Victorian Heritage Register places, boundaries
liveThe Victorian Heritage Register layer from Vicmap, one row per mapped shape of a registered place or object, with its register number, site name and the publisher's feature identifiers. The register lists the places and objects protected under the Heritage Act 2017 at State level. Shapes are in GDA2020 as the publisher serves them.
Also called: VHR boundaries, Victorian Heritage Register map, Heritage listed places in Victoria, Vicmap heritage_register layer.
- What does each row hold?
- Each row is one mapped shape of a place or object on the Victorian Heritage Register, the State's list of its most significant heritage places and objects protected under the Heritage Act 2017. It carries the register number, such as H2381, the site name and the identifiers the publisher uses, with the shape in the GeoParquet, GeoJSON, GeoPackage and PMTiles files. A place mapped in separate parts has a row for each part under one register number, and the Coliban Water Supply, H1021, has 50.
- How do I find the statement of significance for a place?
- The register number in each row is the number the Victorian Heritage Database uses, so a search there for the number gives the place's full listing. This layer holds the boundaries and names only.
- What is the heritage object flag?
- The publisher marks a row Y where the listing is a heritage object rather than a place, and N for a place. Both are kept as published.
- Does it include places protected only by a council heritage overlay?
- No. Places in a local planning scheme's heritage overlay are listed by councils and are not in this layer unless they are also on the State register.
Made for agents
Connect your AI agent
Any agent that connects to publicdata.au/mcp can find this dataset, read its 8 fields, count and filter across all 2,681 rows and diff its versions. Every answer names the version and carries Transport and Planning's attribution. No key.
Then ask it: What does Victorian Heritage Register places, boundaries hold, and what changed in the newest version?
claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp One command. No key, no account, no sign-up.
Settings, then Connectors, then Add custom connector, and paste https://publicdata.au/mcp.
On the web and in the desktop app.
https://publicdata.au/mcp Streamable HTTP. Cursor, VS Code or any client that connects to a remote MCP server.
Using https://publicdata.au/llms.txt, how many people died on Queensland roads in 2025, by month? For an assistant that reads the web and has no connector.
A dashboard over every row. Click to filter, add panels, share a link or embed a frame.
Query APIFilter and count from a URLaggregate?group=heritage_object&metric=count
Heritage places by heritage object: 2,624 N, 57 Y.
Download it as Excel, CSV, JSON and 9 more formats
Pick a format and a version. Excel is picked first because it opens in the tools most offices have. The URL is yours to keep. A dated version never changes.
In your own tools
Use it in Excel, R, Python and more
Excel and Power BI read the CSV from its address and refresh from it. The R and Python packages take any dataset on this site by its slug, so a new dataset needs no new release. The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS, and a query reads only the blocks it touches.
The dated URL in the code never changes. https://publicdata.au/d/vic-heritage-register/latest/ redirects to the newest version.
https://publicdata.au/d/vic-heritage-register/latest/data.csv In Excel choose Data, then From Web, and paste this address. Excel keeps it, so Refresh All reads the newest version. A sheet holds about a million rows; past that, load the query to the Data Model.
https://publicdata.au/d/vic-heritage-register/latest/data.csv In Power BI Desktop choose Get data, then Web, paste this address and choose Anonymous when asked how to sign in. A scheduled refresh reads the same address, so the report follows each new version.
library(publicdataau)
df <- pd_read("vic-heritage-register")
pd_attribution(df) install.packages("publicdataau"). pd_read() fetches the version's Parquet file; pd_rows() and pd_aggregate() ask the query API instead, and pd_connect() attaches the DuckDB file.
import publicdata_au as pd_au
df = pd_au.read("vic-heritage-register")
df.attrs["publicdata"]["attribution"] pip install "publicdata-au[pandas]". read() fetches the version's Parquet file; rows() and aggregate() ask the query API, and connect() attaches the DuckDB file.
INSTALL httpfs; LOAD httpfs;
ATTACH 'https://publicdata.au/d/vic-heritage-register/v/2026-10-04/data.duckdb' AS vic_heritage_register (READ_ONLY);
SELECT ufi, count(*) FROM vic_heritage_register.records GROUP BY 1 ORDER BY 2 DESC; The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS and only the blocks a query touches are read. Parquet works the same way: FROM read_parquet(url).
const res = await fetch("https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/vic-heritage-register/aggregate?group=heritage_object&metric=count");
const { rows, publicdata } = await res.json();
console.log(rows, publicdata.attribution); The query API answers a page on any site as well as Node, with no key. It returns the rows and the attribution the licence asks for.
What is in it
Column names are made snake_case and the publisher's original header is kept beside each one. Blank cells are null. Nothing is added, removed, ranked or summarised.
| Field | Type | Publisher's header | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| vhr_num | string | vhr_num | The Victorian Heritage Register number, such as H2381. |
| site_name | string | site_name | The place or object's name, in the publisher's capitals. |
| heritage_object | string | heritage_object | Y where the listing is a heritage object, N for a place. |
| vhi_num | string | vhi_num | A Heritage Inventory number where the publisher gives one; blank on most rows. |
| hermes_num | integer | hermes_num | The place's record number in the HERMES heritage database behind the Victorian Heritage Database. |
| ufi | integer | ufi | Vicmap's unique feature identifier for the shape. |
| vdpid | integer | vdpid | |
| id | integer | id |
Download this table as a data dictionary (Excel), or read it as a Frictionless Table Schema at schema.json. The key is ufi.
The first 10 rows
From the latest version, in the publisher's order, with every field. A blank cell is shown as null.
| vhr_num | site_name | heritage_object | vhi_num | hermes_num | ufi | vdpid | id |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H2381 | MAROONDAH WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM (UPPER & CENTRAL) | N | null | 197552 | 1440560 | 14 | 112489 |
| H2047 | CASTLEMAINE DIGGINGS NATIONAL HERITAGE PARK | N | null | 12834 | 1456884 | 21 | 112495 |
| H2047 | CASTLEMAINE DIGGINGS NATIONAL HERITAGE PARK | N | null | 12834 | 1440570 | 25 | 112499 |
| H2333 | YAN YEAN WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM | N | null | 13088 | 1440573 | 29 | 112502 |
| H0424 | CARRANBALLAC | N | null | 1023 | 1440584 | 41 | 112512 |
| H2114 | TOWER HILL STATE GAME RESERVE | N | null | 14278 | 1440585 | 45 | 112513 |
| H2030 | POINT NEPEAN | N | null | 3256 | 1440590 | 50 | 112518 |
| H1157 | CHEETHAM SALT WORKS | N | null | 4820 | 1466567 | 55 | 112523 |
| H2261 | GREAT OCEAN ROAD | N | null | 14228 | 1440599 | 59 | 112527 |
| H2030 | POINT NEPEAN | N | null | 3256 | 1440602 | 63 | 112530 |
The first row as JSON
As it appears in data.json.
GET https://publicdata.au/d/vic-heritage-register/latest/data.json
{
"vhr_num": "H2381",
"site_name": "MAROONDAH WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM (UPPER & CENTRAL)",
"heritage_object": "N",
"vhi_num": null,
"hermes_num": 197552,
"ufi": 1440560,
"vdpid": 14,
"id": 112489
}
Query it without downloading
The query API returns only the rows you ask for, as JSON, NDJSON or CSV, from the same typed rows as the files. It needs no key. Build a query here and run it, then copy the URL or the code into your own work.
How filters work
Each filter is field=operator.value in the query string, and every filter must match. A number or date field compares as a number or date, and a text field compares as text. Values are case-sensitive except with ilike. Prefix not. to negate a filter, as not.eq.value.
| Operator | What it matches |
|---|---|
| eq.value | Equal to the value. |
| neq.value | Not equal to the value. A blank cell does not match. |
| gt.value | Greater than the value. |
| gte.value | Greater than or equal to the value. |
| lt.value | Less than the value. |
| lte.value | Less than or equal to the value. |
| like.*text* | Matches a pattern where * stands for any run of characters. Case-sensitive. |
| ilike.*text* | The same as like, ignoring case. |
| in.(a,b,c) | Equal to any value in the list. A value cannot contain a comma. |
| is.null | Blank in the source, or suppressed by the publisher. |
| Parameter | What it does |
|---|---|
| select | Fields to return, comma-separated. Every field when absent. |
| order | field.asc or field.desc, comma-separated. The publisher's row order when absent. |
| limit | Rows per page, 1 to 10,000. 100 when absent. |
| offset | Rows to skip. The next URL in each answer sets it for you. |
| group | On aggregate, fields to group by, comma-separated. |
| metric | On aggregate, count, sum.field, avg.field, min.field or max.field, comma-separated. count when absent. |
| format | json, ndjson or csv. JSON carries the provenance header, and the others carry it in response headers. |
Without a version the API answers from the newest loaded version, and that answer changes when the publisher releases again. Put versions/<date>/ before rows or aggregate for an answer that never changes. /api/v1/datasets/<slug>/versions lists the loaded versions. The 2 newest versions are loaded; versions lists them.
The API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Above that it answers 429 for 10 seconds with a Retry-After header, a RateLimit-Policy header and a JSON body that gives the limit. Every API answer carries the same RateLimit-Policy. A client should wait the Retry-After seconds, or read the files, which have no limit. openapi.json describes this dataset's query paths for client generators and agents.
https://publicdata.au/mcp is a remote MCP server over Streamable HTTP with the same tools, defined in the same place, so a tool added to the pages is added here too. It needs no key and no account. The row tools are held to the query API's limit of 60 queries in 10 seconds from one address, and each call is two queries because it also counts the matching rows. Add it to Claude Code with claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp, add the URL in Claude as a custom connector, or give it to any client that connects to remote MCP servers. Each queryable dataset is also a resource at https://publicdata.au/d/<slug>/fields.json, which lists its fields with their types, the publisher's descriptions, their ranges and the values they hold, so an agent can read a dataset's shape before it writes a query.
What changed
One version for every release the publisher has made since this site started following the dataset. The date is the day the file changed on the portal.
- 2026-10-04 2,681 rows+0 added −0 removed 0 changed8 fieldsutf-8-sig57c053a5afefThe publisher's server states no change date, so this version is dated by the fetch.
- 2026-10-03 2,681 rows8 fieldsutf-8-sig901835c3f50dThe publisher's server states no change date, so this version is dated by the fetch.
versions.json · changes.json · history.tar.zst (1.8 MB, every version's Parquet and manifest)
Questions
How do I download Victorian Heritage Register places as a CSV file?
Open https://publicdata.au/d/vic-heritage-register/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/vic-heritage-register/v/2026-10-04/data.csv today. The same path serves Excel, JSON, GeoJSON, Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, GeoPackage, PMTiles, NDJSON, Arrow. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same.
Can I open Victorian Heritage Register places in Excel?
Yes. https://publicdata.au/d/vic-heritage-register/v/2026-10-04/data.xlsx is a workbook with the 2,681 rows on a records sheet, the field list on a second sheet and the provenance on a third. The CSV also opens in Excel. https://publicdata.au/d/vic-heritage-register/v/2026-10-04/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size.
How often is Victorian Heritage Register places updated?
Transport and Planning releases it as the register changes. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes.
Can I use Victorian Heritage Register places commercially?
Yes. CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file.
Is this the official source for Victorian Heritage Register places?
No. The publisher is Department of Transport and Planning, and its page is https://discover.data.vic.gov.au/dataset/victorian-heritage-register. This site republishes the publisher's file without changing its content. The original sits beside every version as source.geojson with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared.
What coordinate system does Victorian Heritage Register places use?
Shapes in GDA2020 (EPSG:7844), as the Vicmap service publishes them. The GeoJSON file uses GDA2020 as well, which differs from the WGS84 GeoJSON expects by well under a metre.
What this site did to the data. Cells were typed, headers were renamed and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. The publisher's file sits beside every version as source.geojson so the change can be checked.