Australian National Heritage Policy

Dr James Lesh has done extensive research on Canberra's role in shaping and protecting urban and built cultural heritage. He has interrogated the earliest national heritage activities from Federation in 1901, then the first organised policymaking in the area in the 1950s and 1960s, followed by the establishment of the National Estate and Australian Heritage Commission, through to the subsequent winding down of those bodies. He has also written about future directions for national urban heritage policymaking, including adopting new approaches and values, and the opportunity posed by a sustainability agenda.