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Aim of this talk • Define the idea of heritage interpretation in the frame
of heritage conservation management.
• Survey the need for, and outcomes of, heritage interps.
• Discuss the site management functions of interps.
• Introduce interpretation planning and media.
• Stress the need to understand the visitors for whom interpretation is designed.
• Suggest applications of interps in the Kokoda scenario.
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Heritage interpretation means: • Explaining to visitors why an object/place is
important enough to conserve as heritage.
In other words:
• Presenting the heritage significance of objects/places to the public.
Kata
juta
, N
T, o
bse
rved b
y v
isitors
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Heritage significance
Australian heritage management bases all conservation interventions on an initial assessment of significance, using 4 aspects of cultural significance, plus environmental vales:
• Historic
• Aesthetic
• Social, spiritual or community
• Scientific (research potential)
• + Environmental
Uluru has significance in all fields, relative to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people
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The stages of heritage management: 1 Identification of stakeholders & assessment of significance: what & why do we need to conserve?
• What? Settler estate where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, marking cession of Maori sovereignty to Queen Victoria, 1840.
• Who? Maori, Pakeha, locals, nationals.
• Significance? Establishment of white colonial domination of NZ Maori people. “It is a place of belonging and enjoyment that is central to the life of the nation and special to all New Zealanders.”
• What should be conserved? Landscape, house, Maori tradition, memory of history.
Waita
ngi T
reaty
House
; ‘Tre
aty
of W
aita
ngi’, L
.C. M
itchell, 1
949
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The stages of heritage management: 2 Conservation: develop policy, write conservation management plan, and implement appropriate interventions or treatments to conserve significance.
Conservation policy: restore the house to 1840s configuration to represent settler lifestyle; conserve the local environment to indicate the condition of the land in 1840; conserve intangible Maori values associated with the site.
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The stages of heritage management: 3 Interpretation: present the heritage significance of the place to the public.
Interpret via guided tours, cultural performances, interactive activities, house restoration, marae construction, landscape boardwalk
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Why do heritage sites need interpretation?
Many heritage places/objects are difficult to understand because:
• Not familiar to modern or foreign people.
• Incomplete or damaged.
• Requires specialist knowledge to understand.
• Need to understand larger social, political, economic conditions of the time.
Trench landscape at Verdun, 2012: Western Front, 1916
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Goals of interpretation
1. Express a site’s significance in ways that are clear and interesting to non-specialists.
2. Place the site in its broad social/historical/ecological context.
3. Explain the whole site, specially gaps due to damage or decay.
4. Encourage responsible, non-damaging behaviour by visitors.
Gallipoli landing, 1915 : Gallipoli interps, 2010
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What does heritage interpretation achieve?
• Heritage interpretation is strategically important because it is the point of contact between the public and the heritage manager.
• When visitors understand a site, (we hope) they come to respect it, and to feel some attachment to and responsibility for it.
Site o
f First
Govern
ment
House
, Sydney:
Muse
um
of
Sydney
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Interpretation in site management • Important for visitor control:
– Manage physical pressure – Control vandal tendencies
• Interps is a ‘soft’ management technique: – Hearts and minds – Understanding helps people
value a site. – Hence willing to exercise care,
accept constraints.
• Used in conjunction w hard techniques: – Protective walkways – Safe reconstructions
Many sections of the Great Wall are ruinous and unsafe for visitors.
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Interpretation in site management • Important for visitor control:
– Manage physical pressure – Control vandal tendencies
• Interps is a ‘soft’ management technique: – Win hearts and minds – Guide people to understand and
value a site – Thus inspire to exercise care,
accept constraints.
• Used in conjunction w hard techniques: – Protective walkways – Safe reconstructions
Interpretive reconstruction of segments of the Great Wall demonstrates the original form, corrals visitors, and protects ruined parts.
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Planning heritage interpretation • Know the cultural and environmental significance of
the site: What is important for visitors to understand?
• Know the visitors: conduct market research on existing & potential visitors; study experience at similar sites; don’t rely on your own tastes!
• Develop a plan: expertise, experience, time, money…
Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
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Interpretive media • Signs, brochures
• Displays, models
• Guides: personal & audio
• Designed paths
• Multimedia
• Drama
• Re-enactments
• Re-created settings
• Visitor centres
• Artworks
• WWW
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Knowing the visitors • Understand the visitors, in order to provide a good
experience and help them conserve the site.
• There is no ‘general visitor’: visitors are different and have different agendas in visiting.
• Segmentation by ‘taste’: Tourists? Family trippers? Specialists? Adventurers? Patriots? Plan accordingly.
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Interpreting Kokoda • Identification: site and
stakeholders clearly known?
• Significance: understood and agreed by all stakeholders?
• Conservation policy: conservation management plan, specifying limits to interventions, so as to protect significance?
• Interpretation: plan that understands stakeholders (local & Aussie), visitors, and has appropriate resources?
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Summing up…
• Interpretation is part of the heritage conservation management process, and follows from the assessment of heritage significance.
• Effective interps aims to inform visitors, imbue a sense of important meanings, and protect the site.
• Efficient interps is designed for specific audiences, with enough overlap to appeal to specific visitor segments.
Frank Hodgkinson, Owen Stanley Trail, 1942: AWM