The recommendation for items for conservation has been based upon assessment of four specific criteria, these being the following:
Architectural/design quality of the item.
Condition or integrity of the item.
Any historic associations.
Environmental and/or streetscape value.
The assessment of architectural/design quality has been based on an item's expression of notable, prominent or unusual architectural style or design, the use of a particular building material, method of construction, or its representation of a particular architectural/design style or period.
Consideration of the condition or integrity of an item has involved an assessment of the degree to which the original significant aspects of an item have been retained, and whether an item is structurally sound and the degree to which any alteration or additions have been made, with the resultant level of compromise of the item itself.
The evaluation of the historical associations of an item involved consideration of the item's specific association with the lives or activities of particular individuals or organisations of local or state importance, its association with a specific event of importance to the state or locality, or its notability for design or construction by an architect or builder of state or local significance.
Finally, the assessment of the environmental/streetscape value of the item has been based on its importance in contributing to the continuity or character of a streetscape or locality or its location within a general environment, which as part of a group of items, establishes a particular character within that environment.
As a further means of categorisation, historical themes and periods relevant to the development of the Wentworth Shire have been established. These themes assist in the assessment of the level of historical representation of items. The themes are tiled as follows:
Landscape
The People
Townships
Agriculture
Commerce
Transport and Communication
Services and Community Facilities
Social Organisation and Recreation
To complement these themes, particular "snapshot" periods have been selected to represent important eras in the development of the Shire. When combined with the historic themes they enable a "picture" of local lifestyles and events which can easily be related to specific item assessment providing a recognisable context. These periods are titled to enhance the important development phases of the Shire, and include the following:
1829-1845: Exploration and the Overland Route
1846-1860: Squatters and Townships
1861-1870: The River Trade
1871-1880: Municipality and Pastoral Expansion
1881-1890: Droughts, Deluge and Rabbits
1891-1900: Resumption and Settlement
1901-1910: Irrigation
1911-1930: Weirs, Locks, Roads and Rail
1956: The Great Flood
Analysis of these periods and the themes are outlined in the following section and detailed within Appendix 4. They do not aim to provide a new history of the Shire, but enable easy reference to the lifestyle and settlement patterns of the time, which assist in identifying the significance of particular items.
In addition to the assessment of individual items during this study, the prior recording of items in one or more of the recognised heritage lists of state or national relevance has been utilised as an important information source. Four specific lists have been referred to, being the National Trust Register, the Register of the National Estate, the State Heritage Register, and the National Parks and Wildlife register of Aboriginal relics. Items contained within these lists are documented later in this report.
The National Trust Register includes items on two lists, they being the classified and recorded lists. The distinction between the two lists is that the preservation of items of the classified list is considered essential while the preservation on the items on the recorded list is encouraged until such time that further research can justify its classification. The National Trust Register has no legal status and accordingly does not control the alteration or demolition of listed items.
The Register of the National Estate generally contains those items identified as part of the nation's heritage, often including items on the classified list of the National Trust Register. The Australian Heritage Commission Act, 1975, established this register and requires Commonwealth Departments and Authorities to have regard to any items listed therein in the course of their activities.
The State Heritage register is a list established under the State Heritage Act and contains those items of environmental, social or cultural heritage importance to the state which have come to the attention of the New South Wales Heritage Council due to threatened demolition or dereliction. An item is place under an Interim Conservation Order until such time that its importance has been assessed and, if warranted, a Permanent Conservation Order is issued. The register does not list all items in the State which the Heritage Council considers worthy of conservation. It only lists those cases where action has been taken under the Act.
All finds relating to Aboriginal morphology, including burials, middens and campsites are recorded and protected by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of New South Wales. The service maintains a list of sites which refers to name, site type and map reference. This list is mainly the result of specific research projects and contract studies.
The abovementioned lists by no means provide a comprehensive grouping of items of heritage significance within the Shire of Wentworth. The absence of any particular place from one of these registers should not be taken to mean that the place or item has no significance. Due to the extensive and isolated nature of the Shire there has been limited review of potential items of environmental heritage significance, which this study aims to address. The registers provide an appreciation of items which by one means or another have come to the attention of heritage organisations and have sufficiently impressed these organisations to warrant their recording. They therefore provide an important basis for the examination and selection of items suitable for heritage protection.
Data for the documentation of the heritage items has come from a number of sources including local publications, newspaper articles, unpublished diaries, local historian, and government archives. Items were inspected, and where possible photographs taken. All references are detailed within the Bibliography (Appendix 1).
The heritage item documentation has been undertaken in a format which satisfies the requirements of the State Heritage Council as recommended in the "Heritage Study Guidelines", published by the New South Wales Department of Planning. The format includes an item description, a statement of environmental heritage significance, reference to the item's context in the thematic history of the Shire, item location and photograph. Each item is provided with a conservation recommendation based upon its given significance.
On the basis of the foregoing analysis process, a series of items have been identified as being of environmental significance to the Shire and warranting the protection offered by their inclusion in a Schedule attached to the Shire of Wentworth Local Environmental Plan, the purposed of the Schedule being to require such items to be subjected to specific conservation clauses contained within the document paper.
The broad intent of these conservation clauses is to ensure the preservation of the listed items. A full list of items recommended for inclusion within the Schedule is contained within Chapter 5, while documentation of these items and all other items reviewed for their possible inclusion in the Schedule is contained within Appendix 5.
All the items surveyed were selected according to their possible historical associations or note worthiness as determined by the investigation phase. While only some of the items were chosen to be included in the Local Environmental Plan for conservation purposes, it should be recognised that all the items selected to be surveyed have some heritage value to the Shire. The listing recommendation provide guidelines as to their maintenance restoration where appropriate.
The Southwest of New South Wales contains the most complete record of Aboriginal occupation in the continent. The large repositories of Aboriginal history lie in the places most often subject to present day development pressures such as river frontages and lakes. As such it is vital to address the needs and interests of all parties concerned with increasing development within the shire without destroying a history and heritage dating back some 40,000 years, by identifying areas where further consultation and archaeological research is required prior to development.
To determine the location of known and likely sites of Aboriginal heritage significance the National Parks and Wildlife Service register was consulted. This list, however, is not a complete record of all sites in the area. Further to this, an assessment was made of the landforms within the shire and the likely distribution of sites amongst those landforms according to scattered finds and knowledge of seasonal settlement patterns, rituals and customs. This analysis, in association with the description of different types of archaeological remains and their common distributions, enabled the formulation of predicted locations for potential site finds. The predictive analysis focused on those areas in the Shire most likely to be subject to development pressures.
During the research phase the consulting archaeologist discussed the work and aims of the Heritage Study with officers of the national Parks and Wildlife Service, members of the Dareton Local Aboriginal Land Council and other members of the Aboriginal community.