Does ‘significant’ mean I can’t build?

No. A finding of significance means the heritage values must be identified and managed in your proposal — not that development is refused. Most significant places can still be developed with a design that respects or mitigates the values.

Who decides if a place is significant?

In NSW, councils assess local items and the Heritage Council of NSW assesses State items, while Aboriginal cultural significance is determined with the Aboriginal community. In the ACT, the ACT Heritage Council assesses significance against the section 10 criteria, consulting Representative Aboriginal Organisations on Aboriginal heritage.

Can a place be significant if there’s nothing much to see?

Yes — particularly for Aboriginal cultural heritage. Significance includes social, historic and spiritual value held by the community, so a place can be highly significant even where physical archaeological remains are limited.

Insights · Last reviewed 03 June 2026

How heritage significance is assessed (NSW & ACT)

Whether a place is “significant” — and how, and why — is the question that drives the entire heritage system. It decides whether you need an assessment, what kind, how a council or heritage body will judge your proposal, and what you’ll do to manage impacts. Here is how significance is actually determined in NSW and the ACT.

What “significance” means

Australian heritage practice rests on the Burra Charter (Australia ICOMOS), which defines cultural significance as the aesthetic, historic, scientific, social or spiritual value a place holds for past, present or future generations. That value can live in the place, its fabric, its setting and its use — and, crucially, in people’s associations and meanings. This last point matters enormously for Aboriginal heritage: significance is not only what can be measured or excavated, but the meaning a place holds for living communities.

Both NSW and the ACT translate these values into formal criteria. A place need only meet one criterion to be significant, but a proper assessment tests it against all of them.

Historic heritage significance in NSW — the seven criteria

NSW uses seven criteria set by the Heritage Council of NSW (the Assessing Heritage Significance guidelines):

Historic — importance in the course or pattern of our history.
Historical association — association with an important person or group.
Aesthetic / technical — aesthetic characteristics or creative/technical achievement.
Social, cultural & spiritual — special association with a community.
Research potential — potential to yield information (the “scientific” value).
Rarity — uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of our history.
Representativeness — demonstrates the principal characteristics of a class of place.

Each is tested at a level: local significance (council Local Environmental Plan) or State significance (the State Heritage Register, under the Heritage Act 1977). Above these sit the Commonwealth National Heritage List and World Heritage.

Aboriginal cultural heritage significance in NSW

Aboriginal cultural heritage is assessed across the same Burra Charter values, but two distinct dimensions must both be considered:

Scientific / archaeological significance — the research value of objects, deposits and sites, assessed by a qualified archaeologist.
Cultural significance held by Aboriginal people — the social, historic and spiritual value of a place, which cannot be determined by a consultant alone. It is identified with and by the community through consultation with the Registered Aboriginal Parties.

This is why community consultation is a core, legislated part of the assessment — and why a place can carry very high cultural significance even where there is little physical archaeology to see. In NSW, Aboriginal objects are protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 regardless of whether land is listed.

Heritage significance in the ACT — the section 10 criteria

The ACT is more consolidated: a single law, the Heritage Act 2004, covers natural, historic and Aboriginal heritage, and significance is assessed against the criteria in section 10 (the nationally agreed HERCON criteria). A place or object is significant if it meets one or more of: importance to the course or pattern of the ACT’s history; rarity; research potential; importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class; valued aesthetic characteristics; a high degree of creative or technical achievement; or a strong or special association with a community for social, cultural or spiritual reasons, including significance under Aboriginal tradition. The ACT Heritage Council assesses significance and must consult the Representative Aboriginal Organisations on Aboriginal heritage.

NSW vs the ACT at a glance

	NSW	ACT
Law (Aboriginal)	National Parks & Wildlife Act 1974 (AHIP)	Heritage Act 2004
Law (historic)	Heritage Act 1977	Heritage Act 2004 (same Act)
Criteria	7 criteria (Heritage Council of NSW)	s 10 / HERCON criteria
Community body	Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs)	Representative Aboriginal Organisations (RAOs)

The underlying values are very similar — both rest on the Burra Charter — but the legal machinery, terminology and the body you deal with differ, so advice prepared for one jurisdiction should never be assumed to carry over to the other.

What a finding of significance means for your project

Here is the reassurance most developers are looking for: a finding of significance is not a refusal. It means the heritage values are now on the table and must be identified, weighed and managed — through the right report (a Statement of Heritage Impact, an ACHAR leading to an AHIP, or a CHA/SHE in the ACT), by showing impacts are avoided where reasonable and otherwise justified and mitigated, and often by adjusting the design so significant elements are retained or respected. Most significant places can still be developed. What changes is the level of scrutiny and the need to show the impact is acceptable. The projects that run into trouble are almost always the ones that left heritage to the end — so engaging heritage advice at concept stage is the single most effective thing you can do to keep a project on track.

General information, current as at 03 June 2026; not legal advice. NSW is progressing reforms to its Aboriginal cultural heritage framework — we keep our advice current. Contact COLCO for guidance specific to your site.