owner consultation regarding any “Heritage List” places will be an important part of the process.
The places not of that high level of the “Heritage List”, will be the majority of the places on the Local Heritage Survey, and will have no constraints. All nominations and existing listings will be assessed against the criteria before draft recommendations are made to Council, and the community will have the opportunity to respond to the draft recommendations.
So your assistance in identifying any places you thinks should be recorded as part of Derby and West Kimberley’s heritage, would be much appreciated. Your contribution to the process is an opportunity to be further informed, involved and play a role in the future of the heritage of the Shire of Derby West Kimberley.