In Praise of 70K: Cultural Heritage and Graffiti Style Lachlan MacDowall This article investigates recent framings of graffiti as forms of cultural heritage in Melbourne, Australia. Consideration of the heritage value of graffiti began in 1999 with a proposal by the National Trust to classify a piece of 1950s political graffiti in the inner-city suburb of Richmond. Since then, the local government in the municipality of Yarra has formally recognized the cultural value of local graffiti, Melbourne City Council has considered a proposal for graffiti ‘tolerance zones’ and a number of examples of graffiti deemed significant have been given protection under local planning regulations and heritage legislation. The development of these proposals can be situated in relation to broader changes to the demography, architecture and governance of inner-city suburbs: increases in residential development transforming industrial spaces and the local character of neighbourhoods, fierce debate about the interests of residents and businesses, and attempts by local councillors elected on socialist or green platforms to produce progressive policy responses to graffiti. The heated public discussions about the value of local examples of graffiti echoed similar debates about the place of live music in inner-city venues in Melbourne and Sydney (Homan, 2003). Despite the range of positions in these debates, there has been little discussion about the philosophical and practical consequences of framing graffiti as heritage. For instance, how could the heritage value of an anonymous, ephemeral and prolific cultural form such as graffiti be recognized? How would spaces containing graffiti of heritage value be protected from further unauthorized marking? Also, how would the framing of forms of graffiti as cultural heritage impact on contemporary graffiti production? While providing some commentary on the development of the series of heritage proposals and the public debate surrounding them, the primary focus of this article ISSN 1030-4312 (print)/ISSN 1469-3666 (online)/06/040471-14 q 2006 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/10304310600987320 Lachlan MacDowall is Research Coordinator and Lecturer in Community Cultural Development at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Correspondence to: Lachlan MacDowall, Research Office, Victorian College of the Arts, 234 St Kilda Rd, Southbank, VIC 3006, Australia. E-mail: l.macdowall@vca.unimelb.edu.au Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies Vol. 20, No. 4, December 2006, pp. 471–484