Heritage in Latrobe 

Heritage consists of those items which we as a community have inherited from the past and want to hand on to future generations. The community of Latrobe City has a diverse heritage which is embodied in those items which still remain illustrating past human occupation and development.

Gipps Land (now Gippsland) was the name given by the Colonial Government. "It encompasses the region's prehistory and its earliest inhabitants, the Koorie peoples; the early European pioneering and settlement period, the migrant influx of the 1950s and the Proclamation of city status in the 1990s," Cr. John Guy, Mayor, City of Morwell 1991-2.

How is our heritage protected?

The first step in protecting our heritage is to identify items of heritage significance that the community wish to keep. This achieved by the preparation of a Heritage Study by specialist consultants or by individual heritage assessments. Following the amalgamation of Council regions in the Latrobe Valley in 1998 there have been two (2) municipal wide heritage studies completed:

• Latrobe Heritage Study - Context Consultants (2005)
• Latrobe Heritage Study Review - Context Consultants (2008)

The second step, to ensure historically significant places or objects are managed and protected, is for the identified items to be included in the Latrobe Planning Scheme. Listing our special places on statutory heritage registers provides a legal framework for managing the approval of major changes to heritage places by requiring a planning permit.

There are three (3) main levels of significance and each level has its own heritage list.

• Local: Items of local significance to an area are listed in a Heritage Overlay (HO) provided by the Local Planning Scheme. This ensures that the identified heritage significance of the item is taken into account when a planning permit is required.
• State: Items which are of State significance are listed by the Victorian Heritage Office on its State Heritage Register. 
• National: Items of National significance are listed on the National Heritage List by the Federal Department of the Environment and Heritage.

The National Trust of Australia also has a register of heritage items, but this is an advisory list, rather than a statutory one.

Heritage Controls

Amendment C14 was approved by the Minister for Planning on the 21 October 2010 and introduces heritage places and precincts of local significance into Clause 43.01 of the Latrobe Planning Scheme and also introduces the Latrobe City Heritage Overlay Planning Permit Exemptions and Application Requirements Incorporated Plan.

The identification and listing of heritage items is an ongoing process. The opportunity for further research and identification of potentially historically significant places and objects may be provided during the completion of a future gap study.

The 2010 Latrobe City Heritage Study comprises three volumes which are as follows:

• Volume 1: Latrobe City Thematic Environmental History
• Volume 2: Key Findings & Recommendations
• Volume 3: Heritage Place & Precinct Citations

The incorporated plan provides planning permit exemptions and application requirements for heritage places in the Latrobe Planning Scheme.

Latrobe City Heritage Overlay Planning Permit Exemptions and Application Requirements Incorporated Plan.