diff --git a/include/IECore/SceneInterface.h b/include/IECore/SceneInterface.h
index d9a4e970bc..724c61626a 100644
--- a/include/IECore/SceneInterface.h
+++ b/include/IECore/SceneInterface.h
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 //
-//  Copyright (c) 2013, Image Engine Design Inc. All rights reserved.
+//  Copyright (c) 2013-2014, Image Engine Design Inc. All rights reserved.
 //
 //  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 //  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ class SceneInterface : public RunTimeTyped
 		/// Utility variable that can be used anytime you want to refer to the root path in the Scene.
 		static const Path &rootPath;
 		/// Name of the visibility attribute
-		static const Name visibilityName;
+		static const Name &visibilityName;
 
 		/// Create an instance of a subclass which is able to open the file found at "path".
 		/// Files can be opened for Read, Write, or Append depending on the derived classes.
diff --git a/include/IECoreHoudini/ROP_SceneCacheWriter.h b/include/IECoreHoudini/ROP_SceneCacheWriter.h
index 22b99f6598..b78f7b525c 100644
--- a/include/IECoreHoudini/ROP_SceneCacheWriter.h
+++ b/include/IECoreHoudini/ROP_SceneCacheWriter.h
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ class ROP_SceneCacheWriter : public ROP_Node
 	
 	private :
 		
-		static const IECore::SceneInterface::Name &visibleAttribute;
+		static const IECore::SceneInterface::Name &changingHierarchyAttribute;
 
 		bool linked( const std::string &file ) const;
 		
diff --git a/src/IECore/SceneInterface.cpp b/src/IECore/SceneInterface.cpp
index 56312a45c3..b6692da76c 100644
--- a/src/IECore/SceneInterface.cpp
+++ b/src/IECore/SceneInterface.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 //
-//  Copyright (c) 2013, Image Engine Design Inc. All rights reserved.
+//  Copyright (c) 2013-2014, Image Engine Design Inc. All rights reserved.
 //
 //  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 //  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ IE_CORE_DEFINERUNTIMETYPEDDESCRIPTION( SceneInterface )
 
 const SceneInterface::Name &SceneInterface::rootName = IndexedIO::rootName;
 const SceneInterface::Path &SceneInterface::rootPath = IndexedIO::rootPath;
-const SceneInterface::Name SceneInterface::visibilityName( "scene:visible" );
+const SceneInterface::Name &SceneInterface::visibilityName( "scene:visible" );
 
 class SceneInterface::CreatorMap : public std::map< std::pair< std::string, IndexedIO::OpenModeFlags >, CreatorFn>
 {
diff --git a/src/IECoreHoudini/ROP_SceneCacheWriter.cpp b/src/IECoreHoudini/ROP_SceneCacheWriter.cpp
index 1cca584bc1..f33828a502 100644
--- a/src/IECoreHoudini/ROP_SceneCacheWriter.cpp
+++ b/src/IECoreHoudini/ROP_SceneCacheWriter.cpp
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ PRM_Default ROP_SceneCacheWriter::fileDefault( 0, "$HIP/output.scc" );
 PRM_Default ROP_SceneCacheWriter::rootObjectDefault( 0, "/obj" );
 PRM_SpareData ROP_SceneCacheWriter::forceObjectsSpareData;
 
-const SceneInterface::Name &ROP_SceneCacheWriter::visibleAttribute( "scene:visible" );
+const SceneInterface::Name &ROP_SceneCacheWriter::changingHierarchyAttribute( "sceneInterface:changingHierarchy" );
 
 OP_TemplatePair *ROP_SceneCacheWriter::buildParameters()
 {
@@ -387,13 +387,14 @@ ROP_RENDER_CODE ROP_SceneCacheWriter::doWrite( const SceneInterface *liveScene,
 			
 			if ( time != m_startTime )
 			{
-				outChild->writeAttribute( visibleAttribute, new BoolData( false ), time - 1e-6 );
+				outChild->writeAttribute( changingHierarchyAttribute, new BoolData( true ), time );
+				outChild->writeAttribute( IECore::SceneInterface::visibilityName, new BoolData( false ), time - 1e-6 );
 			}
 		}
 		
-		if ( outChild->hasAttribute( visibleAttribute ) )
+		if ( outChild->hasAttribute( changingHierarchyAttribute ) )
 		{
-			outChild->writeAttribute( visibleAttribute, new BoolData( true ), time );
+			outChild->writeAttribute( IECore::SceneInterface::visibilityName, new BoolData( true ), time );
 		}
 		
 		ROP_RENDER_CODE status = doWrite( liveChild, outChild, time, progress );
@@ -403,7 +404,7 @@ ROP_RENDER_CODE ROP_SceneCacheWriter::doWrite( const SceneInterface *liveScene,
 		}
 	}
 	
-	// turn visibleAttribute off if the child disappears
+	// turn visibility off if the child disappears
 	SceneInterface::NameList outChildren;
 	outScene->childNames( outChildren );
 	for ( SceneInterface::NameList::iterator it = outChildren.begin(); it != outChildren.end(); ++it )
@@ -411,12 +412,13 @@ ROP_RENDER_CODE ROP_SceneCacheWriter::doWrite( const SceneInterface *liveScene,
 		if ( !liveScene->hasChild( *it ) )
 		{
 			SceneInterfacePtr outChild = outScene->child( *it );
-			if ( !outChild->hasAttribute( visibleAttribute ) )
+			if ( !outChild->hasAttribute( IECore::SceneInterface::visibilityName ) )
 			{
-				outChild->writeAttribute( visibleAttribute, new BoolData( true ), time - 1e-6 );
+				outChild->writeAttribute( IECore::SceneInterface::visibilityName, new BoolData( true ), time - 1e-6 );
 			}
 			
-			outChild->writeAttribute( visibleAttribute, new BoolData( false ), time );
+			outChild->writeAttribute( changingHierarchyAttribute, new BoolData( true ), time );
+			outChild->writeAttribute( IECore::SceneInterface::visibilityName, new BoolData( false ), time );
 		}
 	}
 	
diff --git a/src/IECorePython/SceneInterfaceBinding.cpp b/src/IECorePython/SceneInterfaceBinding.cpp
index 18731d79c5..b0eb663cf2 100644
--- a/src/IECorePython/SceneInterfaceBinding.cpp
+++ b/src/IECorePython/SceneInterfaceBinding.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 //
-//  Copyright (c) 2013, Image Engine Design Inc. All rights reserved.
+//  Copyright (c) 2013-2014, Image Engine Design Inc. All rights reserved.
 //
 //  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 //  modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ void bindSceneInterface()
 		.def( "create", SceneInterface::create ).staticmethod( "create" )
 		.def( "supportedExtensions", supportedExtensions, ( arg("modes") = IndexedIO::Read|IndexedIO::Write|IndexedIO::Append ) ).staticmethod( "supportedExtensions" )
 		
-		.add_static_property( "visibilityName", make_getter(&SceneInterface::visibilityName, return_value_policy<reference_existing_object>() ) )
+		.def_readonly("visibilityName", &SceneInterface::visibilityName )
 	;
 }