Heritage protection ‘needed for our character housing’

PROPERTY Residential

The growing risk to Queensland’s distinct “timber and tin” character housing has seen it named in the National Trust of Australia’s “Our Heritage at Risk Top Ten List” announced last weekend.

The trust says Queensland’s extraordinary growth is placing increasing pressure on the state’s traditional timber buildings, particularly in the inner residential precincts of towns and cities.
The push for increased urban densities is resulting in reduced allotment sizes, residential towers overwhelming character areas, inappropriate infills spoiling streetscapes and even approvals that allow demolition of all but the front wall of a character house.
“The key to managing this extraordinary growth is encouraging appropriate development in the right places, while protecting the character areas for the future,” National Trust of Queensland executive officer Stewart Armstrong says.
“The National Trust is urging all governments to protect our character areas through clear identification, strengthening planning provisions and offering incentives to owners while encouraging appropriate development in other areas.’
Also included in the 2010 “Our Heritage at Risk Top Ten List’ are historical burial places and cemeteries, cemetery headstones and monuments across New South Wales and Queensland. Due to vandalism, neglect and lack of maintenance, cemeteries and gravestones are in poor condition across the two states.
One of the key issues is the confusion over who is responsible for the maintenance of graves and what consultation with descendants needs to take place before repairs can be undertaken.
The National Trust of Queensland is supporting a review of the legislation to clarify roles in caring for these socially and spiritually significant places of Australian heritage.

• For more information on the 2010 Our Heritage at Risk lists, please visit www.heritageatrisk.org.au