Significance International is an Australian company that works across each state and territory, as well as internationally, with cultural heritage. Its special focus is on movable cultural heritage, often simply called ‘collections’. Margaret Birtley is an Associate of the company and enjoys her work with its Director, Dr Veronica Bullock, and the other Associates.
Veronica advises that, while Significance International continues to provide its full range of services, the company’s website is closing in late 2020 after a decade of excellence.
Veronica observes, ‘It’s been a great vehicle for expressing views on selected heritage issues and events under News and Submissions tabs and for promoting and reporting on SI workshops. The website has been useful for workshop participants to access recommended readings and it has also served to illustrate the bona fides of the company, a number of valued Associates and its single employee, myself as Director”. She explains her reasons for closing the website: ‘There have been a few sizeable upgrades to the content management system over the years but the website has recently lost some functionality. I’ve decided not to invest significant time or funds on future-proofing the website, at least for the foreseeable future.’
The information and resources shared via the site have been invaluable for researchers, curators, collection managers, conservators and, of course, assessors of the significance of cultural heritage objects and collections. Veronica’s authoritative analysis of topical, often controversial, issues has been much appreciated by her many readers. The website has also hosted the text of Significance International’s insightful submissions to government inquiries.
Archived versions of the website are available as follows:
Internet Archive : Wayback machine
http://web.archive.org/web/20200901000000*/https://significanceinternational.com (24 October 2020)
National Library of Australia : Web archive
https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20201127001020/https://significanceinternational.com (27 November 2020)
Significance International brings together experts with a wide range of skills and knowledge in the heritage fields of archives appraisal, anthropology, archaeology, architecture, built heritage, collections management, conservation science, conservation planning and management, cultural landscapes, education and training, history, Indigenous rock art and site management, interpretation and communication, military history, military objects and collections, risk assessment and management, significance assessment, and transport history and collections. The Director and her Associates each has extensive experience in project delivery and report writing.
To assess the significance of movable cultural heritage items and collections, Significance International uses the Australian methodology that is outlined in the following two publications:
Significance: a guide to assessing the significance of cultural heritage objects and collections, (Heritage Collections Council, Canberra, 2001) (PDF version)
Significance 2.0: a guide to assessing the significance of collections, by Roslyn Russell and Kylie Winkworth, (Collections Council of Australia, Adelaide, 2009) (PDF version)
Existing email addresses remain unaffected by website closure. The main email address is info@significanceinternational.com.