The research undertaken compares the impact of heritage planning and management at Maldon in Victoria, with Tumbarumba in New South Wales and to a lesser extent with a number of other municipalities. Maldon and Tumbarumba are former gold mining towns of similar size and age. Maldon has been subject to rigorous planning controls following its declaration as a 'Notable Town' by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) in the 1960s and was the forerunner for heritage planning in Australia, while Tumbarumba was later to be recognised for its heritage value and has less detailed planning controls. Maldon has been the centre of ongoing conflict for decades while Tumbarumba has been relatively free of conflict. Through research into existing documents, community consultation and use of questionnaires, this thesis sets out to look at how the conservation of heritage towns fits into the broader picture of conservation management, and examines the dynamics of conserving heritage towns. By undertaking a heritage study in the town of Tumbarumba, and looking closely at how heritage planning was implemented at Maldon, two dimensions of heritage management are examined. Firstly, the consistency in the planning process and the duration of events are compared, and secondly the extent of conflict is examined with contributing factors being isolated. Within the thesis, models are developed for analysing the conflict at Maldon, and for implementing heritage management in towns. The latter is through examining the accepted approaches to heritage management against the evidence of conflict, external control, community involvement and the presence of incentives. The thesis concludes that the dynamics of working with the community can be as important as the technical aspects of conservation.