Evolution and significance of the regeneration reserve heritage landscape of Broken Hill: history, values and significance

In 1991, the National Trust of NSW classified the Regeneration Reserves surrounding the City of Broken Hill as an essential cultural heritage asset of the City of Broken Hill, and in 2015 the City of Broken Hill, including the reserves, were elevated to the National Heritage List under the Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This tract of land, and its proponents, Albert and Margaret Morris, are recognised as pioneers of arid zone revegetation science in Australia; a point noted in the National Heritage List citation. They created at Broken Hill a unique revegetation ‘greenbelt’ of national ecological, landscape architectural and town planning significance. The Morris’ led the advancement of arid zone botanical investigation and taxonomic inquiry, propagation innovation, and revegetation sciencein the 1920s-40s in Australia and applied this spatially. Their research and practical applications, in crafting the regeneration reserves around Broken Hill, demonstrated the need for landscape harmonisation to occur to reduce erosion and dust damage to human and mining activities alike. This pioneering research and practice informs and underpins much arid zone mine reclamation and revegetation work in Australia today. This paper reviews the historical evolution of this cultural landscape, its integral importance to the cultural heritage and mining history of the City of Broken Hill, and its inclusion as part of the Broken Hill National Heritage List citation.