The Aboriginal Heritage Council met for their regular monthly meeting on 26 August 2022 in Hobart.
Council considered four permit applications, resolving not to oppose the issuance of two permits with no conditions, and to not support two permits.
The proactiveness of permit applicants from Carlton River particularly impressed the Council. The landowners employed imaginative and sensitive mitigation strategies in their house design. Aboriginal Heritage Tasmania (AHT) officers also noted that the owners diligently and respectfully followed the advice of AHT throughout the process. The owners had undertaken the best mitigation measures many of the Council members had seen in their time on the Council.
The AHT Cultural Management Group (CMG) gave a presentation on a project to stabilise a hut depression site. The project links to the “At Risk Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Sites in the TWWHA", a key desirable outcome in the TWWHA Management Plan 2016. No work has been undertaken on this site since the 1990s. The presentation outlined the current condition of the hut depression. The site has been eroded due to wind exposure and seal activity. The project plans to stabilise the hut depressions and continue monitoring to inform future management actions. If stabilisation works are not undertaken, the site and its knowledge will be eroded away and lost to the Community. The CMG team, together with truwana Rangers, will undertake a reconnaissance trip to help determine how best to rehabilitate and plan the works for the site. It is important that Aboriginal groups and community members gain hands-on experience and skills in maintaining Aboriginal heritage. Going forward Aboriginal people can take the lead using their cultural heritage expertise, with AHT assisting in a facilitator role. Council members were keen to have an update from the CMG team after the reconnaissance trip.
In other business, the Council received updates on AHT's move to the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Council's EoI process, reviewed correspondence, and covered several housekeeping matters, including work on the Year in Review.
The next meeting of the Aboriginal Heritage Council will be held on Thursday 29 September 2022 in Hobart.