ABSTRACT
Amid intensifying activist and community interest in urban heritage in postwar Australia, Chapter 4 turns to the emerging professional discourse in conservation from the mid-1950s. Conservation-minded architects promoted the historic environment in specialist and popular journals. Planners noted sites of historic and aesthetic interest in schemes and policies. Due to the Australian National Advisory Committee for UNESCO, the National Trusts, and community activism, the Commonwealth Government took practical steps towards by a national heritage list in the 1960s. The first national professional conference about conservation, called Historic Preservation in Australia, was held in Canberra in 1967. Some 150 people met to reflect on the recent accomplishments of the field in developing listing procedures and conserving historic sites, as well as to develop a refreshed programme for the 1970s.
