Jillian Comber (Comber Consultants)

Looking from the past to the future – History of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management in NSW

Aboriginal people have been lobbying for stand-alone legislation to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage in New South Wales for some time. It is currently managed under the National Parks & Wildlife Act 1974 (and amendments), which is not considered appropriate. In response to Aboriginal advocacy over many years, the State government has developed the Draft Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill and undertaken a series of public workshops and published a paper titled Aboriginal cultural heritage in New South Wales: A proposed new legal framework to explain the government’s proposals.

As new legislation is being proposed it seems timely to provide a history of the current legislation which had its genesis in 1930s archaeological paradigms, and why it is not suitable. I will provide a brief history of the legislation in NSW which purports to protect Aboriginal archaeology and heritage and how and why current legislation and practices do not meet the needs of either archaeologists or Aboriginal people. I will detail how the history of archaeological legislation in NSW has resulted in a process that does not allow Aboriginal people to take control of their own heritage and continues to dispossess Aboriginal people and compromise archaeological

practitioners.

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When

Friday 25 September

Where

Online on Zoom

Registration

For more information, to sign up to our mailing list or to offer a seminar please contact:

Agata Calabrese agata.calabrese@sydney.edu.au
Lorraine Leung lorraine.leung@sydney.edu.au
Kieran McGee kmcg2831@uni.sydney.edu.au
Simon Wyatt-Spratt simon.wyatt-spratt@sydney.edu.au
Sareeta Zaid sareeta.zaid@sydney.edu.au

The Department of Archaeology is part of the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI).

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