Nominate a person or event

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Woollahra Council Plaque Scheme

The Woollahra Council Plaque Scheme is driven by community suggestion and relies upon the public making interesting and eligible nominations.

There are three stages to assist you to navigate the process of nominating a person or event.

Stage 1: Meeting the criteria

There are rules to bear in mind in order to be eligible:

  • Except where exceptional circumstances exist, a person must have been dead for ten years or have passed the centenary of their birth, whichever is the earlier, and have resided in the Woollahra Local Government area or the local area had a central significance to the proposed person nominated.
  • Nominations for events will be considered for commemoration where significant historical or cultural events in the history of the Woollahra Municipality or Australia as a nation took place. Please note that nomination for a plaque and the decision to award one is not a substitute for the assessment of heritage significance carried out for potential heritage items. The award of a plaque does not represent a decision of Council to elevate a building or place to the status of a heritage item.

Once you are certain that the person or event meets this basic criteria, a formal nomination may be made. The closing date for the annual selection of plaques is at the end of April each year.

Stage 2: Submitting a nomination

Having made certain that your nomination meets the basic criteria and having read the full Woollahra Council Plaque Scheme Selection Criteria, a formal nomination may be submitted by the following methods:

Nominations can be submitted at any time throughout the year.

For any further queries, please contact Woollahra Libraries on 9391 7100.

Stage 3: Consent and installation

What happens after you make a nomination

Your nomination will be checked by the Woollahra Plaques Advisory Committee to ensure that the basic criteria have been met. Eligible nominations will then be passed to a Local History librarian, who will carry out research for consideration by the Woollahra Plaques Advisory Committee at its next meeting.

The decision will be one of two alternatives:

1. Nomination has been successful

If the Woollahra Plaques Advisory Committee decides that the nominated person or event merits a plaque, the Committee will make a recommendation to Council. A maximum of six plaques will be awarded in any given year. Where a plaque nomination has met the selection criteria but was not a priority for a given year, the same plaque nomination can be resubmitted in the following year.

You will be sent a letter informing you of Woollahra Council's decision.

2. Nomination has been unsuccessful

If your nomination is rejected by Woollahra Council, the application will proceed no further. Unsuccessful nominations cannot be reconsidered until ten years have passed from the date of rejection.

You will be sent a letter informing you of Woollahra Council's decision.

Consent and installation

Before a plaque can be installed, the location of individual plaques needs to be consistent with current planning, heritage and environmental policies and Plans of Management for Woollahra Council. In cases where a plaque is to be installed on privately owned buildings or sites, permission must be requested and given by the owners of the building in question. If an owner is not in agreement then the proposal cannot go ahead at that address.

The design of the plaque is decided by Woollahra Council.

Explore Woollahra's plaques

View existing plaques by map, suburb or unveiling date.