The Federal Government has heritage listed Lake Burley Griffin and adjacent lands, but rejected a proposal to declare the city of Canberra itself a heritage area.
Although the heritage-listed area includes the Commonwealth Bridge, the ACT Government does not believe this will affect their plans for light rail stage 2, which will run across the bridge to Woden.
Sussan Ley, Federal Minister for the Environment, placed Lake Burley Griffin and Adjacent Lands on the Commonwealth Heritage List, a list of Indigenous, historic, and natural heritage places owned or controlled by the Australian Government.
The listing notes its “significant historic, natural and Indigenous heritage value of importance to Australia and the local community”.
“The lake’s design, development, and final completion is considered by experts to be an achievement of creative genius, and demonstrates a high level of technical engineering and urban design achievement,” the notice published in the Federal Register of Legislation this week states.
Canberra itself is one of the few planned 20th century cities in Australia, and the Lake was characteristic of the two most important town planning movements of the 20th century: the City Beautiful and Garden City movements.
The heritage listed area covers more than 6,600 hectares: the Lake and all islands except Aspen Island and the Carillon; Scrivener Dam, the Commonwealth Bridge, and Kings Avenue Bridge; and parts of Yarralumla, Parkes, and Barton.
The heritage-listed area includes sites such as Stirling Park, with Indigenous, pastoral, and early capital city features; Roman Cypress Hill, a historic planting area; and the Lindsay Prior Arboretum, for its historic urban landscaping and city horticulture.
It is also home to threatened species such as the striped legless lizard, the Perunga grasshopper, the button wrinklewort, and the Murray cod, the critically endangered golden sun moth, and rare birds.
ACT Government: Heritage listing will not affect light rail
Rebecca Vassarotti, ACT Minister for Heritage, said she welcomed the inclusion of Lake Burley Griffin in the Commonwealth Heritage List.
A spokesperson for Chris Steel, ACT Minister for Transport and City Services, said that because the listing covered Commonwealth assets and designated land only, there appeared to be no planning or infrastructure impact on infrastructure projects such as light rail.
“This decision should have no impact on the delivery of an efficient, sustainable, and liveable Canberra which responds to the changing climate and emerging needs of our community.”
The government would seek absolute clarity from the Commonwealth, including any implications for Commonwealth infrastructure projects such as Scrivener Dam and Commonwealth Avenue Bridge.
Light rail stage 2A will run between Civic and Commonwealth Park, and stage 2B will run over Commonwealth Bridge to Woden, but the ACT Government did not expect that the heritage listing would have a significant additional impact on approvals for stage 2.
In fact, light rail on Commonwealth Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, and through the Parliamentary Triangle had always been part of the original Griffin Plan for Canberra, the spokesperson said.
A heritage report commissioned from GML Heritage found that the original intention of the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge (designed in 1959 and completed in 1963) was to have space between the two bridges reserved for ‘future mass transport needs’ like light rail.
Light Rail Stage 2A has received all the Federal approvals required except the National Capital Authority works approval, the spokesperson said.
Ms Ley has already determined Stage 2B would require consideration of a number of National Heritage List items, and would be subject to a Commonwealth Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process addressing heritage matters.
Lake Guardians welcome decision
The Lake Burley Griffin Guardians, a community group committed to safeguarding the lake, said they were “well pleased” with the listing.
“The Guardians feel that this listing starts to afford Lake Burley Griffin the respect it well deserves,” they stated.
“We also believe that most Australians will feel proud of the listing with its recognition of the original Griffin concept and its great execution achieved by the NCDC (National Capital Development Authority) in the mid-1960s.”
However, the Guardians thought the decision – “a long time coming” – was delayed so the ACT Government and Commonwealth could finalise the West Basin / Curtin lake waters land swap deal.
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They noted the International Council of Monuments and Sites requested in 2017 that the Australian National and State Governments halt the West Basin infill development, and progress the separate ‘Lake Burley Griffin and the Lakeshore Landscape’ onto the National Heritage List.
“As the National Heritage List is not bound to Commonwealth land tenure, we hope this Commonwealth Heritage Listing is the first big step towards a future National Heritage listing,” the Guardians said.
Noting that the Lake’s quietness and peacefulness was now a listed significant value, the Guardians believe this would “create an obvious conflict with the proposed change of the Lake to a seaplane runway”. The seaplanes could also affect threatened or protected species such as platypuses and Latham’s snipe.
Canberra will not be heritage-listed
Ms Ley rejected the Australian Heritage Council’s 2012 nomination to add ‘Canberra the Planned National Capital’ to the National Heritage List (NHL), Australia’s list of natural, historic, and Indigenous places of outstanding significance to the nation.
Ms Ley said she made her decision on the advice of the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE).
The Council had argued that Canberra had outstanding heritage value as the nation’s capital and seat of the federal democracy, and its importance in the history of Australian urban planning and evolving democracy, Indigenous rights and reconciliation, and its association with Prime Ministers and Governors-General.
According to the statement of reasons, the ACT Government was concerned the proposed listing might entail a regulatory burden, delay projects, and limit growth and development within Canberra.
However, DAWE found it had not provided a clear position for or against Canberra being listed, despite DAWE asking it on numerous occasions to do so.
“Overall, given the dual role of the NHL to both recognise places of outstanding value to the nation and to protect them, the department concluded that without the explicit support of the ACT Government it would prove difficult to achieve positive outcomes associated with listing, in particular the promotion of the heritage values of ‘Canberra the Planned National Capital’ as part of the NHL.”
Ms Vassarotti said she was disappointed the Federal Government had not included Canberra in the Commonwealth Heritage List.
“While this kind of heritage listing is largely symbolic in nature, I believe symbols are powerful,” she said.
“I strongly believe that protected heritage is an asset and a legacy for the whole community, and that the community should be at the heart of what we do in this area.
“Heritage listing of Canberra would have sent a strong signal to the local community about our commitment to value the shape and character of our city, and provide the opportunity to value key elements of our city, while enabling it to evolve as a modern city.
“Heritage listing Canberra presented a rare opportunity to make a historical decision to recognise that the planning of Canberra has made an extremely valuable contribution to Australia’s planning history and to democracy generally, and therefore deserves to be recognised as a place that has outstanding heritage value to the nation,” Ms Vassarotti said.
