Horsey Heritage: The brumby in Australian identity politics

This paper will challenge the categorization of heritage by looking at the feral horses of Kosciusko National Park in New South Wales, Australia. The state Heritage Act, however, refers only to the recognition of "a place, building, work, relic, moveable object or precinct." This shift in the type of object listed as heritage raises a number of questions that challenge the very concept of heritage. The paper will thus explore how a horse be heritage; how the heritage significance of the "brumby" is to be recognised and protected, in a legislative capacity; and, beyond these practicalities, whose heritage this act really represents.