James Semple Kerr

James Semple Kerr (6 July 1932 – 15 October 2014) was an architectural historian and heritage practitioner in Australia, who was prominent in the drafting of the original Burra Charter and its subsidiary documents, and developing standards for conservation practice, particularly in relation to conservation assessments and management reports such as conservation management plans.

Kerr's influence in the conservation movement is most notable for his publication of the Conservation Plan, which has guided building conservation in Australia and around the world.

Kerr was born on 6 July 1932 in Rockhampton, Queensland, son of grazier James Kerr and Iris (née Rudd), and he and his sisters were raised on Hampden Downs Station.

Initially home schooled by his mother, he later attended Toowoomba Preparatory School and then King's School Parramatta.

Kerr married Joan Lyndon (1938–2004), an art and architectural historian, whom he had met in 1957.

He joined the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1952, leaving in 1956.

He became an accomplished oarsman in Queensland and later NSW state competitions, but missed out narrowly on selection for the 1956 Olympics.

They wed on 30 November 1960 at All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane, moving to Sydney soon after.

Kerr was working in management at Qantas at the time.

In 1963, Qantas posted Kerr to Geneva, and then to London, where Joan enrolled them both in a history of art course run by Nikolaus Pevsner at Birkbeck College.

They returned to Australia in 1968, settling in Cremorne in Sydney.

They had two children, a daughter, Tamsin and a son, James.

Kerr undertook a doctorate at the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, at the University of York in 1974.

He graduated in 1977 with a PhD titled Design for convicts in the Australian colonies during the transportation era.

In 1978 he took up the position as assistant director at the Australian Heritage Commission in Canberra.

He was also an assistant director of the National Trust of Australia (NSW).

Kerr was prominent in heritage conservation in Australia for over 40 years and was an early member of Australia ICOMOS, taking a major role in the formulation of the Burra Charter and its Guidelines.

His publication in 1982 of The Conservation Plan: A guide to the preparation of conservation plans for places of European cultural significance was a landmark in Australian conservation.

The Conservation Plan is widely used by heritage practitioners and property owners in Australia, and worldwide as a primary guide to the process of researching, documenting and managing historic places in accordance with the Burra Charter, through a logical process.

First published by the National Trust of Australia (NSW) in 1982, it has subsequently been reprinted in expanded form over seven editions and twelve printing impressions.

The concept has been adopted worldwide as a critical process for conserving heritage places, for example in the British Heritage Lottery Fund guidance note Conservation Plans for Historic Places.

"For Kerr, 'the seven deadly sins of heritage assessment were: the Timorous; the Inarticulate; the Aesthetes and Moralists; the Indiscriminate; the Egotists; the Slothful and the Muddled'."

Kerr was made Honorary Life Member of the National Trust (NSW) in 1992 and was awarded the NSW National Trust Heritage Award with his wife Joan in 1995, and they received the lifetime achievement award in 2007, and he was made an Honorary Life Member of Australia ICOMOS in 2003 and International Honorary Life Member in 2011.

He was also made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1999, "...for service to heritage conservation through organisations including the Australian International Council on Monuments And Sites, and The New South Wales Branch of the National Trust of Australia".

Kerr's wife Joan died in 2004, and James published "Joan Kerr, A Pictorial Biography, 1938–2004" in 2006.

He also published letters from his son (also James Semple), who worked as an outback stockman.

Kerr died on Wednesday 15 October 2014 at Elizabeth Lodge nursing home, Willoughby, New South Wales.

His final project had been to catalogue the works of his wife and of his own.

His personal papers, along with those of his wife, and records of his family history have been deposited, in bound volumes, in the National Library of Australia in Canberra.