Culture & Heritage Assessments
The WNAC are engaged in a number of projects relating to Culture & Heritage.
The Heritage and Culture Team are members of the Wonnarua Nation who are able to conduct culture and heritage assessments. Culture and heritage assessments are often required by developers as part of environmental assessments for exploration and development, such as a Review of Environmental Factors or applications to the Department of Planning.
These works are carried out by our experienced Heritage and Culture Team, who assess the areas of development, and determine & identify sites within any of these areas. They also make sure there are no impacts to any Aboriginal sites.
Some locations within these areas have never had any Heritage and Culture Assessment, so the Heritage and Culture Team are on the ground to identify & record sites, and put mitigation methods in place.
WNAC Heritage and Culture Teams are engaged by mining industries, which include Coal and Allied, Xstrata, Centennial Coal, Rio Tinto and other Developers.
Cultural Reclamation Committee
The Cultural Reclamation Committee undertakes projects to preserve the culture and history of the Wonnarua people. Currently, the Committee’s major project is mapping the traditional boundaries of the Wonnarua. The Committee consists of six members and reports to the WNAC board. To review the Committee’s terms of reference, please download the pdf form.
RMS Cultural Heritage Offsets Package
The Roads and Maritime Services provide an offsets package as part of the Hunter Expressway Project. This includes an Aboriginal Tertiary Scholarships Program that offers work experience for Indigenous students as well as the opportunity to receive up to $15,000. RMS are also offering a Sites Officer Training Course for free.
Download or view the PDFs below for more information on the programs.
Applications for the Aboriginal Scholarships Program close on 28 February 2017. Applications for the Site Officer Training close on 17 February 2017.
Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permits
The Guide to Investigating, Assessing and Reporting on Aboriginal Cultural Heritage in NSW.
These documents are for anyone proposing to investigate, assess and report on Aboriginal cultural heritage where an AHIP is likely to be required, please download or open the pdf files.
Guide to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
Click here to view the PDFGuide to investigation, assessing and reporting on Aboriginal cultural heritage
Click here to view the PDF
Baiame Cave
The Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation has been working to protect a site which is of great importance to the Wonnarua People – the Baiame Cave. For more information click on the photos, video, and pdf files.
Upper Hunter Valley: Aboriginal Owners Research Project
The Office of the Registrar, Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, (ALRA) is doing a research project that will form the basis on which the Registrar can register people as Aboriginal owners for cultural areas that lie wholly, or partly, within the Upper Hunter Valley. There are already almost a thousand people in NSW that are registered Aboriginal owners for land with which they have cultural connection. For more information, open the pdf document. A map of the research area is below – you can click it to view a larger version
