Going for Gold!
Explainer Video for The Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid
The Challenge for World Heritage Listing
How do you educate, inform and excite people about a big idea?
The Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid is a very big idea. It seeks United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (‘UNESCO’) recognition for the region’s rich gold rush history, highlighting its exceptional cultural and historical significance. The bid aims to preserve and celebrate the legacy of the goldfields, which shaped communities, innovation, and global migration during the 19th century, ensuring its stories are safeguarded for future generations.
To take people on the long journey to achieving a World Heritage Listing requires engaging the hearts and minds of viewers. Our goal was to take them on a journey to find their own pot of gold.
At a Glance
- Project: The Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Listing Bid
- Client: The Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid
- Delivered: 2024
- Duration: 3 months
- Category: Government, Community, Explainer Video
Our Approach to the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid
Where possible, we like to start every explainer video project with an Empathy Forecast Workshop. This activity gathers the right people in one place to discuss the details of the project. By doing so, we know right from the outset that we’re all on the same page and can leverage the expertise and experience in the room to make sure we’re saying the right things, in the right tone, to the right audience.
When there are a larger number of stakeholders, as was the case on this project, this workshop is even more critical to ensure we’re all aligned going forward.
Our Solution For The World Heritage Listing Bid
We proposed creating a short explainer video that could be shared by Heritage Victoria and the 15 different municipalities involved in the bid.
We wanted to educate the public about the concept of World Heritage, and to garner excitement about inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, alongside other famous world heritage sights such as the Taj Mahal, Great Barrier Reef, and the Pyramids of Giza, to name just a few.
We also wanted to highlight the old and the new of this unique bid, celebrating the best that Victorian Goldfields provided, and what’s still on offer in the area. The region is:
“… home to the most extensive and best surviving goldrush landscape anywhere in the world; the location of the biggest mass migration of the time … we’re talking diversity; First Peoples; multiculturalism; the environment; cities built from gold; progressive pioneers; world trade. [This was] the showstopper of the global gold rush phenomenon of the 19th century.”
Before the video was even complete, the idea had begun being championed by the local community. Ballarat-based audio company Hardy Audio found a local voiceover artist who was perfect for the video. And the background voices you can hear as the miners yell Eureka belong to Hardy Audio’s own studio staff!
Outcome From The Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid
As the timeframe for a World Heritage Listing is usually a few years, it will be a while before we know the outcome of the bid. Sites must be considered of Outstanding Universal Value, and must meet at least one of the ten selection criteria. If successful in securing World Heritage status, there will be numerous economic and cultural benefits, through increased tourism and investment in the area.
We’re extremely proud to have played a part in preparing an explainer video to educate the public to get behind this bid for World Heritage Listing. To stay up to date on the progress for the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage bid, please follow the latest news from Goldfields World Heritage.
