About 60 people attended the inaugural annual meeting of Historic Places Central Otago at Clyde on Saturday.
The group has replaced the former Central Otago Branch Committee of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust but is completely independent of the trust.
"We are now in a position to speak publicly on heritage issues ... this hasn't been possible in the past to a great degree, and some of you here will bear witness to that," acting chairman David White, of Cromwell, told the meeting.
"We have a new lease of life, with a new name and a new identity."
The parent body of the new Central Otago group is Historic Places Aotearoa Inc and Mr White is on the executive of that organisation.
At its launch last month, patron Dame Anne Salmond said there were now two "powerful voices" for the protection of historic sites and buildings in New Zealand.
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust was a Crown entity, supported by government funding and charged with upholding the Historic Places Act, while Historic Places Aotearoa was a non-government organisation "which is able to advocate for historic sites and buildings without fear or favour," she said.
Historic Places Aotearoa was formed to fill the gap that the review of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Toanga Bill, currently before Parliament, would create.
The Bill would disestablish the current New Zealand Historic Places branch committees, "cutting adrift" hundreds of volunteers who had given their time, energy and enthusiasm to heritage protection, Mr White said.
The Central Otago group had made a submission on many aspects of the Bill. It submitted the archaeological date of 1900 was "outdated" and proposed a new date of 1945 to include the heritage of two world wars and the depression.
On the local front, the organisation was working closely with other heritage organisations and planned to take a key role in any future strategies for heritage.
The district plan, heritage schedules, inventories and heritage values would be the group's key focus, he said.
"Central Otago has, probably within New Zealand, the largest amount of cultural landscape and heritage within its borders and we have a very small population base to work with in that regard.
"That means we need to work harder per person to keep on top of the loss of heritage and protect it for future generations."
Although the group was independent, it had not "deserted" the trust, Mr White said. It would work with the trust to achieve better heritage outcomes, co-operating on any issues that compromised that goal.
