Living in Eurobodalla: Aboriginal places

Published: 16 June 2023

Did you know it is illegal to harm Aboriginal objects or land, knowingly or not, and that Council can face significant penalties for such offences. That’s just one of the reasons Council planners and project managers spend time and effort talking with Eurobodalla’s Indigenous communities.

These conversations – along with database checks and advice from archaeologists – are vital to determining if an Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit is needed before a project can get underway.

The AHIP is a legal document, granted by NSW Environment and Heritage, that gives us permission to work with Aboriginal objects or declared Aboriginal places. Importantly, it tells us all the conditions we must follow and the actions we must take when working around these objects and places.

When an AHIP is needed, obtaining it and working to its stated conditions can easily add six months to a project. If the project also has seasonal considerations an AHIP can push a project’s timeline out by a year. For us it’s worth every minute to protect important cultural heritage on Yuin Country.

Every project is unique and every AHIP has its own specific rules and regulations, depending on the objects found and the requirements of the area’s traditional owners. In practice, the process might look something like this.

We want to upgrade a small beachside park with a barbecue, some wooden benches, and new swings with soft-fall for the kids. We’re going to have to dig up some extra space and level the ground. Given Eurobodalla’s rich Aboriginal heritage, we know it’s likely this area is culturally significant and artefacts a strong possibility.

We’ll engage a specialist archaeologist with AHIP expertise for an initial site assessment and who will touch base with the Local Aboriginal Land Council. If it turns out the area is culturally significant, we obtain an AHIP.

Often the AHIP specifies that monitors are needed and we talk with the LALC to provide these. If we find artefacts these can be collected, stored and returned to a site agreed by the monitors once the work is done. The location of returned items are recorded by GPS and held by NSW Environment and Heritage.

Interestingly, NSW is the only Australian state without stand-alone Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation – instead the state’s laws are contained within the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 1974.

Not all work requires an AHIP – projects designated as ‘state significant’ are exempt from needing an AHIP, although they generally follow the same assessment and consultation process.

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