Celebrations at the Victorian Trades Hall as the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, the Hon. Tanya Pilbersek MP, pays a visit to announce that the place has entered the National Heritage List (NHL) in recognition of its “outstanding significance to the nation”.

Left : The Hon. Tanya Pilbersek MP, who announced the news
Right : Guests in the Old Council Chamber, including Stuart Hanafin (facing camera) and Peter Lovell

The announcement is a happy conclusion to a process that began in 2016 with the preparation by Lovell Chen of a conservation management plan (CMP) for the Trades Hall, undertaken principally by Kate Gray, Libby Blamey and Suzanne Zahra. The full significance of the place was realised, leading to the preparation of nomination documents for its recognition at a national level. The Victorian Trades Hall is not only the symbolic home of trade unionism in the state but is associated with key events in the history of workers’ rights, social rights, the Australian Labour Party and the country as a whole.

Tanya Pilberek commented that, “We have no shortage of national heritage dedicated to the memory of wealth and power. It’s only right that our national estate also includes the lives and achievements of working people.”

Work on the CMP included the writing of a detailed history and comparative analysis with similar buildings in Australia and around the world — of which the Victorian Trades Hall is a remarkable example. It is one of the oldest trade union buildings in the world. A comparable building, already on the NHL, is the Broken Hill Trades Hall, for which we are preparing a CMP. The Broken Hill and Victorian trades halls are part of an international application for inscription of workers’ halls on the World Heritage List.

Congratulations to all at the Trades Hall, and in particular to Luke Hilakari, Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council and tireless champion of the building and its nomination.

Lovell Chen has been working at the Trades Hall since 2016, most recently on the award-winning Trades Hall Living Heritage Project, funded by the state government through the Living Heritage Program. The architectural and conservation works are led by Peter Lovell, Kai Chen and Stuart Hanafin, with heritage permit support from Suzanne Zahra.

The Trades Hall is located on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nations