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Heritage Information

Explore our heritage guidelines, advice, and detailed heritage studies to help preserve and protect the unique history of Alpine Shire.

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Heritage Advisory Service

Council's planning scheme may include controls to identify and protect significant heritage places and precincts.

These places have usually been defined as important to the area through heritage and urban conservation studies.

Many Councils have heritage advisers who can provide invaluable assistance in designing appropriate modifications to your heritage property. The heritage adviser is available for consultations by appointment and this is a free service. 

Supporting Information 

The following information should accompany an application for alterations to a property subject to heritage controls: 

  • Application form 
  • Relevant fee
  • Copy of title 
  • Site plan 
  • Elevation detail 
  • Floor plan
  • Details about materials and colours 
  • Any information you may have about the history of the property

For additional information please do not hesitate to contact Council's Planning Department on (03) 5755 0555 or by emailing info@alpineshire.vic.gov.au.

Alpine Shire Thematic Environmental History 2004

The Alpine Shire Thematic Environmental History 2004 (prepared by LRGM Services Pty Ltd) is a strategic tool that explores the key themes that have influenced the historical development of the Alpine Shire. It is not a chronological or municipal history of the Shire, instead a thematic approach is used to identify and explain those aspects of Alpine Shire’s history that are crucial to an understanding of the study area and the historic fabric it has today. The Thematic Environmental History serves three essential roles:

  • it ensures that places that are identified in the heritage study for conservation reflect and represent the historical development of the area;
  • it can provide knowledge of places of historical importance that might not otherwise emerge, or for which there may be little if any visible evidence; and
  • it is a useful tool when undertaking comparative assessments of the significance of particular types of places.

The Alpine Shire Thematic Environmental History 2004 notes that the Shire is historically significant for:

  • its development of niche agricultural industries;
  • the local community action and lobbying that led to the reservation of one of Victoria’s first National Parks at Mt Buffalo in 1898;
  • its pioneering role in large scale, organised tourism in the State dating back to the 1880s;
  • its significant role in the gold dredging era of 1900 to 1954 including the largest dredge ever to work in Australia, the first organised environmental lobby groups and the establishment of the State’s first environmental watchdog;
  • the largest contribution of renewable energy to the power grid from within Victoria; and
  • the Buckland Riots of 1857, the first major outbreak of anti-Chinese sentiment on the Victorian and Australian goldfields, which are widely regarded as the first landmark event in the formation of the White Australia Policy.

Alpine Shire Heritage Study 2008

The Thematic Environmental History informed the identification and assessment of places of heritage significance in the Alpine Shire Heritage Study 2008.

Citations were prepared for each of the places identified as having heritage significance to Alpine Shire and were included in the Alpine Shire Heritage Study 2008. Both the Thematic Environmental History and the Heritage Study were subject to consultation in 2008.

In 2016, Amendment C51 was prepared to apply the Heritage Overlay to places of significance identified in the Heritage Study in the Alpine Planning Scheme.

Place citation reports:
Related documents:

The Alpine Planning Scheme identifies land where the Heritage Overlay applies. The Schedule to Clause 43.01 Heritage Overlay lists places that are of local and state heritage significance: Alpine Planning Scheme - Schedule To Clause 43.01 Heritage Overlay

General information relating to heritage controls and other considerations can be found here.

Wandiligong Heritage Guidelines 2016

The Wandiligong Heritage Guidelines 2016 provides guidance to land owners undertaking renovations or new build within the Wandiligong Heritage Precinct (HO83).

Other useful heritage links

Further information on state significant places within Victoria, including Alpine Shire, can be found on the Heritage Council of Victoria’s website: https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au.

Useful information on identifying house styles from the early Victorian to Modern times can be found on the Heritage Council of Victoria’s website: https://heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/your-home/what-house-is-that/.

Further information about the heritage system in Victoria, including the different roles of councils, Heritage Victoria and the Heritage Council of Victoria, can be found on the Department of Transport and Planning’s website: https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/guides/all-guides/local-heritage-protection.

Heritage Review

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