Australian Heritage Council

Council members

Council members

The Chairman, six other members and up to two associate members are all appointed by the Minister. The Chairman must have substantial experience or expertise concerning heritage while two members must be similarly qualified in natural heritage, two in historic heritage and two must be Indigenous persons with substantial experience or expertise in Indigenous heritage, at least one of who must represent the interests of Indigenous people. An associate member must have expertise in any one of these areas.

Media releases

2013

2012

2011

2010

Current Members

Professor Carmen Lawrence (Chair)

Professor Carmen Lawrence

Professor Carmen Lawrence

After training as a research psychologist at the University of Western Australia and lecturing in a number of Australian universities, Professor Lawrence entered politics in 1986, serving at both State and Federal levels for 21 years. She was at various times W.A Minister for Education and Aboriginal affairs and was the first woman Premier and Treasurer of a State government. She shifted to Federal politics in 1994 when she was elected as the Member for Fremantle and was appointed Minister for Health and Human Services and Minister assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women. Professor Lawrence held various portfolios in Opposition, including Indigenous Affairs, Arts and Heritage, Environment, Industry and Innovation and was the first popularly elected national President of the Labor Party in 2004. She retired from politics in 2007. She is now Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Change in the School of Psychology at the University of Western Australia.

Mr Howard Tanner (Historic Expert)

Mr Howard Tanner

Mr Howard Tanner

Mr Howard Tanner is a leading Sydney architect with long-established interests in landscape design and history. He has a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Sydney and is a fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Mr Tanner has written extensively on Australian architecture, housing and gardens and was a senior lecturer in Architecture at the University of Sydney.

Mr Tanner was an architect or architectural heritage advisor for several significant Australian buildings including, Old Parliament House, Canberra; Sydney Town Hall, Sydney; Admiralty House, Kirribilli; and also for New Zealand Parliament Buildings in Wellington, New Zealand.

Mr Tanner is Chairman of the Foundation for the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. He was recently National President of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, is a former Chairman of the Heritage Council of NSW, a founder of the Australian Garden History Society, and a former Councillor and Vice President of the National Trust of Australia (NSW).

Ms Helen Lardner

Ms Helen Lardner
Ms Helen Lardner

Ms Helen Lardner is the director of the award-winning HLCD Pty Ltd, an innovative heritage consultancy in Victoria. A registered architect since 1996, Ms Lardner undertook a research Master of Architecture in Conservation (University of Melbourne 2000) and also studied Technology of Stone Conservation at the ICCROM course (Venice 1993). In 1993 Ms Lardner was the recipient of a UNESCO International Specialised Skills Fellowship for Overseas Study.

Ms Lardner's practice specialises in complex heritage places requiring a multidisciplinary team approach, such as industrial sites, institutions and major infrastructure. She has wide experience in coordinating the input of a range of specialists on such projects and facilitating the transition of development projects from initial assessment through to implementation. As a strong advocate for good heritage solutions, she is often required to give strategic input on large-scale developments.

Ms Lardner is currently an architect member of the Heritage Council of Victoria. She was formerly Vice President of Australia ICOMOS, is the Australian Institute of Architects' (AIA) Australian coordinator of the International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage and has chaired the AIA Awards (Victoria) Heritage Jury. Ms Lardner is an experienced heritage advisor to local government and has authored a number of heritage planning guidelines. She has lectured at Deakin University (Melbourne), where she is an ongoing member of the Deakin University Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies Academic Advisory Board, and also lectured at Silpakorn University (Thailand). She was employed as an architect by Heritage Victoria from 1990 to 1994 and has also served on a number of state government tribunals and panels.

Mr Rodney Dillon (Indigenous Expert)

Mr Rodney Dillon

Mr Rodney Dillon

Mr Rodney Dillon is the Indigenous Campaigner for Amnesty International and current Chair of the National Reference Group for Repatriation of Australian Indigenous Remains. He has been instrumental in changes to British repatriation policies and to the repatriation of many remains of Aboriginal Australian people.

Mr Dillon is a former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Commissioner for Tasmania, serving for three terms, and a member of the Stolen Generations Alliance: Australians for Truth, Justice and Healing, which saw Tasmania become the first state to remunerate members of the Stolen Generation. He has been involved in Aboriginal fishing rights at state and national levels and chaired a World Indigenous Fishing Conference in Vancouver. He is a founding member of the South East Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre and current Chair of the newly formed Weetapoona Aboriginal Corporation. He was named National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee Person of the Year in 2005 in recognition of his long term contribution to Aboriginal people. Mr Dillon is a Tasmanian Aborigine (Palawa).

Dr Jacqueline Huggins AM FAHA (Indigenous Expert)

Dr Jacqueline Huggins

Dr Jacqueline Huggins

Dr Huggins AM, FAHA, BA Qld, BA Hons, DipEd Flinders, honorary Doctor of the University of Queensland, is of the Bidjara (Central Queensland) and Birri-Gubba Juru (North Queensland) peoples. Dr Huggins holds many leadership positions in organisations across the country. She is the Deputy Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Unit at the University of Queensland; a Director of the Telstra Foundation; Adjunct Professor in the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences, University of Queensland; Member of the Indigenous Advisory Board of the Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research, Central Queensland University; former Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia; former Chair of the Queensland Domestic Violence Council (2001); former Commissioner for Queensland for the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families (1997); and former member of the ATSIC Review Panel (2003).

Dr Huggins has authored Auntie Rita (with Rita Huggins 1994) and Sistergirl (1999). In 2000 she received the Premier's Millenium Award for Excellence in Indigenous Affairs; in 2001 she was awarded a Centenary Medal for her work with Indigenous people, particularly reconciliation, literacy, women's issues and social justice; and was Co-Chair 2020 Summit Indigenous Stream (2008) and Queensland Public Service Commissioner (2008).

Dr Libby Mattiske (Natural Expert)

Dr Libby Mattiske

Dr Libby Mattiske

Dr Libby Mattiske has over thirty years' experience in flora and vegetation surveys in Australia and Australian External Territories. She is a consultant specialising in plant ecology and has a Bachelor of Science and a PhD from Adelaide University.

Her particular interests are in the flora, vegetation and ecology of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. She also has a strong interest in biodiversity, ecosystems and in the rehabilitation and restoration of vegetation on highly disturbed landforms. Dr Mattiske is a former Australian Heritage Commissioner and a former member and Deputy Chairman of the Western Australian National Parks and Nature Conservation Authority. She is also a former member and Deputy Chairman of the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority, the National State of Environment Committee and the Threatened Species Scientific Committee under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Associate Professor Peter Valentine (Natural Expert)

Associate Professor Peter Valentine

Associate Professor Peter Valentine

Professor Valentine currently teaches Environmental Science at James Cook University, and is Head of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He has extensive experience of Australia's natural environment and heritage, conservation and natural resource management.

Professor Valentine's research interests include: protected area management (including National Parks, Marine Protected Areas, World Heritage Areas, non-government biodiversity protection, Indigenous co-management) and related nature conservation issues, with particular interest in the integration of social science in natural resource management. He has worked extensively on World Heritage matters and provided advice to several governments and conservation organisations in many countries. Professor Valentine is a member of IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas and edits the IUCN's Best Practice Guidelines for Protected Area Management. He was previously a Director of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area for six years and currently advises the Queensland Government on matters of international conservation significance. He is also a Director (World Heritage) of Terrain NRM Board in the Wet Tropics.

Professor Valentine's published research includes environmental processes such as the effects of fire, interactions between tourism and wildlife, sustainability science, biogeography, ecology and conservation.

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