This report is entitled All my lifetime it was there…The valuing of Ballarat East…community perspectives on heritage.
The National Trust (Victoria) received a grant from the Australian Heritage Commission to examine community heritage values. PLACE Inc., a Melbourne-based environmental arts organisation, was commissioned to undertake a pilot project with the focus upon Ballarat. The Landscape Committee of the Trust initiated the project and formed the Steering Group.
Essentially, the project seeks to address the question:
“What cultural heritage is important to the community and how can the community act to identify and protect it?”
The brief called for a practical rather than theoretical approach, with a strong emphasis on community consultation. The focus area was narrowed to Ballarat East, to enable a more defined community to be reached that associated itself with a particular area, rather than with the whole of Ballarat. This area was also chosen as there was a feeling amongst locals that its heritage was less appreciated than many other parts of the City of Ballaarat, despite the richness of its history (gold mining, Eureka uprising).