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Local Herit@ge On-Line
 Mulgoa Police Station, now Settler's Restaurant, is just one of the items in Penrith's Heritage Study. Photograph by Terry Agar, Penrith City Council. The community now has access to more information on heritage with recent contributions to the State Heritage Inventory by local councils. Information on hundreds of local heritage places is becoming available over the Internet as councils enter the results of heritage studies into the State Heritage Inventory database. Penrith City Council is one of the first councils to take advantage of the Heritage Office's recent offer of funding to assist with data entry for the State Heritage Inventory database. The Council has just completed the project which saw the results of its Heritage Study transferred to the Inventory. The State Heritage Inventory is an electronic database containing information on heritage items of state and local significance in NSW. It can be accessed on the Internet through the Heritage Office website at heritage.nsw.gov.au. Penrith City Council has worked with the NSW Heritage Office to provide the community with a valuable research and information tool, which includes records, scanned images and maps. Information about 186 heritage items identified in the heritage study and listed in Penrith City Council's Local Environmental Plan (LEP) have now been made publicly available through the State Heritage Inventory on the Internet. Penrith's heritage study is a comprehensive list of the different types of heritage places which the community considers are important to conserve. "Its giving the whole world access to information about Penrith's heritage," said Mr Terry Agar, Heritage Officer at Penrith City Council. "It will be useful for researchers, homeowners, developers, students or people looking for venues or film sites. Anyone who has access to a PC or local library will now have instant access to high quality images and information about Penrith's heritage." "From Council's perspective, it also provides a platform for a future review of the Heritage LEP. Instead of engaging a consultant who then has to go back to square one, we've got an electronic database to start with - we can add to or review the existing information. It will save us time and money in the future." Director of the Heritage Office, Rosalind Strong, sees easily accessible and comprehensive information about heritage places in a local area as the key to good heritage management. "It helps the community to engage in the processes of heritage management in a real way. Questions like 'Why this place?', 'What's important about it?', 'How can it be retained?' need to involve more than just heritage experts." The software for the State Heritage Inventory database is available free of charge to councils, government agencies and heritage professionals conducting heritage studies or compiling S170 Registers. This is part of a Heritage Office initiative to help with the identification and assessment of heritage items. Training is available for council staff who will be working with the software. Every month the Heritage Office runs a free half-day training session on the State Heritage Inventory database. As well as Penrith Council, Waverley Council has also recently completed transferring their Heritage Study onto the Inventory, with funding assistance from the Heritage Office. Wollongong Council is currently in the process of entering information about heritage items in the Illawarra region.
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