Heritage Perth’s Executive Director, Richard Offen, recently visited Tasmania where he had been invited to be keynote speaker at a Heritage Tourism Conference.

Richard Offen and some of the other presenters

“Tourism Tasmania and Heritage Tasmania, who jointly organised the conference, were looking for a speaker from an organisation that they considered to be leading the way in promoting heritage as a positive tourism asset. They found our web site and decided that Heritage Perth fitted the bill perfectly,” explained Richard.

“It was extremely flattering and a great affirmation of the work we are doing,” said Heritage Perth’s Chairman, Dario Amara. “To be described as an ‘extremely dynamic heritage organisation’ and to be invited to present our work at such an important conference marks a real coming of age for Heritage Perth and demonstrates the high regard our Executive Director is held in by other heritage practitioners.”

Not one to let the grass grow under his feet, Richard made a whistle-stop tour of Tasmania, managing to fit in a visit to the Port Arthur Convict Settlement, where he met with the Director of Conservation and Infrastructure. He also visited Hobart’s premier hotel situated in a superbly converted former jam factory dating from the 1820s. The success of this adaptive reuse of a heritage building highlighted the potential for similar projects with buildings in Perth. Richard also met with the Tasmanian National Trust who run a very progressive Community Heritage Program and visited a number of smaller heritage sites to see how these were interpreted.

“Tasmania is cram-packed full of beautiful heritage places,” said Richard. “Hopefully the result of the conference will be a much more strategic approach to marketing the island’s heritage as a vital ingredient in any visit.”

Port Arthur Convict Settlement, Tasmania