Attempts to increase public participation in heritage‐related activities have had mixed success. This research seeks to understand the degree to which people value heritage, what influenced their degree of engagement with heritage and what elements of a heritage item impacted upon the value attached to it by the public.
Focus groups and repertory grid analysis were used to gain a sense of how people defined heritage and the factors that influenced their perceptions and involvement. A survey of a nationally representative sample of over 3,200 people was then conducted to empirically test these findings.
The results emphasise that people are highly motivated to engage in heritage activities that they find directly relevant to their own specific interests, culture or history. Heritage was defined broadly, encompassing a wide range of objects, places and experiences, summarised here under 15 categories. The key criteria in determining whether a particular object was viewed as being worthy of heritage protection were its perceived importance to the nation, personal relevance, irreplaceability and uniqueness.
The data is limited to the Australian context, and the approach should be replicated in other nations to examine generalisability of results. The complex way in which the public defines heritage means that much work is still to be done to understand how the various attributes of a heritage item interrelate to influence its perceived value.
This paper includes implications for heritage managers, specifically on how to educate and support the public connection with heritage by encouraging them to build personal connections through experience, storytelling and celebrations.
Through its use of multiple methods of data collection, and inclusion of oft‐overlooked groups, this study presents a rare “national” perspective on public views of heritage and how they are formed.
