Bicentenaries and belonging : public heritage of the lower Blue Mountains and the politics of place attachment

This photo essay explores some of the meanings of belonging, place attachment, community and heritage within my local community of the lower Blue Mountains, on the urban fringe to the west of Sydney, Australia. I argue that there is a prevailing version of heritage in this locality that constructs belonging in certain ways, excluding and marginalizing some on the basis of ‘social locations’ such as gender and race (Yuval-Davis 2006, 199). I identify this as a local manifestation of what is known as the ‘authorized heritage discourse’ (AHD) (Smith 2006), through which hegemonic concepts prevalent at state and national levels such as commemorations of white colonization, play out at the local level. I explore how this dominant discourse creates an ambiguity and dissonance in my attachment to place, further problematized by my status as a white Australian, making me a reluctant beneficiary of the colonial enterprise.