James Lesh

‘At the Intersection of Heritage Preservation, Urban Transformation, and Everyday Life in the Twentieth-Century Australian City’ (PhD in History, 2018).

This thesis investigated the history and theory of urban heritage conservation in Australia’s capital cities during the twentieth century. He placed the evolution of Australian urban conservation in its social, cultural and economic contexts both locally and internationally. He explored a variety of perspectives including those of planners, architects, boosters, policymakers, historians and activists. He examined the tensions of valuing the urban historic environment in a settler-colonial context. He demonstrated a history of heritage activism and practice in Australian cities across the entirety of the twentieth century. He particularly identified the 1960s to 1980s as a watershed period producing an Australian conception for heritage as progressive, democratic, interventionist and integrated. He suggested that history has an important role to play in understanding and enhancing urban conservation.

Supervisors: Professor Andrew May, Professor Kate Darian-Smith