Architect, conservationist and academic Deborah Kemp said Shepparton was the only place she knew of that held Cultural Heritage Awards.
“It's quite unique in Victoria, and Shepparton is well recognised by Heritage Victoria as being very proactive in protecting its heritage.
“Shepparton has taken on a really positive and promotional role about its heritage. It doesn't just act as a policeman when it comes to heritage."
Ms Kemp is advisor to Greater Shepparton City Council's heritage committee, which administers the city's biennial heritage awards.
She is also a heritage advisor to other northern Victoria municipalities such as Strathbogie, Indi and Wangaratta, the post-war Bonegilla Migrant Camps near Wodonga and the Victorian Education Department.
She said Shepparton's heritage was special, but often unrecognised.
“People think Shepparton doesn't have any places of cultural interest. But you have wonderful things here, and it's still evolving — it's still very much alive and that makes it even more interesting,” she said.
Ms Kemp cited the 1960s-built SPC factory as an Australian icon.
“It's a recognised piece of ‘Industralia’ — a great example, along with the former Ford plant at Broadmeadows, of post-war industrial architecture when people were pinching ideas from America,” she said.
Ms Kemp also said the Shepparton district could claim another, earlier example of US influence with the first American-style bungalow built in 1911 at Bunbartha.
She said there was also an example of a Walter Burley Griffin design, and an early example of the modern knit-locking pre-cast concrete building technique among privately owned Shepparton dwellings.
“We've got a bit hooked on the 19th century, but heritage buildings don't have to be old,” Ms Kemp said.
“This is an innovative area. It's always been really ahead of its time. People have gone with imagination and change — Shepparton has gone through irrigation and now multiculturalism and as time goes by there will be far more change.”
She encouraged anyone interested in submitting an idea to Shepparton's heritage advisory committee to look beyond buildings and books.
“It's how you use buildings that is important. You have to ask ‘does this mean something to us as a group?'" she said.
“People want to have a relationship with buildings. Murals are a great example of communities creating icons to respect. That's all still happening.”
Ms Kemp also highlighted Wilmot Rd Primary School students’ creation of interpretive signage for The Flats in Mooroopna, the restoration of Katandra West's Cenotaph, and the Dookie community's publication of a book about its fallen World War I soldiers as fine examples of current heritage and preservation practices.
“These are all fantastic examples of enduring cultural links being protected by community members,” she said.
Ms Kemp said she felt this past year had seen a resurgence of attachment to culture and heritage.
“During and after COVID, I think there is a feeling of returning to roots and a sense of place,” she said.