Ten year heritage plan gets the green light

Sunshine Coast Council today (25 February) endorsed a 10-year heritage plan to protect and engage our residents and visitors in the region’s cultural heritage.

The new plan builds on the success of the inaugural 2015-2020 Heritage Plan covering areas of knowledge, conservation, support, communication and advocacy.

Community Portfolio Councillor Rick Baberowski said understanding our cultural heritage was extremely important to our identity as a regional community and the new plan would ensure our community keeps a close connection with our past as we forge a bright future.

“As we share stories, we gain a better understanding and appreciation of our region’s history and how we fit into that framework,” Cr Baberowski said.

“I’m confident that this plan reflects our desire to protect, manage and grow our unique regional culture and identity.

“I’d like to thank all those who took the time to provide their expertise and feedback throughout the development of the plan.”

“In November last year, we invited our community to have their say on the draft plan and they did—we received more than 600 responses.

“More than 90 per cent of respondents rated cultural heritage as very important or important and this, together with detailed feedback on individual strategies helped shape the final plan.

The Sunshine Coast Heritage Plan will now inform the development of the annual Heritage Levy Program, funded by the Heritage Levy.

The new Plan and the Heritage Levy can be found on council’s website heritage.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/About/Heritage-Levy

Looking back at the highlights Heritage Plan 2015 – 2020

Council’s inaugural Heritage Plan 2015 – 2020 delivered:

‘Thematic History of the Sunshine Coast’ and ‘Jinibara Traditions Inputs for the Sunshine Coast Heritage Study’, with the Kabi Kabi First Nations Peoples story to follow https://heritage.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/Resources/Thematic-History
an updated the Local Heritage Register, as part of the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme: https://heritage.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/About/Heritage-Lists.
the Interpretive Centre and Collections Store Feasibility Study, , which examines options for a regional Interpretation Centre and First Nations Keeping Place.https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/Experience-Sunshine-Coast/Arts-and-Culture/Arts-Plan-Policies-and-Partnerships/RAIF
Sector Development Program which supports best practice for museum volunteers
Community Partnership Funding Program
digital interpretive programs that have enabled unique local heritage stories and objects to be documented and made accessible through council’s website, trails, tours, signage, exhibitions and digital stories: https://heritage.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/Stories.

Key findings and statistics

Since its introduction in 2015, the Heritage Levy has:

contributed more than $1 million in community grants and close to $700,000 in support for heritage tours, trails, signage, exhibitions and digital stories
delivered almost 70 heritage programs each year
distributed more than 35,500 Discovery Guides and 12,000 heritage calendars
Provided 14 community heritage groups with Community Partnership Funding, reaching close to 200,000 people
built the volunteer museum and heritage group sector with about 1500 members volunteering more than 137,395 hours in 2019 alone.

Image: Visitors to the Caloundra Lighthouses.