Over 230 people including heritage professionals, tradespeople, custodians, students and more joined 15 exhibitors to celebrate and discuss traditional trades and conservation in Victoria over a weekend at the end of November.

The exposition included lime slaking demonstrations by Ray Wiltshire, a ‘Kids can Carve’ area by Cathedral Stone, and fantastic displays and discussion pieces ranging from glass pavement lights, the Caine hand tools collection, stained glass, the intricacies of metal and lead roof plumbing, the art of plaster and paint finishes and the Centre of Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades.

Each day featured a panel of experts discussing their path to, and experience in conservation and the future of the traditional trades industry.

Saturday’s panel, ‘Women Working in Traditional Trades’, featured a trio of Rebecca’s working for Almond Glass, TechRest and as a freelance stonemason respectively, hosted by the Heritage Council of Victoria’s Anna Foley. This panel discussed the pathways to enter the industry, the support networks available to new tradespeople entering the industry (especially women), the challenges (or lack thereof) of being a women on worksites, and ways to encourage more women to be involved in conservation and traditional trades.

Sunday’s panel,  ‘Collaborative Approaches to Conservation Projects’, featured Arthur Andronas (Managing Director, Andronas Architecture), Simon Davies (Managing Director, SIDA Constructions), and Rob Jones (Managing Director, TechRest), hosted by Samantha Westbrooke, the National Trust’s Executive Manager of Conservation and Advocacy, and our Conservation Architect. This panel discussed the challenges of managing major projects, the importance of collaboration and mutual understanding between all stakeholders, the current state of the industry (both internally and externally) and the challenges of the future in conservation and traditional trades.

The National Trust sincerely thanks all of our exhibitors and panellists for offering their time on their precious weekend, especially in such trying weather conditions. These events do not exist without the willingness of our trades and colleagues to help us to celebrate and educate about traditional trades and conservation.

If you are interested in these sorts of events, please let us know at [email protected] and we will let you know when more events like this are on.

The Traditional Trades Exposition is presented by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and supported by the Heritage Council Victoria.