HERITA HERITAGE FESTIVAL - NSW

Welcome to ‘Amazing Stories: Innovation and Invention’
1
Welcome to the 2012 National Trust Heritage Festival! In what will be the Festival’s
32nd year, we look forward to another program of amazing, community-based
events, held across metropolitan and regional NSW. Starting on Saturday 14 April
the Festival will culminate with National Trust Day on Sunday 29 April 2012.
Ian Carroll OAM
President
National Trust of
Australia (NSW)
This year, for the first
time, celebration of
our Heritage Festival
will be co-ordinated
across all states and
territories so that we
all share the same
theme; Amazing
Stories: Innovation
and Invention.
Throughout New
South Wales there will be literally hundreds of
events with something for everyone, including
discovery tours, art exhibitions, walks, talks, awards
presentations, concerts, open days, photographic
and historical displays and community fairs.
From the ingenuity of indigenous Australians and
their deep knowledge of the land; to examples of
resourceful ‘make do’ in hard times; to the creative
use of heritage places in the 21st century – the
2012 National Trust Heritage Festival celebrates
inspiration and innovation through Australia’s
heritage, past present and future.
The boomerang, the stump jump plough, the rotary
clothes hoist and Victa mower are all icons of
Australian invention. Australians were the first to fly
across the Pacific, and Australian genius created the
black box flight recorder. We built our extraordinary
Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, while on
a domestic scale our inventiveness came up with
trousers with permanent creases, the ‘Ute’, the
automatic totaliser, multi focal contact lens and the
first feature length film in 1906!
Throughout Australia you will find local inventions
and a keenness to try the ‘new’. Tamworth (NSW)
became the first inland ‘city of light’ when it
illuminated its streets by electricity in 1888. The first
metal mine in Australia opened at Glen Osmond,
South Australia in 1841; the Courthouse at Berrima
NSW was the site of the first trial by jury, and a
myriad of inventive, innovative and ingenious items
and ideas can be found in museums, households
and public organisations across the country.
The National Trust established the Heritage Festival
32 years ago to highlight the need for people to
care for and enjoy their built, natural and cultural
heritage. The Trust continues to work for that
heritage through its advocacy, conservation and
education programs, and continues to rely on
your support to underpin those programs and
achieve results.
To read more about our work and for Festival
updates please go to our website
www.nationaltrust.com.au. We hope you will join us
in celebrating ‘Amazing Stories: Innovation and
Invention’. We also hope you will tell your friends
about the Festival and encourage them to share in
the fun by being part of one of the longest running
community festivals in New South Wales.