In November 40 key Chinese community leaders attended a dinner and special presentation about Chinese heritage items in NSW. The dinner was organised by the Heritage Office and held at the Marigold Restaurant in Sydney. Special guests included Henry Tsang, Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney and community leader, King Fong.

Community leaders King Fong and Henry Tsang gave their endorsement to the project. "Life is full of fond memories, but heritage is just as important as we move to the future. I think it is important to remember that conserving some of the elements of our past will mean that we can build a stronger future and be proud of our past. As we approach the 2000 Olympics, tourists and sports people will appreciate the work we are doing here for heritage" said King Fong.

Henry Tsang commented in his address that Australia is going through an identity crisis. He urged the Chinese community "to correct this misconception that you need to be white to be Australian. Chinese history in Australia is part of Australian history. It is important to the Chinese community and important to the State."

The event was the first major Chinese community consultation initiative of the Program, and attracted considerable publicity through the Chinese media and major metropolitan newspapers.

Henry Tsang, Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney. Photograph by Michael Anderson.

Searching for a Conservation Management Plan? Consultants, researchers, planners and historians will know the value of a previous Conservation Management Plan to any further research they might be undertaking on a heritage building or place. Until now, locating a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) has been a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating task. Now the NSW Heritage Office is working to simplify the search. The Heritage Council's Conservation Management Plan Committee and History Advisory Panel have produced the first part of A Bibliography of Conservation (Management) Plans. There is no central collection of CMPs in NSW, and the status of CMPs as legal deposit publications is unclear. The bibliography lists all those CMPs lodged in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning Library, State Library of NSW and Sydney University Library between about 1983 and 1998. The bibliography is currently available in hard copy from the Heritage Office, and will be continually updated as new repositories and references are located. Agencies and consultancy firms that would like to have their CMPs included in the bibliography are encouraged to contact either Robyn Conroy or Bruce Baskerville at the Heritage Office. Model LEP update The Heritage Office has been developing a new model heritage Local Environment Plan (LEP) which is now in the final stages of endorsement. The model heritage LEP is for use by local councils and provides clauses to use in a local environment plan to promote the best practice management of heritage. If you are interested in finding out more about the model LEP contact Robyn Conroy at the Heritage Office on (02) 9849 9564, Tuesday - Thursday. RAPI Award Antony Pedroza, a planner with the Heritage Office, was awarded the Royal Australian Planning Institute's Award for Excellence in Planning for a Student Assignment at a presentation ceremony last month at Government House, Sydney. The awards are made annually to planners and organisations for best practice in the field of planning. The project involved an urban design study for the city of Cessnock, and focused on heritage, land use and design issues in a Hunter Valley town surrounded by coal mines and vineyards.