There are 15,000 places across Australia that have been deemed worthy of state heritage protection and more than 100 nationally listed ones.
However, are some of these places more important than others?
Are those with significant architectural features more valuable than those that are modest but have a strong history?
What if the site is needed for a new development to benefit the wider population?
These are the questions at the centre of a major heritage dispute in Adelaide over the state government's plans to demolish a century-old police barracks to build a $3 billion women's and children's hospital.
Announcing the plans on September 27, South Australia's Premier Peter Malinauskas said it was a difficult decision but that the barracks in the city's west could be bulldozed, effectively because of how they looked.
"Visibly, when people look at the site, they will see that there is a very clear distinction between the architectural significance of this building versus a major heritage building on North Terrace — the State Library/SA Museum — for instance," the Premier said.
"[The police barracks] actually quite an outdated and old facility, which has passed its use-by date in any event.
"People who are going to rely on this [new] hospital will be sick women and children, and we have to do right by them."
The government's plans have infuriated heritage advocates such as Keith Conlon.
South Australia's police force is the third-oldest in the world, and the barracks — which date back to 1917 — house the renowned "police greys" mounted division.
The site has been state heritage listed for almost 40 years. A listing is meant to protect a site from damage or demolition.
"This is unprecedented. This is a huge breach of our understanding and faith in the system," Mr Conlon told ABC's 7.30.
"The assumption is there, under the legislation, this will not be knocked down.
"When I first heard about it, I thought, 'This is the stand-in-front-of-the-bulldozers moment'."
Health Minister Chris Picton said a new hospital for women and children was more important than the barracks.
“We have clearly had to make a very difficult decision in this case, and we've prioritised the health needs of the community — and women and children in this state — over those heritage concerns.
“We've been up-front about that. We've been very clear about that priority that we've made."
Concerns demolition will set a precedent
Protection for heritage buildings in South Australia was enshrined in law in 1978, after then-premier Don Dunstan notably stepped in to save a historic Adelaide bank from demolition.
The state government will effectively override the Heritage Act with special legislation to allow construction of the new hospital on the barracks' site.
Mr Conlon was worried demolishing the barracks could set a precedent.
"There is a real danger that trust in the heritage system will be damaged quite seriously, that people will be really uncertain about, how protected is that place? Is there another really good project for the public good that might mean it could get knocked over?" he said.
"It is an astounding attack on the foundations of the system."
'We do need a bigger and better facility'
Adelaide mum Vanessa Pollitt said she understood the heritage concerns, but says the need for a new hospital trumps them.
Her 11-year-old daughter has spent more than a week in the existing Women's and Children's Hospital, which is located in North Adelaide.
"Sometimes, we have to look at the needs of the masses," she said.
"You just can't afford to keep putting band-aids on the same building [the current Women's and Children's Hospital].
"I think we have reached a use-by date with this hospital … we are increasing in numbers in this state and I think we do need a bigger and better facility."
Women's and Children's Hospital nurse Kat Bury said staff, too, were keen for a new facility, which would be 25 per cent bigger than the current site, with more beds and an ICU.
"I've worked here for 15 years, and there's been talk pretty much ever since I started about a new hospital," she said.
"And so it's exciting to see that that's actually coming to fruition."
Locating the new facility at the police barracks site would place it next door to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Mr Conlon was urging the government to find another location and spare the barracks.
"Everybody wants a new women's and children's hospital, of course, but it shouldn't be at the expense of losing some of our invaluable past," he told 7.30.
"It should never be an either/or. We can have both."
The current police operations at the barracks and the museum will be moved to another site.
South Australia's Police Commissioner said it was a unique opportunity to find modern, fit-for-purpose facilities that could meet operational needs into the future.
A spokesperson for the SA Police Historical Society, which runs the museum, said they acknowledged the heritage nature of the buildings, but they did not meet its current needs.
Heritage under pressure
The federal government's recently released State of the Environment report warned that development posed a high risk to heritage. It recommended stronger legislation and more funding for conservation.
Australian Heritage Council chair and former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu said some sites had been allowed to run down, which put them at increased risk of demolition.
"There's no doubt that there's pressure of development in every city, in particular where there are higher population needs," Mr Baillieu told ABC's 7.30.
"If you look at the population projections for the next 30, 40 years … there will be pressure on heritage properties.
"I guess, over time, under fiscal pressure, heritage tends to take a second place, which is sad in many ways."
Mr Baillieu wants a renewed focus on preserving Australia's heritage assets.
"If we are as creative about the way those heritage properties are maintained, and the way they're used, as those who can see them in the first place, I think we would be able to do much better with what we do have. But it's a combined effort: locally, state-based, federally," he said.
Mr Baillieu said he was closely watching what was happening with the Thebarton Police Barracks, because they're surrounded by Adelaide Parklands, which are nationally protected and that could prompt federal involvement.
"No one should mess, and can't mess, with a national listing without the approval of the federal minister," he said.
"Because, on the surface, it appears that the new location chosen would breach the boundaries of the national listing … but also would have a potential impact on the parklands by way of additional height."
Mr Picton said the government would work through any issues with the Commonwealth and said the parklands would be an asset to the new hospital.
“It'll be essentially a hospital that will open up into the parklands, use a lot of space in the parklands that's completely inaccessible at the moment, and have a much more 'wellbeing' outcome for children and families who need to use this hospital for the next 50 to 100 years,” he told ABC's 7.30.
The state government has said it will introduce legislation allowing it to bulldoze the barracks by the end of the year.
Mr Conlon said he would continue the fight to protect what, he said, was a key piece of Adelaide's history.
"It will apply in other cities and towns in Australia because, once this idea that some things are more important than others … once that starts to creep into the thinking, then that may mean this kind of decision creeps across the border."
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