Natural and Cultural Heritage Theme Report

Australia State of the Environment Report 2001 (Theme Report)
Lead Author: Jane Lennon, Jane Lennon and Associates Pty Ltd, Authors
Published by CSIRO on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2001
ISBN 0 643 06752 3

Indigenous control of Indigenous heritage (continued)

Indigenous cultural heritage professionals working in government heritage organisations

Data was collected for the first time to find out the extent of Indigenous cultural heritage professionals actively involved in managing cultural heritage in various Commonwealth, State and Territory government management agencies (see Table 37). A total of 293 Indigenous professionals was reported. The organisations with the most employees were Parks Australia (51), NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (35), Aboriginal Affairs Victoria (28) and the National Parks and Wildlife Service of SA (27).

Table 37: Number of cultural heritage professionals who identify as Indigenous and worked for government agencies, 1999-2000.
State	Number of professionals
ACT	1
Commonwealth	72
New South Wales^A	78
Northern Territory^B	7
Queensland	28
South Australia	35
Tasmania	7
Victoria	46
Western Australia	19
Total	293

^A New South Wales Department of Aboriginal Affairs did not provide any figures.
^B The Northern Territory figures are low because the Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory did not provide any figures.

Source: Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies.

One of the problems with trying to assess the effect of the increasing number of Indigenous site officers working in the area of Indigenous cultural heritage is that many of them are not in decision-making positions and do not have the influence which perhaps their numbers would indicate. A very useful initiative by the Australian Heritage Commission was the establishment in 1996 of the National Indigenous Cultural Heritage Site Officers network (NICHO). This organisation had a mailing list of 659 Indigenous cultural heritage professionals and elders at the end of 2000. The network provides a forum in which Indigenous people involved in heritage can discuss concerns they have about matters relating to Indigenous heritage protection. It also provides support, assistance, training advice and national advocacy for Indigenous heritage issues. The network also produces the biannual newsletter Feedback.