Our Projects

Archaeological Management Plan for Armidale Dumaresq (Pam Watson)
This project is being produced in conjunction with Armidale Dumaresq Council and the NSW Heritage Office. Archaeological sites within Armidale are being systematically identified from historical documentation, recorded, mapped and assessed for their current condition, significance and potential. The information is being entered on the Heritage Futures Research Centre Database which is compatible with the NSW State Heritage Inventory, and includes a cultural mapping component (GIS). The results will be integrated with the Local Environmental Plan for reference in strategic planning and development.

Family Ties (Janis Wilton)
Family Ties aims to locate, document and utilise the variety of sources related to the history of the Newstead pastoral property, near Inverell. The purpose is to provide material for the 2006 Tom Roberts Festival, the adaptive reuse of the old homestead and to interpret sites of significance in and around Newstead.

Gamilaraay Resource Use Project (Iain Davidson, Maria Cotter & Steve Porter)
This project is a three-year linkage research project focused on the documentation of Gamilaraay people's historical and contemporary knowledge, use and management of natural resources within the Namoi, Gwydir and Border River catchments of northern NSW. The research is funded by the Australian Research Council, Department of Infrastructure Planning and Natural Resources and UNE, and supported by the Heritage Futures Research Centre. The project is innovative being designed and co-ordinated by members of the Gamilaraay community in full partnership with academic researchers and the government agency responsible for land use decisions in Gamilaraay country.

Golden Threads: The Chinese in regional NSW 1850-1950 (Janis Wilton)
Golden Threads is tracing and presenting the history and heritage of the Chinese presence in regional NSW. It is an ongoing project being carried out in collaboration with NERAM, NSW Heritage Office, Powerhouse Museum, Australian Museums On Line and local museums across the region. The Project involves ongoing work with local museums, historical societies and local residents to collect, enter and share information and understanding about the Chinese contribution to New England. It has included the Golden Threads Travelling Exhibition, and material from across the region is also included on the Golden Threads website (http://amol.org.au/goldenthreads).

The Heritage of Gunnedah and how this could be used for tourist purposes (John Ferry)
This project produced written report and public address for Business Gunnedah. The work culminated with a public meeting attended by about sixty people in Gunnedah on 19 March 2002. Promotion of the town's Koala population was one recommendation in this report. As a result of promoting itself as the Koala Capital of the world the town has experienced record numbers of tourists.

Heritage, Identity, Tourism: Maintaining our Lifestyle (Andrew Piper)
The primary focus of this project is engaging local communities with their cultural heritage and developing community based heritage projects which further both social and economic sustainability. The project will investigated the social and economic role of cultural heritage in the New England region. Specific attention is to be given to the application of the research to tourism, and in particular the development of a regional New England heritage trail.

Manganese Mining in Werrikimbee National Park (Janis Wilton)
A series of oral history interviews provided key material for recording and evaluating the historical and social significance of the manganese mines which operated during the 1940s in what is now Werrikimbee National Park.

McLean's Corner Conservation Project (Pam Watson)
This project will display and interpret the archaeological remains of a mid nineteenth-century flour mill, house and store established James McLean, a founding pioneer of Armidale. This related group of buildings had long disappeared from view and public memory in Armidale. The site was excavated in 2001 and 2002 prior to its destruction by a supermarket development. A sample of substantial basalt footings of two of the buildings will be displayed through a viewing window, accompanied by explanatory signs. The location, on the corner of Marsh and Dumaresq Streets, is close to the Visitors' Centre and will form part of the walking heritage trail through the town. The project represents co-operation between the HFRC at UNE, Armidale Dumaresq Council, the NSW Heritage Office and New England Properties Pty. Ltd.

New England Lives (John Ryan)
A joint University and community, in this case largely with the Armidale and District Historical Society, project concerned with recording the lives of deceased figures from an area up to 30-35 miles out from the centre of Armidale. New England Lives Vol II was published in 2001 and Vol III is in progress.

New England On-line (Janis Wilton)
An innovative research database is being developed for recording and disseminating data from interdisciplinary research via online access to a range of the projects undertaken by the Heritage Futures Research Centre. The aim is to produce a user friendly means to link heritage places in New England to the stories, objects and people which give them meaning, and to make the material available on-line.

The New Italy Settlement Interpretative Management Plan (Maria Cotter)
This project builds upon the New Italy Conservation Management Plan completed by Maria and Jane Gardiner (a colleague from Southern Cross University) in August 2002. The purpose of the project is to produce an interpretative management plan for the historic New Italy Settlement Area with the view to formulating signage for incorporation into a New Italy Heritage Trail. It has been carried out in consultation with the New Italy Museum Committee, the New Italy School Reserve Trust (local residents), descendants of the original settlers and Richmond Valley Council, and in collaboration with the Centre for Regional Tourism Research at Southern Cross University, with funding from the NSW Heritage Office.

North Coast Railway History (John Ferry)
A 7,000 word contribution to a study commissioned by State Rail of the Glenreagh to Dorrigo Railway Line completed in December 2001.

Parry Shire Heritage Study (John Ferry)
This project for Parry Shire Council and the NSW Heritage Office, in collaboration with EJE Architects of Newcastle has been completed. It involved a lot of community consultation and produced a 7000 word thematic history of the shire. As a result of this heritage study, Parry Shire appointed a paid heritage consultant.

Saumarez Store Excavations (Pam Watson)
The old Store at Saumarez homestead, a National Trust property just outside Armidale, was archaeologically surveyed and sampled for the National Trust of Australia (NSW) prior to urgent renovations to the foundations of the structure. The core of the building may date back to 1835, making it the oldest standing structure in the Armidale region, predating the establishment of the town. Information on subsurface construction and phases of curtilage activities was retrieved. Like the archaeological excavations at McLean's Corner, this project has allowed archaeology students from UNE to gain valuable practical experience in archaeological field methods and post-excavation processing.

Tales from New England (John Ryan)
A commissioned critical and biographical volume concerning novels, short stories and other tales from the New England region, which has the working title of 'Tales from New England'.

The Tenterfield Project: A Study of the Inherited Culture of the Tenterfield Shire (Martin Auster)
Local history, personalities, buildings and social organisations are an important part of the cultural identity of a town. An awareness of this community history can be gained from written publications, but books get out of date or go out of print. Unlike books, websites are instantly accessible from any computer anywhere and can be continually updated. The Tenterfield project has established an online archive of historical and cultural information relating to the town of Tenterfield in northern New South Wales. This project is a living ongoing work, to be taken over eventually by the local Tenterfield community.
Web reference: http://www.une.edu.au/geoplan/Tenterfield_index.htm

Wing Hing Long (Tingha) Archival Collection (Bill Oates)
In collaboration with Wing Hing Long and funded by a Community Heritage Grant from the National Library of Australia. The project is coordinated by the UNE Heritage Centre Archives Staff.

Writing Tenterfield (John Ryan)
This was a major component of the Tenterfield Project. It was supported by the Tenterfield Shire Council, the School of Arts, Library, Border Arts, Historical Society and Tourist Information Centre. The project took the form of a book of essays: Writing Tenterfield, covering environmental, ecological, historical, economic, biographic, architectural, transport, literary and general cultural material. It was completed at the end of 2001, and the book was launched in July 2002.