BACKGROUND TO CHANGING CULTURAL HERITAGE LEGISLATION IN TASMANIA

underway in the realm of heritage legislation and administration. In this paper I outline the development and provisions of the existing legislation and discuss its use and limitations for cultural resource management, finishing with a brief look at the current state of play regarding the proposed new legislation. The legislation dealing with movable cultural heritage and museums is not covered. FIRST HERITAGE LEGISLATION The first heritage legislation in Tasmania was incorporated into the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1970 and provided for protection of both Aboriginal and historic heritage. Under this Act cultural heritage sites can only be reserved as State Reserves for the specific purpose of protecting their cultural values. To do this the Crown has to acquire the relevant land and then write and implement a Management Plan. Since 1970 four Aboriginal sites and thirty historic sites have been declared as State Reserves. An unknown, but large, number of Aboriginal and historic archaeological sites also occur in other types of state reserves which were declared for nature conservation purposes, such as national parks. These sites are also protected under this Act