Mapping Italian Heritage In NSW

Who’s involved

Migration Heritage Centre, NSW Heritage Office, Italo-Australian communities and local NSW councils.

When and where

Project location: NSW
Project status: Completed project
Date of completion: October 1999

Project description

The Italian community of NSW is one of our oldest migrant communities. Large numbers of Italian migrants worked on the Snowy Mountains Scheme and on the Warragamba Dam. In regional areas, many communities became involved in wine-growing and horticulture. A distinctive type of cultural landscape was produced by Italian settlement. The State Heritage Register however, contained no listings of Italian heritage. ‘Mapping Italian Heritage’ sought to change this by recording and promoting the migration heritage of Italian communities across NSW.

The project invites Italian groups to identify places and objects which are important to local communities and their cultural heritage. The process of recognising and protecting hidden heritage items began in 1999 with a series of workshops in Newcastle, Wollongong/Ulladulla, Lismore and Griffith involving Italo-Australian communities, local councils and heritage advisers. A member of the community, Luca Stewart-Crisanti, was appointed as Heritage Liaison Officer and worked on the project full time for a year. The Liaison Officer’s work with community groups, local councils, and general role as facilitator greatly enhanced the project’s strategic focus and was a key factor in its success.

What did the project achieve?

Identifying cultural heritage is an important way of recognising Italo-Australian communities. The project celebrated what the community has achieved, helped keep traditions and cultures alive and encouraged community members to form local heritage networks. The project also provides the wider community with an insight into the diversity and richness of the State’s heritage and provided valuable opportunities for the NSW Heritage Office and the Italian Heritage Liaison Officer to share skills and experiences.

The Heritage Office and the Italo-Australian peak community organisation Com.It.Es will remain in contact with the local committees established by the project. The Heritage Office has also provided funding for a survey of the Leichhardt community by Co.As.It, a conservation management plan for the New Italy site in northern NSW and a thematic history of Italo-Australian settlement in NSW prepared by the University of Sydney.

Project contact

Murray Brown – Principal Heritage Officer
NSW Heritage Office

Phone 02 9849 9580
Fax 02 9891 4688

Email brownm@heritage.nsw.gov.au

Address:
Locked Bag 5020
PARRAMATTA NSW 2124
AUSTRALIA

Website
www.heritage.nsw.gov.au