Environmental Management

Heritage Management

Defence seeks to manage heritage values on its estate consistent with the principles and requirements of Commonwealth heritage legislation. This includes the identification and management of risks to heritage during the planning, development and operation of Defence facilities (including bases and training areas).

Defence is responsible for an important legacy that has been built up through its history: a legacy of land, places, buildings, memories and stories. Together these makeup a rich and valued heritage. Australia's development and that of the Defence Forces are intrinsically linked and Defence is the steward of the nation's largest land and property portfolio. Defence property includes places with natural and biodiversity values, places important to Indigenous people, places significant for their Defence history and places that are important to Australia's history and cultural life. Many places have multiple values.

The Defence Heritage Strategy outlines Defence’s objectives and responsibilities for the management of heritage within the estate. We are in the process of assessing heritage values across the Defence Estate to determine which places need to be acknowledged, managed and conserved where appropriate.

The Defence Environment and Heritage Manual provides Defence’s heritage policy statement.

The Defence Heritage Toolkit is soon to be replaced by the Heritage Management Manual (in development).

Contacts

To find out more, contact the Director of Environmental and Heritage Policy Development (DEHPD). The Assistant Directors Environment and Sustainability (ADES) and Environment and Sustainability Managers (ESM) and Officers (ESO) support this role in the Regions.