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Objective Support the Aboriginal community in promoting a culture of care and appreciation for Aboriginal heritage values. Recommendation It is recommended that:- legislation is enacted, updating the out-of-date Aboriginal Relics Act 1975, to protect Aboriginal heritage;
- opportunities for greater community education and engagement of the non-Aboriginal community in understanding and appreciating Aboriginal heritage values are explored;
- formal and close liaison with the Aboriginal community in managing their heritage is established through decision-making forums and processes; and
- protection is provided for tangible and intangible aspects of Aboriginal heritage.
Key issues This legislation will need to be based on a policy of enfranchisement of the Aboriginal community in the management of their heritage, which recognises the following.- Responses to issues from the Aboriginal community must account for both spiritual and practical concerns.
- Processes are required to facilitate Aboriginal community involvement.
- Aboriginal community involvement in regulatory and decision-making forums will need to originate within the Aboriginal community.
Some of the key points of Aboriginal heritage arising from the Cultural Heritage Chapter (with links to relevant Issue Reports) include the following. - Heritage Places and Features: Four reviews of the Aboriginal Relics Act 1975 have been undertaken. None of these reviews have resulted in any changes to legislation, although a fifth review is now being conducted. Failure to upgrade the Act and associated management tools, has meant that this area of heritage management remains poorly coordinated and badly integrated with regulatory, financial and planning processes.
There has been very little advance made in Aboriginal heritage research since the last SoE Report (1997). In particular, studies to mitigate any impact on cultural heritage from development; consultation with the community to identify and assess their cultural heritage on an ongoing basis, and research by the Aboriginal community to foster their effective management of their heritage.
Only a very small part of Tasmania has been visited and examined for Aboriginal heritage and knowledge of the location of heritage sites remains limited and fragmented.
While considerable effort has been made to ensure consideration of Aboriginal heritage values is linked to the development process under the Historic Cultural Heritage Act 1995, a formal regulatory link has not been established. The bulk of development continues without due consideration of Aboriginal heritage values.
- Planning Scheme Provisions: There seems to be a bias towards the inclusion of 19th century European buildings in heritage lists within planning schemes. There are limited listings of Aboriginal heritage, with only one planning scheme in Tasmania (Break O'Day Planning Scheme 1996) using the Aboriginal Sites Index as a source for its heritage list.
What has been achieved 1998-2003 Examples of areas of progress in the period since the first SoE Report for Tasmania include the following. - A review of the Aboriginal Relics Act 1975 is currently being conducted.
- The Aboriginal Heritage Office now provides a more formal advisory service to State government agencies, local government and private individuals in relation to Aboriginal cultural heritage issues.
- Heritage audits of local government areas have been undertaken to identify and include studies of potential areas of sensitive Aboriginal heritage value.
- A program has been established between the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and Tasmanian indigenous communities for the return of indigenous cultural heritage objects.
Tasmania Together Relevant Tasmania Together goals and standards for 'Cultural Heritage' are listed in the linked file. The Tasmania Together Progress Board reported on progress toward targets for benchmarks set (Tasmania Together Progress Board 2003). Indicators, targets and baseline data are available in the latest Progress Report June 2003. Further information, including progress report updates, is available from Tasmania Together. Related Issue Reports
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