Tax ID no. ABN: 54 008 444 684 Location Canberra, Australia Founder Annie Forsyth Wyatt | Registration no. ACN: 008 444 684 Area served Australia Founded 5 February 1965 | |
 | ||
Website www.nationaltrust.org.au Type of business National peak body for National Trusts; public company, limited by guarantee | ||
The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's indigenous, natural and historic heritage.
Contents
Incorporated in 1965, it federates the eight autonomous National Trusts in each Australian state and internal self-governing territory, providing them with a national secretariat and a national and international presence.
Collectively, the constituent National Trusts own or manage over 300 heritage places (the majority held in perpetuity), and manage a volunteer workforce of 7000 while also employing about 350 people nationwide. Around 1,000,000 visitors experience the properties and their collections in Australia each year.
History
Modelled on the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty and inspired by local campaigns to conserve native bushland and preserve old buildings, the first Australian National Trusts were formed in New South Wales in 1945, South Australia in 1955 and Victoria in 1956; followed later in Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.
The driving force behind the establishment of the National Trust in Australia was Annie Forsyth Wyatt (1885-1961). She lived for much of her life in a cottage in Gordon, New South Wales, which is still standing. She was living in the Sydney suburb of St Ives when she died.
In 1975, the National Trust moved into the former Fort Street High School building on Observatory Hill, after the girls' school moved to Petersham to be reunited with the boys' school, which had moved in 1916. The distinctive building, which retains its appearance from the time of its conversion to a school in 1849, is visible from the approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Member organisations
The constituent organisations are: