Researching the past can mean using the cutting edge tools of the present. Hobsons Bay City Council has become the first Local Government in Victoria to make its Heritage Study a fully searchable database accessible through its web site.
The database contains more than 300 heritage places and precincts throughout the municipality, explaining how, why and what is significant about each of them. Heritage places include buildings, piers, trees and gardens, monuments, archaeological sites and landscapes.
The resource will be of value to anyone researching local history. It will be of particular interest to property owners who wish to find out why their property has been listed as historically important.
Hobsons Bay Mayor, Councillor Bill Baarini, said the Hobsons Bay Heritage Study was a valuable resource that enabled Council to make informed decisions, in consultation with the community, about how local heritage is to be conserved for future generations.
“Council is proud of this resource that will allow residents and others access to the wealth of information that has been collected about Hobsons Bay’s heritage places,” the Mayor said. “Not only are we the first Council in Victoria to have our Heritage Study online, we believe we may be the first in Australia. By having the information available online it can be updated as soon as new heritage places are identified, creating a dynamic, living document that contains the very latest information.”
The web site uses the Local Heritage Places Database (LHPD), which has been developed by Heritage Victoria in the hope all information about cultural heritage places in Victoria can one day be stored centrally and made accessible to a wider community.
For further information please contact the Strategic Development Unit on (03) 9932 1109.
