ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE VALUES OF THE GBMWHA
project team
Paul Tacon, Shaun Boree Hooper, Wayne Brennan, Graham King, Matthew Kelleher, Joan Domicelj, and John Merson.
project overview
This assessment was carried out as part of a larger series of assessment reports in response to a proposal to place the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area on the National Heritage List.
In the brief, Summaries of Indigenous heritage values for the Greater Blue Mountains Area nominated to the National Heritage List, it was required that the cultural heritage of the Greater Blue Mountains area be assessed in comparison to that of other regions as well as against each of the National Heritage List criteria.
More specifically, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act sets out the following criteria for a place to be entered on the National Heritage list:
(a) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance in the course, or pattern, of Australia’s natural or cultural history;
(b) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Australia’s natural or cultural history;
(c) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Australia’s natural or cultural history;
(d) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of:
(i) a class of Australia’s natural or cultural places; or
(ii) a class of Australia’s natural or cultural environments;
(e) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by a community or cultural group;
(f) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period; (g) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons;
(h) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Australia’s natural or cultural history;
(i) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance as part of indigenous tradition.
This assessment report is meant to add to all sections of the dataset addressed in the interim report as well as to address the National Heritage List criteria.
The assessment report concentrates on the results of ongoing research in Wollemi National Park, a vast part of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and one that is revealing huge cultural heritage potential. Although it is a case study, it highlights the larger cultural heritage of the GBMWHA.