ACT Region Heritage Symposium 2026Theme: Everyday Heritage: Conviviality, Creativity, Care
Saturday 15 August 2026, 9:30 am to 4:00 pm Venue: National Film and Sound Archive, Acton ACT COST: $50.00 Full Registration, $15.00 Students About the Symposium This symposium celebrates how heritage is lived, loved and created through everyday life in the ACT region by exploring the themes of conviviality, creativity and care.
|
|
|
Keynote Speakers
|
Presenters
Dr Anna Wong Director ACT Galleries, Museums & Heritage Katsup and Dark Cake: Recipes, Empire & Everyday Heritage at Mugga Mugga Cottage Professor Darius von Güttner Sporzyński Campus Dean, Australian Catholic University Community and the Making of Catholic Heritage in Canberra Hannah Neville Director of Placemaking, PlaceWorks Co Place Archive: Capturing everyday heritage to shape locally resonant places Dr Caitlin Allen Snr Lecturer Heritage, University of Sydney Everyday heritage, communities and duty of care – does heritage governance support what matters most? Dr Alexandra Dellios Snr Lecturer, Centre for Heritage & Museum Studies, ANU Grandparenting Care, migrant intergenerational knowledge exchange and family heritage. Rachel Freebody & Noah Watson Culture and Heritage Graduates, University of Canberra Digital heritage interfaces in everyday moments. Angus Jones Honours Student, University of Canberra Co creating Everyday Heritage through participant led Documentary: A Lifetime to Learn. Dr Bryan Levina Viray Sessional Lecturer, Centre for Heritage & Museum Studies, ANU Salo salo (eating together): Communal dining as cultural infrastructure in the ACT. Dr Bethaney Turner and Dr Naomi Zouwer Assoc Professor, Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra Lecturer, Faculty of Education, University of Canberra Soil, Seeds, Stories: Food growing as heritage practice in the ACT. Dr Anna Howe National Trust ACT Member Signing the Shops as places of everyday heritage. |
About
This Annual Symposium was established in 2011 to bring together people in and around the Australian Capital Territory with an interest in heritage or planning. It is jointly organised by the Canberra Archaeological Society, National Trust of Australia (ACT), Canberra & District Historical Society and Australia ICOMOS. The Symposium grew out of the ACT Historical Archaeology Workshops of 2009 and 2010.
Each year we choose a topical theme to highlight achievements and understand issues in our region, from the local to the national. The Australian Capital Territory holds the nation's capital, Canberra. This means that we typically host a diverse speaker-base and audience which includes government administrators and policymakers, university lecturers and students (Canberra is home to three universities), representatives of relevant national professional associations (e.g. ALIA, ASA, Australia ICOMOS, ICOM Australia, RAIA), and paid and unpaid workers from community organisations through to national cultural institutions. Archaeologists, architects, and archivists, through exhibition creators and interpreters, to oral history recorders and World Heritage advisors all share ideas during formal and informal discussion times. A list of outcomes and proposed remediations has previously been produced during the final session of the day and taken forward by relevant attending organisations after each symposium.
Past Themes:
Each year we choose a topical theme to highlight achievements and understand issues in our region, from the local to the national. The Australian Capital Territory holds the nation's capital, Canberra. This means that we typically host a diverse speaker-base and audience which includes government administrators and policymakers, university lecturers and students (Canberra is home to three universities), representatives of relevant national professional associations (e.g. ALIA, ASA, Australia ICOMOS, ICOM Australia, RAIA), and paid and unpaid workers from community organisations through to national cultural institutions. Archaeologists, architects, and archivists, through exhibition creators and interpreters, to oral history recorders and World Heritage advisors all share ideas during formal and informal discussion times. A list of outcomes and proposed remediations has previously been produced during the final session of the day and taken forward by relevant attending organisations after each symposium.
Past Themes:
- 2026 'Everyday Heritage: Conviviality, Creativity, Care'
- 2025 'A Future for the Past'
- 2024 'Planning for Heritage'
- 2022 'Heritage and Healing: How Heritage Helps'
- 2021 'Heritage at Times of Crisis: Saving, Sustaining, Sharing'
- 2019 'The Spaces In-between: connecting Canberra's Urban Landscape'
- 2018 'Heritage on the edge: continuity with change in Canberra'
- 2017 'The Politics of Heritage: The Art of the Possible'
- 2016 'Inside Out | Outside In'
- 2015 'Sharing Heritage: Create, Change, Cherish'
- 2014 ‘The Future of Heritage’
- 2013 ‘A Centenary of Celebrating Heritage: accessing, presenting and interpreting heritage places and their collections in Canberra and region’
- 2012 ‘Valuing heritage: advocating for community attachment in planning’
- 2011 ‘Heritage and Planning: partners in development’
Convened by:
