Yarra Plenty Heritage Forum

A successful Heritage Forum was hosted yesterday (Tues 21 June) by the Cultural Heritage Officer at the City of Whittlesea for the second Yarra Plenty Heritage Forum this year.

The Heritage Forum which is held four times each year is facilitated and co-ordinated by the Local and family History Librarian at Yarra Plenty Regional Library and hosted by member groups at various locations. It is a an opportunity for local history groups, council representatives and like minded organisations within our three municipalities with an interest in local heritage such as Parks Victoria to come together for informal networking and information sharing.

Yesterday’s meeting held in the prestigious Council Chambers at the City of Whittlesea hosted a guest speaker Mr Detlev Leuth, former Chairman of Blue Shield Australia, the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross. It is an international committee which works to protect the world’s cultural heritage against threats of all kinds including natural disasters such as floods and bushfires. His passion for the preservation of cultural heritage was evident in his presentation where he spoke about disaster preparedness and preservation of photos. Talks he said, which in the past he has presented each for a full day.

18 Forum members certainly took home some food for thought relating not only to their groups collections but also family archives.

Following a quick delicious unexpected light lunch provided by Whittlesea, groups did around the table reports on local projects and a decision to further discuss aspects of Detelv’s presentation such as putting together a Memorandum of Understanding with local groups in times of disaster was tabled for the next Forum meeting in September.

Quote from Member:

“Just to say that we thought Detlev’s presentation this morning was well worth attending. Although we may be aware of some aspects of the presentations its often a session such as this that gets one motivated and encourages one to move forward on such matters.”

Yarra Plenty Heritage Forum – Carome Homestead

The Grand finale of the 2010 Yarra Plenty Heritage Forum program was held recently at Carome Homestead, Plenty Gorge Park, Mernda hosted by Parks Victoria.

Four meetings are held each year facilitated by the Local History Librarian and generally hosted by local history groups and related organisations with the three municipalities our region covers.

21 people attended representing local history groups and local government in the Region. Two guests were totally new to the Forum meetings as were the guest speakers.

Jan Penney is the executive Chair of Mint Inc and has been instrumental in resurrecting the Carome Homestead property at Mernda. She spoke to the group describing the ethos of the organisation – making historical disused buildings useful again. The organization finds buildings on crown land which are underutilized and develops that building to highest possible standards at the same time finding a tenant to occupy. They currently manage 15 properties with an eye out for more.

Carome’s redevelopment has included the bluestone house itself, commercial kitchen facilities and outbuildings. A community garden has also been established.

Darren Jackson is the Manager Strategic Planning at the City of Whittlesea and spoke about their attention to and requirements of local developers to the local heritage.

He also reported on the “state of play” regarding Toorourong Reservoir and Melbourne Water’s efforts to dismantle the bluestone spillway.

A Devonshire morning tea followed our guest speakers with an opportunity to catch up with each other.

The meeting soon resumed with brief reports from attendees on what groups were doing locally including hosting events as part of Seniors Week and Local History Week.

14 people stayed for further networking over lunch and then a small band received an informal tour from Parks Victoria Ross Mugavin around the property.

I received a comment via email the following day which certainly summed up the day: “I thought it was a worthwhile get together with interesting and relevant speakers. In speaking with others they expressed the value of meeting members of other local historical groups to share ideas and gain support for what they are doing.”

To learn more about Carome Homestead read the Wikinorthia article

To view photos from the Forum day visit Yarra Plenty local History on Flickr

Yarra Plenty Region Forum

The Next Yarra Plenty Region Heritage Forum will be hosted by Yarrambat Historical Society on Tuesday June 26 10.30 am - 12.30 pm.
This initiative which came out of the Local history and family history strategy has prooved to be very successful. Two representatives from each local history group plus some individuals are invited to come together and share news etc. Partnerships are being developed and strenthened as a result.
This Forum will include Katelyn Stanyer from the City of Whittlesea who will speak briefly about the Whittlesea Heritage Program (14 events of which YPRL are hosting).
Stephen Moschner from the Shire of Nillumbik will speak about the very recently published updated "Hertiage Nillumbik" flyer.