The conference this month at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, is the largest learning and networking event for Canada's heritage sector, attracting more than 400 delegates from across the globe.

The theme for this year's conference is Heritage Builds Resilience. Mr McKay's submission 'Sun, sand, surf and heritage' traces the history of Port Macquarie's town centre which has seen many changes over the years, most of which have been brought about by the pressures of development.

As the only speaker from Australia to attend the conference, Mr McKay said his 20 minute presentation will be an opportunity to showcase some of the conservation and beautification works that have occurred across the Hastings to preserve the region's unique convict era history.

"With no Heritage Act in NSW until 1977, many remnants of Port Macquarie's convict period were demolished prior to this date, in part, due to our shame of having a convict history and because tourists didn't want to see deteriorating buildings while they were on holidays," Mr McKay said.

"It was not until 1990 that the council began to make a commitment towards heritage."

Mr McKay's presentation will look at the collaboration that took place in the mid-1990s between Port Macquarie-Hastings Council and the Chamber of Commerce to revitalise the public realm of the town centre - turning it into an area that is vibrant, safe, pleasant for users and enhances business opportunities. These works became the catalyst for developers contributing to the town centre's revitalisation and as well as creating opportunities to showcase Port Macquarie's unique and rich history.

For Mr McKay, the most exciting aspect of our local heritage is that much of it still remains right under our feet and pre-dates the establishment of many of Australia's major cities including Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide.

With a degree in town planning and urban design, Mr McKay confesses he was never really into the prescriptive teaching of history in high school. It wasn't until Mr McKay was out in the world listening to the stories people could share that the world we've left behind in our past became treasure trove of tales. He was council's heritage officer for more than a decade and now runs his own private Uncovering Our Past tours across the region.

"I love Port Macquarie because of its uniqueness," Mr McKay, who grew up around some of Sydney's most stunning heritage listed buildings, said.

"The fact is there is little of our convict history remaining between Newcastle and Brisbane. The Glasshouse remains one of our most significant sites as is the Focus Apartments which was the old Government House, and St Thomas' Church built from 365,000 handmade bricks."

Mr McKay has written two books - Gone But Not Forgotten, the story of Clyde Cook, Australia's first Hollywood star born right here in Port Macquarie; and It's Not Hollywood But ..., an account of the day Bob Hope, Jerry Colonna, Francis Longford, Tony Romano, Barrie Dean and Pattie Thomas were forced to emergency land their plane in the Camden Haven River on the journey back to Sydney after entertaining troops in the South pacific during World War Two.

Mr McKay was hoping to reunite with Patti Thomas during his journey to the US but she unfortunately passed away at the age of 91 in March.