Aboriginal heritage management plans

Aboriginal heritage management plans provide for the protection and preservation of an area with known and important heritage values. Such a plan identifies all of the resources, responsibilities and procedures available to prevent inevitable deterioration to what makes an area significant.

Aboriginal heritage sites are often at risk from impact through natural processes, such as erosion or from human action, such as regular visitation from tourists or development. Protecting a site requires some form of management if the site is to retain its integrity and be preserved for the future. Establishing an Aboriginal heritage management plan is a postive contribution to site protection.

Aim heritage management

The aim of Aboriginal site management is to maintain each site, or site complex in a way that is appropriate to the nature of attachment that the heritage objects and places have for Aboriginal people. Historical, aesthetic and scientific values are also important attributes to retain for future generations.

Considerations for heritage management plans

Each site poses its own unique challenges which themselves can change over time. Just as the physical impacts for a site are subject to change, so too are the ethnographic/cultural values of a site. For this reason it is not possible to give a comprehensive guide to management of specific sites. But a number of key considerations need to be met when dealing with site management and developing a management plan:

All management plans should include strategies for maintenance, protection and monitoring.
Heritage management plans should be developed according to the individual requirements of particular sites and should have the priority of maintaining the importance and significance that is associated with the site.
All relevant stakeholders should be involved in the formulation and execution of management plans to preserve and protect a site from damage while having as little impact to the integrity of the site as possible.

The following areas should be addressed in an Aboriginal heritage management plan:

Current use of the site.
Prospective use of the site.
The presentation of the site.
Whether attention should be attracted towards or away from the area.
What is significant about the site; is it of cultural, spiritual, ceremonial, heritage or natural importance and how does the plan assure the maintenance of the significance associated with the site. For example, if the site is spiritually significant, then a plan to re-vegetate an area may interfere with the sacredness of the site.
What are the current threats and how can these be solved.
What are potential threats and how could these be prevented.
What is the cause of the threat and how can the cause be eliminated.
Have Aboriginal groups expressed how they wish the site to be managed.
A budget estimate.
Funding avenues.
Who will be managing.
Performance monitoring and reporting.
Guide to resources and access to information repositories about the site(s).

Addressing threats

If there is a current threat to a site, you should establish preservation and site management from the standpoint of diagnosis and you should treat the underlying cause, rather than just reacting to the symptom or problem that has occurred as a result. For example, if native plants have been flattened by traffic in the area, rather than just undertaking a plan for revegetation, you should devise measures to control, limit or redirect traffic in the area.

Community Consultation

Prior to any management works taking place you should undertake consultation with the relevant Aboriginal stakeholders, as well as land owners and the wider community. Consultation should be documented and the values of the site recorded. Stakeholder input not only makes use of local knowledge but also gives a sense of community ownership of the site, which could be important in maintaining the site in the future. For more information about community consultation, click here.

Legal requirements

Site management often has an impact upon a site. For this reason it is important that you involve relevant DIA staff with the project from the start. You may require approval/consent for works under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 or the Aboriginal Heritage Regulations 1974. Approvals may also be required under local government approvals processes, or that of other statutory authorities.

Maintaining and monitoring the site

Monitoring is an important part of site management. Each site has the potential to change and the particular requirements for successful site management may alter over time. Once you have put in place site management strategies it is important that they are monitored, maintained, and if necessary adjusted. Monitoring of a site allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of management strategies and if necessary to modify them.

Respecting Aboriginal heritage management practices

It is important to respect the wishes of Aboriginal people with cultural and/or historical connections with a site when considering appropriate site management plans. Consultation and negotiation with relevant Aboriginal people is the best means of addressing Aboriginal heritage issues as they are the primary source of information on the value of their heritage

Tips

It is important to identify Aboriginal people with rights and cultural heritage at a particular site, and evaluate who are the relevant Aboriginal people that are authorised to speak for place. Both men and women should be included in this process, unless gender restricted.
Aboriginal people should maintain control of their intellectual property and other information concerned with particular heritage sites, as this may be an integral aspect of its heritage value. The process and outcomes of Aboriginal heritage planning must abide by customary law, relevant Commonwealth and State Government laws and any other legally binding agreements.
Not all Aboriginal people will necessarily agree with each other, however, the concerned party should have time to reach a consensus on what they feel is appropriate conservation and management.

Sometimes Aboriginal heritage management plans may conflict with ideal conservation practices. Some actions that Aboriginal groups may suggest are necessary for the site include:

Restricting access to some areas for particular categories of people as required in Indigenous customary law.
Allowing Aboriginal people’s access to heritage sites even though this may conflict with ideal management and preservation practices.
Allowing continued access to traditional resources (eg. food, ochre or plants), which may be important for cultural purposes such as ceremonies or simply in their own right.
Keeping the natural surrounds as they are (eg. water flows) that are integral to the significance of the place.
Reintroducing ceremonies to places that where performed in that region in the past.
Using traditional and/or other knowledge to rebuild places such as stone arrangements and fish traps that have fallen into disrepair.

(Source: Ask First 2002)

More information on Aboriginal heritage management plans is available at the federal government website of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.