A LEADING heritage expert with four decades of experience will visit Fremantle next week at the invitation of The Fremantle Society, as debate over the port city’s future planning direction continues.

Richard Mackay, a former Australian Heritage Council member and international adviser on World Heritage sites, will meet local decision-makers and join a public forum while in town. 

He said the visit was intended to understand the city firsthand rather than arrive with pre-formed views. 

“Part of the point of visiting next week is in order to understand the place and its heritage values and the various development issues, and I will shy away from saying too much in content until I’ve actually done the homework,” he said.

Prof Mackay said his background included “a 40-year career in cultural heritage management” with roles on state and national heritage councils, as well as advising the International Council on Monuments and Sites. 

He said he had “a bit of a background in urban conservation and the nexus between our important cultural precincts and development planning considerations”.

He is already familiar with Fremantle Prison’s World Heritage status, noting he was involved at a national level when the Australian Convict Sites listing was secured. 

“I’m very well aware of the world heritage values and role of Fremantle Prison,” he said, adding he had visited the site previously and worked with colleagues in Perth on heritage impact guidance.

Values

Asked what he looks for in a historic port city, Prof Mackay said the first step was simply to understand the place. 

“The fundamental kickoff is to understand the history, the urban environment and the cultural heritage values of the place,” he said. 

“There’s nothing like actually walking the streets and particularly walking them in the company of people who know about them and care about them.”

He said heritage values went beyond buildings to include social, economic and aesthetic factors, and the challenge in many cities was balancing conservation with development pressures. 

“Right around the country and indeed in many places in the world there is a tension in addressing increasing urban density, especially residential densities, and conservation of historic fabric so that we keep and cherish the places that we hold important,” he said.

Prof Mackay pointed to Sydney’s Rocks precinct as an example where heritage conservation and new development had been balanced. 

“The genius in achieving a good outcome is to look at things holistically, to look at cultural values, to look at economic values, to look at community social needs and deal with them altogether,” he said.

He stressed he had not been commissioned to prepare a formal report. 

“The society has invited me to come and to be briefed and to share my thoughts, so I don’t want to use a word like report which creates some grand expectation,” he said.

A public panel discussion featuring Prof Mackay, Heritage Council chair Darren Foster and Fremantle Society president John Dowson will be held at the Federal Hotel ballroom on Wednesday February 11 at 7pm. “I’d love to hear from anyone who wants to come to the panel meeting,” Prof Mackay said.

by STEVE GRANT