Monday, 4 September 2023
The ICC, Sydney
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In greeting you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather, I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to the Elders of all parts of Australia from which you have travelled.

In making this acknowledgment, I also offer the warmest of thanks to Brendan Kerin from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council for this morning’s welcome and smoking ceremonies.[1]

The invitation to participate in living cultural practices like these, whose roots extend to the very beginnings of human habitation on this ancient continent is a privilege as enormous as it is inspiring.

This conjunction of the past and the present by nature is symbolic; but here in Australia, it is a daily celebration of a unique culture, whose traditions, rock engravings, science, technology, and storytelling deeply resonate with the spirit in which this, the 21^st International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)General Assembly and Scientific Symposium convenes, as well as the themes it considers.

Your Royal Highness[2], members of the ICOMOS Board, and delegates,

Our cultural heritage is a collective and growing repository of sites and monuments through which we, as global citizens, have and continue to articulate the wonder of living.

That heritage is integral to our understanding of what it is to be human in its spectacular diversity and potential. As a repository of knowledge, its conservation, therefore, is vital.

In Australia, we have the immense privilege of living in a landscape home to the oldest continuous living culture on the planet, in which identity and country are one and the same. This derives not only from the cultural beliefs of First Nations people, but also from the way in which they lived in and with this monumental landscape. Criss-crossing this land over thousands of kilometres are networks of trade and ceremony, marriage arrangements, dispute resolution and diplomatic relations known as Song-lines.

Song-lines have been described as a system of “archiving knowledge in the landscape, [which is then] activated through performance [of art, song, dance and ceremony]”.[3] They are both physical and metaphysical; “pathways or corridors of knowledge [whereby] “people knew the way [from place to place] by song …[and] the artworks on the ridges.”[4]

The reciprocity of belonging that First Nations’ relationship to mother earth embodies reminds us that ‘our cultural heritage’ is part of a global archive for which there is communal responsibility. It is a responsibility that you, through your commitment to knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and the celebration of betterment in your field, carry well.

Everyone at this conference will know the outrage and the deep sadness felt when, in May 2020, the Juukun Gorge, a sacred rock shelter in the Pilbara in Western Australia – with a cultural sequence spanning some 46,000 years – was blown up by mining company Rio Tinto. As it turns out, Rio Tinto’s actions were legal.[5] They had a government licence to do what they did. But what can be done legally is not necessarily right. Juukun Gorge tells us that and why that is so.

Two decades earlier, in 2001, the world watched helplessly as the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas carved into the sandstone edifice in the 6^th century, which has guarded the Bamiyan Valley for 1,500 years, with its “blend of Greek, Turkish, Persian, Chinese, and Indian influence that is found nowhere else in the world”.[6]

The Bamiyan valley and its archaeological remains is now a World Heritage Site, but the cultural heritage embodied in its Buddhas has been lost. Any possible reconstruction of the Buddhas, as was initially contemplated by UNESCO, raises vexing and complicated questions with ethical, political, and financial dimensions. The area today is largely Muslim; and so, should outside countries reconstruct what today would not be theologically and culturally acceptable to local populations? Can the financial cost be justified when there is so much other need in the world? Should history be reconstructed, or should history be just that – part of the story of the monument?

Here in New South Wales, at a site south of Sydney near the Royal National Park, on a tiny scale compared to the Giant Buddhas, a decision was made not to clean away graffiti on a culturally significant rock painting. It was decided the graffiti was part of the history of the painting. Initially surprised by the decision, my thinking changed: the graffiti shocked and in doing so heightened the cultural importance of the work and the lack of understanding and respect the graffiti represented.

Then, there are the statues and monuments, the vandalism and destruction of which raises questions of political and social importance on how to reflect changing views of history and the people who made it.

I am of course, but an observer of these things and am in esteemed company, so I trust my musings on matters in which you are expert are not too inept. But may I say this: your work and this conference is a timely reminder for all of us that cultural heritage is not a mere possession. Its health and ours – in all its spiritual and material aspects – is vitally dependent on an active, aware, and ongoing understanding of its importance and the need for its care. And that involves deep and sometimes uncomfortable thinking.

The aphorism ‘change is the only constant’ is particularly apt at this point in history. We are living in a time of accelerating global transformations – climatic, technological, social, and political – the ramifications of which pose challenges that are daunting in scale and multiplicity.

The theme of your conference, Heritage Changes, is an insightful capture of that reality, and I commend the GA2023 Organising Committee for tackling this most important of questions: how might heritage practice fit within, respond to, and, most importantly, lead through these contemporary contexts?

I applaud, likewise, the rigour, open-mindedness, and embrace of the pressing questions of cultural heritage in our modern world. Your dedication, through bodies such as ICOMOS and forums such as these ensure that what you do, the ideals that underpin it, and the values your work manifest, are best practice in its fullest and broadest dimension.

To the presenters, in sharing your expertise you have set out to challenge practices and to excite critical thinking. Thank you for the work you have done in preparation for your sessions. 

Thank you, ICOMOS for bringing this important forum to our Pacific region for the first time.

In warmly welcoming you here to new South Wales, I also say – with absolutely no bias whatsoever! – that you have come to one of the most beautiful and culturally engaging places in the world.

I wish you all the very best in your deliberations over the coming days. What occurs here will make important contributions to how we conserve, understand, and promote the rich legacy inherited from the past, inflected by the present, and carried forward into the future for the betterment of generations to come.

Thank you.