How to nominate a place for State Heritage protection in South Australia

We all play a role in preserving and celebrating this shared heritage, ensuring our stories and places of significance are protected for current and future generations.

One way you can help safeguard our state's heritage is by nominating a place for state heritage listing.

Did you know anyone can nominate a place for heritage listing? 

Once nominated, places are assessed by the South Australian Heritage Council and, if in its opinion is of heritage significance, may be provisionally entered into the South Australian Heritage Register.

What is a State Heritage Place?

A place can be any site or area, land, building, structure or other location, including its fixtures, fittings, subsurface area and surrounding land. It can be permanent or temporary, movable or immovable.

A place is considered for state heritage listing if it meets one or more of these seven criteria under section 16(1) of the Heritage Places Act 1993:

• It demonstrates important aspects of the evolution or pattern of the state's history; or
• It has rare, uncommon or endangered qualities that are of cultural significance; or
• It may yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the state's history, including its natural history; or
• It is an outstanding representative of a particular class of places of cultural significance; or
• It demonstrates a high degree of creative, aesthetic or technical accomplishment or is an outstanding representative of particular construction techniques or design characteristics; or
• I has strong cultural or spiritual associations for the community or a group within it; or
• It has a special association with the life or work of a person or organisation or an event of historical importance.

You might be surprised to learn that it’s not just ‘old’ buildings that are heritage-listed. A place is not simply listed because of its age, but because it tells our state's story and reflects what makes us unique.

How many State Heritage Places are there in SA?

Right now South Australia has 2,350 State Heritage Places listed on the SA Heritage Register. Around 500 of these are located in the CBD, within the boundaries of the Adelaide Park Lands, and the rest are spread across the state.

There are 1,769 that were built in the 19th Century, 508 built during the 20th Century, one from the 21st Century, and around 120 natural history sites.

How do you nominate a place?

To nominate a place for heritage listing, complete the SA Heritage Council's Place Nomination Form. It is recommended that you first contact, the Department for Environment and Water's Heritage SA team who can guide you through the process and help see whether the place you’re interested in might meet any of the criteria at the ‘state-level’ threshold. 

It’s worth noting that if a place has been nominated in the past three years, it generally won’t be reconsidered by the SA Heritage Council unless there is significant new information that wasn’t included in the earlier nomination or assessment.

What happens once a place is nominated? 

Once a place is nominated, and if it is provisionally entered into the SA Heritage Register by the SA Heritage Council, a three-month public consultation period begins. During this time, the public can make submissions on whether the provisional entry should be confirmed in the Register.

The place is protected throughout this consultation period. Then at the end of the three months, the SA Heritage Council considers all submissions and decides whether to confirm the place on the Register or remove it.

What about heritage objects? 

An object can be nominated by anyone and considered for state heritage listing if:

• It is an archaeological artefact, or any other form of artefact that satisfies 1 or more of the criteria set out under section 16 (1) of the Heritage Places Act.
• It is a geological, palaeontological or speleological specimen that satisfies 1 or more of the criteria set out under section 16 (1) of the Heritage Places Act.
• It is an object that is intrinsically related to the heritage significance of a State Heritage Place or a State Heritage Area.

If you would like to nominate an object, keep in mind that 'intrinsic' means 'being an extremely important and basic characteristic of a person or thing.'

Did you know? There are about 10 trees listed on the SA Heritage Register for their historical associations. These are not to be confused with significant trees, which are managed by your local council.

What is the difference between local and state heritage significance?

There are different levels of heritage significance that can make a place important. In this article, we are exploring places of state significance. A place of local significance is of heritage value to a locality or municipality and is managed by your local council.

You can see whether places already listed are State Heritage Places or local heritage places by visiting the South Australian Heritage Places Database.

What about Aboriginal heritage?

Aboriginal sites and objects that are significant according to Aboriginal traditions, archaeology, anthropology or history, as well as Aboriginal remains not buried in accordance with South Australian law, are protected under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988.

Aboriginal heritage is living and enduring, and Aboriginal people are the rightful custodians of their heritage. However, understanding the history of South Australia’s built heritage can also play an important role in truth-telling and reconciliation.

Also discover 

• Heritage doesn't just mean old! Celebrating some of SA’s 20th Century heritage gems
• Worth shouting about: 10 State Heritage-listed pubs to visit in South Australia