ACT Heritage Assessments & Permits (Heritage Act 2004)
Your home-turf advantage: heritage assessment in Canberra led by someone who has worked inside the ACT regulator.
In the ACT, the Heritage Act 2004 protects all Aboriginal places and objects — whether or not they are registered — and works affecting heritage require assessment and, often, an excavation permit from the ACT Heritage Council. COLCO delivers this work with the insight of a former ACT Heritage assessor.
The ACT framework in brief
The Heritage Act 2004 is administered by the ACT Heritage Council, supported by ACT Heritage. Aboriginal places and objects are automatically protected, and the Council must consult Representative Aboriginal Organisations (RAOs) on Aboriginal heritage matters. Archaeological excavation generally requires a permit, with a methodology the Council will scrutinise.
How COLCO helps
- Cultural Heritage Assessments (CHAs) and Statements of Heritage Effect (SHEs) — the ACT’s equivalents of a NSW ACHAR/SOHI.
- Significance assessment against the criteria in the Heritage Act 2004.
- Excavation permit applications to the ACT Heritage Council, including robust methodologies.
- Representative Aboriginal Organisation (RAO) consultation and management recommendations.
- Heritage and conservation management plans for ongoing ACT sites.
- Historic and Aboriginal archaeology across Canberra’s development fronts — Molonglo, Gungahlin, and beyond.
The insider edge
Dr Collins assessed exactly these applications from within the ACT Heritage Unit and constructed statements of significance for the Council. That perspective is hard to buy and impossible to fake — and it is the fastest route to an approval that holds.