Sarah Jane BRAZIL
The need to conserve, manage and present a significant and large moveable cultural heritage collection at the State Government level in Australia, has led to the development of a Sustainable Rail Heritage Strategy for New South Wales (NSW). The State Government’s far reaching changes to its railway network has required the future of its significant railway heritage collection to be addressed. The collection is arguably the largest State Government owned rail heritage collections in Australia.
The Strategy aims to sustain rail heritage for future generations by:
- applying an asset management approach to the core collection and prioritised funding to these items (buildings, rolling stock etc);
- partnering with volunteer run rail heritage conservation groups across NSW and strategic partners to conserve and manage these assets;
- facilitating the retention and transfer of heritage skills; and,
- recognising and developing rail heritage volunteering.
A key element of the Strategy is the Government’s investment in the upgrade of the Thirlmere Rail Heritage Centre, out side Sydney, in order to accommodate and make accessible to the public the greater part of Government’s core rail heritage assets. This will ensure that the State’s rail heritage is accessible to the public by developing a flagship destination in regional NSW and will complement other rail heritage precincts around NSW. The Centre will accommodate 130 items of rolling stock providing both an operational base for the heritage fleet as well as a range of visitor experiences. The upgrade project is a joint partnership between the Government and NSW Rail Transport Museum, a volunteer run conservation group.
The challenges in delivering the project include:
- the regeneration of a redundant station, including the remediation of the site as well as the rolling stock;
- developing a facility and experience that has positive social and economic benefits to the local and broader community. How to make it relevant and prosper in a competitive environment;
- ensuring sustainability, both environmentally and in its future operations;
- change management, organisational change, of the volunteer group to meet the demands and opportunities that the upgrade will bring; and,
- providing both a safe operational environment as well as a dynamic experience.
The presentation will discuss how these and other challenges are being met and overcome.