Professor Bruce Pascoe
Author of Dark Emu, Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture

In 1982, ICOMOS established 18 April as the International Day for Monuments and Sites. UNESCO approved it the following year during its 22nd General Conference. Since then, 18 April has been a day to celebrate and promote cultural heritage, and an opportunity to raise awareness about its diversity, its relevance, how vulnerable it can be and what the needs and benefits of its conservation are. The 2019 theme for the day is ‘rural heritage’.

ICOMOS has defined rural landscapes as “terrestrial and aquatic areas co-produced by human-nature interaction used for the production of food and other renewable natural resources, via agriculture, animal husbandry and pastoralism, fishing and aquaculture, forestry, wild food gathering, hunting, and extraction of other resources, such as salt. Rural landscapes are multifunctional resources. At the same time, all rural areas have cultural meanings attributed to them by people and communities: all rural areas are landscapes.”

Australia ICOMOS is honoured to have Professor Bruce Pascoe deliver the Jim Kerr Address, which honours the late Dr James Semple Kerr. Professor Pascoe’s award-winning publication Dark Emu powerfully reveals the overlooked heritage of Australia’s landscapes prior to colonisation and presents a radically different picture of Australia's original inhabitants, and how they maintained their culture over millennia.

This will be the fifth Jim Kerr address, following the inaugural address in 2015 which was given by Joan Domicelj AM. Jim Kerr's legacy has been summarised by Joan Domicelj as follows:

Jim Kerr’s gift was to articulate with great clarity how the care of special places might be achieved. He disseminated his ideas widely for discussion and tested them on real, culturally vital sites around Australia. He would then again update his policy document, the Conservation Plan. This series of memorial addresses pays respect to his legacy by perpetuating an open enquiry into the understanding of place and the constant review of progress.

The event is generously sponsored by the Sydney Opera House and the Heritage Council of NSW.

It will take place in the Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House. It will conclude at approximately 7.30pm.

There are no refreshments included for this event and this is reflected in the pricing. Refreshments can be purchased before or after the event at one of the many venues in and around the Sydney Opera House.

COST
* Australia ICOMOS and NT members: $35
* Non-members: $45
* Full-time students, unemployed & individuals under 30 yrs: $25

#18April #ICOMOS #rurallandscapes #IcomosIDMS2019 #jimkerraddress

Tour of Sydney Opera House, 3.15 for 3.30pm sharp

An optional short tour of the Sydney Opera House will take place before the the Jim Kerr Address. Please note that places for this tour are limited. There are only 18 places available on the tour (allocated on those who book first for this option). Participants meet at the Stage Door of the Sydney Opera House on Thursday 18 April at 3.15pm for a 3.30pm sharp start. The tour will deliver you back to the Utzon Room by 5.30pm for the 6pm start of the Jim Kerr Address. You must be attending the Jim Kerr Address to go on this free tour.