“Many people are very worried about the future. But what about our wildlife? How will they respond?"30 July: The Donald Horne Institute for Cultural Heritage will launch today at the University of Canberra.
Established with $275,000 in ACT Government funding, the Institute will conduct research and teaching in cultural heritage to ensure the objects, symbols and places that make us who we are can be conserved for future generations.
“Cultural heritage focuses on the most valuable things in our society: the places and the things we most we most want to keep for our children and grandchildren,” the University’s head of cultural heritage studies, Dr James Warden said.
“From family heirlooms to world heritage sites our cultural heritage is everywhere. The cultural heritage profession has a huge responsibility to help choose what we preserve and act as guardians of these treasures for future generations.”
The Institute’s courses have been set up in response to demand from the cultural heritage sector and will deliver the specialist professional skills it requires.
“The teaching program is a collaboration, unique in Australia, between the University of Canberra and the national collecting institutions – the treasure houses of the nation’s capital,” Dr Warden added.
"Nowhere else in Australia could students get access to these sorts of collections. As Australia’s Capital University we are ideally placed to work with Canberra’s many national treasure houses to train Australia’s next generation of heritage professionals. We will also work with these national institutions to research and preserve our treasures.”
The Institute is named after former University of Canberra Chancellor and author of The Lucky Country Donald Horne. The iconic Albert Tucker painting which graced the cover of The Lucky Country will be the subject of the Institute’s inaugural seminar on 31 July and the centrepiece of its official launch tonight.
From semester one 2009, the Institute will offer two degrees: Bachelor of Cultural Heritage and Bachelor of Cultural Heritage Conservation. Postgraduate coursework and research degrees are also being developed.
