Aboriginal Cultural Heritage

Aboriginal history is embedded in the landscape. The land is the written history of Aboriginal heritage. For 40,000 years the land provided all the needs of the Australian Aboriginal people – not just physical things like food, clothing and shelter but spiritual needs. This strong attachment to the land remains. Occupation sites enable us to gain an insight into lifestyle and traditions as well as the distribution of native animals and plants. These may be middens, deposits in rock shelters, open camp fires, quarries, art or religious sites. All sites hold special meaning and should be respected.

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Development Assessment Toolkit

This toolkit assists us in providing the most appropriate type and degree of investigation of Aboriginal cultural heritage values when assessing development applications and works carried out by us. The 'appropriate' type or level of assessment may vary according to proposal location and the known or potential Aboriginal cultural heritage values in an area, as well as the nature of the development or activity proposed and its probable degree of impact.

The toolkit is required to operate within the NSW planning laws, our Local Environmental Plan and both state and federal legislation regarding the protection and management of Aboriginal cultural heritage. It helps to address a gap in the current system for managing Aboriginal culture and heritage within NSW in terms of the lack of a connection and consistency between planning and heritage laws at the local government level.