We developed a Discussion Paper in 2024 and undertook community consultation to guide the development of the Draft City of Melbourne Heritage Strategy: Stories of people and place.

The draft Heritage Strategy was endorsed for consultation by Future Melbourne Committee on 20 August 2024.

Consultation ran from 5 May to 2 June 2025.

We engaged Open House Melbourne to run a series of educational public participation programs including:

• 2 Open House panel discussions at Trades Hall, an online survey and postcard drop with survey QR code link
  
• in-person targeted ‘walkshops’ with business owners and peak bodies
  
• Open Studio workshop with university students
• consultation with Traditional Owners, including at least 2 online yarns and a walk on Country with members from both Bunurong and Wurundjeri Traditional Owner groups
  
• consultation with the broader Aboriginal community including a postcard drop and launch of a targeted survey at the NAIDOC in the City 2025 event
• 5 workshops held with internal stakeholders
• a survey on Participate Melbourne.

All draft actions were broadly supported by the community, who also provided many new ideas and initiatives and endorsed a people-centred approach.

Respondents told us we need to:

• look at how we manage protecting built heritage (interiors, facadism and under-protected typologies are all important issues)
  
• include Traditional Owner self-determination and create better avenues for discussion with Traditional Owners
  
• better reflect the culture and stories of diverse and multicultural communities in Melbourne alongside Aboriginal cultural heritage.

In response to feedback, we made the following updates to the draft heritage strategy:

• Created a streamlined summary document to complement the main strategy, giving people an easier-to-read option.
  
• Put greater emphasis on the diverse and layered multicultural stories of Melbourne.
  
• Put greater emphasis on the importance of built heritage in addition to intangible heritage.
  
• Ensured that we continue our work in assessing under-protected heritage typologies through actions in the implementation plan.
• Included self-determination as an essential way that we work with Traditional Owners and the Aboriginal community.

The City of Melbourne Heritage Strategy 2025: Stories of people and place will be considered for adoption by Future Melbourne Committee at its meeting on 17 February 2026.

The City of Melbourne Heritage Strategy 2013 provided a sound framework to protect and enhance Melbourne’s heritage places.

Much has changed since 2013, and it became clear that it is time for a new strategy that grapples with these changes.

The Heritage People and Place Discussion Paper was prepared to start a conversation about how we shape our new draft strategy.

The Discussion Paper included ideas and topics to be explored and tested with the diverse voices of the community, business and government.

The ideas and topics in this paper were not an outline of an adopted approach. We wanted to explore and test them with the diverse voices of the community, business and government.

Community engagement on the Discussion Paper ran from 20 February to the 19 March 2024. This included an online survey and facilitated community and key stakeholder workshops.

Further feedback was gained through meetings with the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation and Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation.

Feedback was received from 216 participants, including 175 survey responses.

The invitation to participate in the community engagement was promoted by the City of Melbourne through a range of mediums including:

• Participate Melbourne webpage: introduced the Discussion Paper, promoted the consultation events, hosted the survey, and downloadable links to various Heritage Strategy-related content.
• Postcards promoting the project with QR codes distributed at City of Melbourne Neighbourhood Survey pop ups and to local businesses and facilities.
• Social media.
• City of Melbourne newsletters.
• Invitations were sent to identified stakeholders and community groups.

Feedback on each of the Focus Areas of the Discussion Paper was as follows:

Reflecting Aboriginal heritage:

• This should be centralised in heritage planning. Standard approaches should be changed.

Heritage interpretation:

• The importance of intangible heritage should be considered.
• A city historian is long overdue. Diverse layers of history should be found and shared.

Heritage, urban change and the economy:

• The City of Melbourne does not provide the right balance between heritage and new development.
• The broader economic, social and economic benefits of heritage should be better acknowledged.

Heritage and Climate Change:

• There is strong support for visible solar panels and other ESD improvements on heritage places.
• There is strong support for incentives to encourage the retrofit of heritage buildings.

Innovative heritage planning and processes:

• Building interiors, places of significance to multicultural communities, intangible heritage and Aboriginal heritage need greater recognition.
• There is some support for more flexibility in planning controls to enable a continuation of use.

The draft Melbourne Heritage Strategy: Stories of People and Place (draft Heritage Strategy) has been informed by the feedback received on the Discussion Paper.

The first round of consultation has helped reveal the connections between our work and that of others. It has helped us understand people’s views and how this work may affect their lives. It has been an opportunity to think about the role of heritage in pressing issues such as the climate and biodiversity emergency.

The feedback has shaped our thinking and influenced the draft Heritage Strategy. We recognise that people have different views on heritage and have taken the time to reflect deeply on what we have heard. We have reshaped the priorities, weaving the initial focus on innovative heritage planning and processes into each of the other priorities. We added a new priority relating to stewardship and day-to-day care of heritage. Key points from the consultation have been incorporated into the opportunities and challenges section of each priority within the draft Heritage Strategy and will inform our potential action areas.

By grounding this draft in a rich understanding of community needs, we have created a foundation for a broad, people-centred, city-wide approach to heritage. This draft Heritage Strategy was endorsed for consultation on 20 August 2024 by the Future Melbourne Committee.