How did the small mid-19th century mining town of Burra in the Clare Valley district of South Australia, largely abandoned well over 100 years ago, come to represent some of the most significant advances in heritage preservation in Australia, and indeed World-wide ?

Dr Bronwyn Hanna will share some of her extensive knowledge of this subject in describing the background, and explaining why the Charter has been so influential, along with insights into the broader history of heritage practices in Australia.

The Burra Charter evolved from a meeting of the Australian chapter of the United Nations-sponsored International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in 1979 and is internationally influential in providing standard guidelines for heritage conservation practice

Dr Bronwyn Hanna is a heritage consultant who trained as an Australian
architectural historian at the University of Sydney, completed a PhD on the history of women architects in NSW in 1999 at UNSW, and co-authored two books on the topic. She has worked for government, industry and community groups on many heritage places including the Sydney Opera House, the Parramatta Female Factory and the Brewarrina Fish Traps.