Mission to Taiwan June 2018
In late June AusHeritage members travelled to Taiwan for a program known as ‘Kinmen 7’, being the 7th mission by AusHeritage to Taiwan, with an ongoing focus on the Taiwanese island of Kinmen. The visit was at the invitation of Prof Alex Yen of the China University of Technology (CUTe) in Taipei, and the AusHeritage participants were Deputy Chair Peter Romey, Sharon Veale and Mary Knaggs.

The program comprised meetings in Taipei and Kinmen, public lectures and the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding with CUTe. The visit also included a meeting with Director-General Shy of the Bureau of Cultural Heritage and other BoCH officials at the BoCH headquarters in Taichung. Mr Shy proposed a new MOU between AusHeritage and the Taiwan Bureau of Cultural heritage, aimed at expanding the scope of conservation expertise that can be shared between the two organisations. The MOU content has been finalised and agreed to by both BoCH and AusHeritage, and will be formally signed in the near future.

Visit by Taiwan Ministry of Culture June 2018
In late October, AusHeritage hosted a visit to Sydney by senior members of the Taiwan Ministry of Culture (MoC). The delegation comprised Chief Secretary Mr Teng-Chin Chen and Executive Officers Ms Yu-Fang Pan and Ms. Lea Yi-Chen Lin. The visit came about as a result of the Kinmen 7 mission by AusHeritage members to Taiwan in June, which included a visit to the Taipei Railway Workshop site, now closed and planned for development as a museum of Taiwan’s railway system. MoC is responsible for developing the museum concept, and hence the interest in visiting Australia to gain an understanding of other sites where redundant railway facilities have been developed for new uses including a museum component.

The visit was coordinated by AusHeritage members Sharon Veale, Mary Knaggs and Peter Romey, assisted by other heritage professionals, and included meeting and excursions to important railway and industrial heritage sites including Carriageworks, Eveleigh ATP, the Transport Heritage NSW railway museum at Thirlmere and Cockatoo Island.