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Indicator: NCH-02 Process of listing, area and distribution of Indigenous heritage listings

Data

Number of Indigenous Heritage Places listed in the National Heritage List (NHL) as at 31 December 2005

	Number of Indigenous places	Total number on NHL
New South Wales	1	4
Victoria	2	11
Queensland	0	1
Western Australia	0	1
South Australia	0	1
Tasmania	0	3
Northern Territory	0	0
Aust. Capital Territory	0	1
External Territories	0	1
Total	3	23

Source: Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2006

Number of Indigenous Heritage Places listed in the Commonwealth Heritage List (CHL) as at 31 December 2005

	Number of Indigenous places	Total number on CHL
New South Wales	3	105
Victoria	0	37
Queensland	0	19
Western Australia	2	21
South Australia	0	7
Tasmania	0	15
Northern Territory	1	15
Aust. Capital Territory	2	83
External Territories	0	48
Total	8	350

Source: Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2006

Number of Indigenous Places in Register of the National Estate Australia 1995-2005

	1995	2000	2005
ACT	10	27	30
NSW	208	219	222
NT	86	104	109
Qld	144	152	258
SA	143	147	155
Tas	64	65	66
Vic	101	106	123
WA	74	74	76
Total registered	830	894	1039
Ext Territories A	0	0	0
Total interim listed	22	19	17
Total	852	913	1056

^A Includes Australian Antarctic Survey

Source: Data for 1995 and 2000 from Australian Heritage Commission 2005; data for 2005 from Heritage Division, Department of the Environment and Heritage 2005.

Source: DEH (2005) Register of the National Estate database
Statistical sub-divisions © 2005 MapData Sciences Pty Ltd, PSMA
Data used is assumed to be correct as received from the data suppliers
Map produced by ERIN
© Commonwealth of Australia 2005

Number of Indigenous Heritage Places added to the Register of the National Estate (RNE) between 31/12/2000 and 31/12/2005

	Number of Indigenous places	Total number in RNE
Victoria	2	28
Tasmania	1	21
South Australia	2	35
Western Australia	0	29
Northern Territory	3	25
Queensland	0	16
New South Wales	0	97
Aust. Capital Territory	2	43
External Territories	0	3
Total	10	297

Source: Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2006

Source: DEH (2005) Register of the National Estate database
GA (2005) Australia, Coastline and State borders
Statistical sub-divisions © 2005 MapData Sciences Pty Ltd, PSMA
Data used is assumed to be correct as received from the data suppliers
Map produced by ERIN
© Commonwealth of Australia 2005

Source: DEH (2005) Register of the National Estate database
GA (2005) Australia, Coastline and State borders
GA (2005) National Mapping and Information Group
Comparison and analysis of built-up area datasets was undertaken
by Geoscience Australia's National Mapping and Information Group
September 2005
LGA Regions: © 2005 MapData Sciences Pty Ltd, PSMA
Data used is assumed to be correct as received from the data suppliers
Map produced by ERIN
© Commonwealth of Australia 2005

Indigenous places recorded by State and Territory Australia - 2000-2005

State / Territory	2000 *	2005
ACT	75 A	2 197
NSW	34 295	7 #
NT	15 373	nd
Qld	11 256	19 930 B
SA	4 776	na
Tas	8 689	9 801 C
Vic	21 850	28 497
WA	14 180	21 812 D 80 Protected Areas
TOTAL	110 419 (other than ACT)	Full numbers not known

* Data from 2001 Australia State of the Environment Report, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra.
# - Number of Indigenous places listed as provided by NSW Heritage Office in April 05.
na - not available
^A This figure represents those listed in ACT Heritage register, NOT those recorded
^B Queensland notes 129 added to Feb 2005 since new legislation enacted April 2004
^C as at 1/1/05; Tasmania reported that 853 added since 2001
^D It is not possible to detail the number of individual site recording forms submitted since 2001, although 3844 added from 1/1/2001 to 17/1/2005. Since approximately 90% sites are reported through heritage survey reports (as site recording forms often accompany heritage survey reports) the number of reports submitted since July 2001 is as follows, 2001/02 – 273, 2002/03 – 404, 2003/04 – 331, 2004/05 – 232 (to date). During this period there are approximately 3 new heritage sites reported in each heritage survey submitted to the Registrar of Aboriginal Sites.

Source: State and Territory heritage agencies, 2005

Indigenous knowledge of their heritage

Indigenous peoples knowledge and control of their heritage sites and objects varies, from a statutory perspective, from state to state. It is unclear whether such a statutory role, such as in Victoria, enhances Indigenous community’s knowledge of their heritage, as demonstrated in a survey of Indigenous organisations on the state of Indigenous heritage undertaken for the 2006 State of the Environment (SoE) report. This study which surveyed 24 organisations across all states and the Northern Territory, of which 19 had some statutory responsibility or role with heritage, found that 15 of them had a database with some records of places and objects in their area. The views of Indigenous organisations varied regarding their knowledge of their heritage.

Knowledge of Heritage Places and Objects - Summary of Responses - Survey of Indigenous Organisations 2005

Within Indigenous communities, knowledge of heritage places and objects is generally thought to be well known; but outside of these communities, not so much. eg: Brambuk (VIC) has 738 registered sites - 5 major sites open to the public, 20 sites well known to the community, and approximately 400 sites that are not known to community outside Brambuk. Not all respondents could provide detail about heritage places and objects, with some responding " too many to list " Some stated that a thorough audit was required Sometimes knowledge of heritage places was restricted within the families that are direct descendants of the true traditional owners. Where the Indigenous Councils had no computers, no databases and no Cultural Centres - the preservation of information and knowledge was of utmost importance - " to be recorded and stored for future generations" (Injinoo Council, QLD ) There were no specific suggestions of places that needed national listing, however, it was mentioned that the National Parks and Wildlife Service [now the Department of Environment and Conservation], the statutory body with responsibility under legislation to record and protect all Indigenous archaeological sites, had failed to register sites that should have been registered ( Armidale Aboriginal Cultural Centre & Keeping Place, NSW, and Yaegl LALC, NSW .) Traditional Owners / Elders knew of heritage places and objects. Better resourced Indigenous organisations had sufficient staff members to undertake assessments and identification of cultural objects and heritage sites. Generally, the Elders within some Indigenous communities considered that knowledge of heritage places was not sufficiently comprehensive within their communities, particularly by the younger generation. For example, within the Tiwi Land Council there was " changing demographics with the older traditional leadership now dying out. Currently there are 900 under 14 years of age, of a total 2500 people. " This posed a substantial problem with " new Tiwi generational commitment ". It was suggested that the provision of training for Indigenous staff by Elders (perhaps with support by professionals, like archaeologists) was necessary to ensure adequate knowledge and maintenance of heritage sites.

Source: Open Mind Research Group 2005, State of Indigenous Cultural Heritage - A Survey of Indigenous Organisations, Department of Environment and Heritage, Canberra, p.29-30

What the data mean

In the case of the National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritage List, proportionately fewer places are indigenous. This is partly because the process of listing is dependent on close consultation with and participation of Indigenous communities about listing at the national level.

In the case of the Register of the National Estate which continued to be added to until the end of 2003, Indigenous heritage places were added in each state / territory, but the overall listing rate declined from that between 1995 and 2000. The reasons for this vary, one being that Indigenous communities consulted about listing by the Australian Heritage Commission, were in some cases reluctant to have their heritage places in the Register of the National Estate.

The state / territory site inventories indicate all recorded sites, rather than sites assessed as heritage places against heritage criteria. Numbers of sites in these inventories were not collected for the 1996 SoE report, and not all data could be collected for the 2006 report; this limits the capacity to provide trend data on increases in numbers of recorded sites.

For those states / territories where data can provide some limited analysis, quite significant increases in recorded sites are noted. It is known that in the ACT, NSW and Victoria, areas of high country burnt in the January 2003 bushfires were targeted for extensive survey. This resulted in high numbers of new recorded sites, because of increased ground visibility, considerably adding to knowledge of site distribution and site types to be found in these regions.

The survey of Indigenous organisations provides a snapshot into Indigenous views about the level of knowledge about their heritage places and objects, the inter-generational continuity of such knowledge and the resource needs to maintain such knowledge in today’s environment. This was from 24 Indigenous varied organisations from land councils to cultural centres, with different roles, statutory or otherwise in regard to heritage places and objects.

Some of the comments indicate that despite site recording programs undertaken by heritage agencies jointly with Indigenous communities, extensive in many states, or training for site-recording, there is limited appreciation of these by those organisations interviewed.

Data Limitations

The above lists of numbers of recorded sites provide no indication of the quality and comprehensive coverage of survey recording in any state or territory. They do not provide information of types of sites recorded, or their area or distribution.

In most cases these recorded sites in state / territory inventories are archaeological sites, that is, they bear witness of past human activity with physical traces, such as stone artefacts, rock shelter campsites, shell deposits, scarred trees, quarries, fishtraps, and of ceremonial life with stone circles or rock art. Largely the inventories do not record sites of spiritual significance, many which have no physical manifestation, although some states do protect declared places of importance to Aboriginal people, declared as ‘Aboriginal Places’ in NSW. NSW has since 2001 pursued declarations of Aboriginal Places across the state in extensive consultation with Indigenous communities.

Indigenous communities are increasingly reluctant to list Indigenous sites on lists. This may be from a growing perception among Indigenous communities that listing in heritage registers can be culturally inappropriate, and in other cases because Indigenous communities wish to have greater control over their heritage. This varies from state to state given the different levels of control given under state legislation. Also, the publication of the location of sites can put them at risk of looting or vandalism.

As a result all state / territory Indigenous heritage agencies now maintain confidential site inventories, only accessible for particular people and for particular reasons related to development processes and other environmental impact clearances. Access can be limited to certain people, not just to particular circumstances and often the nominated community and/or representative will still need to be asked for permission to release restricted information. In some cases, such as in South Australia, permission to access such site data is controlled by the relevant Indigenous community.

These confidentiality provisions in some cases make it difficult to analyse trends in site identification, protection and management and make comparisons between states and territories who have statutory responsibility for Indigenous heritage. Whilst such information is known separately by heritage agencies and in some cases by relevant Indigenous communities, it also makes it difficult at a national level to appreciate the range of types of Indigenous heritage places being recorded and identify any trends in the process of listing and distribution and identify gaps in knowledge.

The survey of Indigenous organisations does not provide any comprehensive understanding of issues for Indigenous organisations in regard to their knowledge about their heritage places and objects. There are hundreds of Indigenous organisations across Australia, many with quite different functions and responsibility. Too few were interviewed to make judgements about the success or otherwise of current systems in the process of listing of heritage places, or to identify issues that relate to one state / territory system rather than another, for example between land councils in NSW with no statutory heritage role and heritage responsibilities by Aboriginal communities under legislation in Victoria.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Natural and Cultural Heritage - Knowledge of heritage - Listing processes, number and distribution of identified heritage items (places and objects) 

This indicator is a proxy for our knowledge of Australia’s heritage. As we understand and study heritage places more, new places and items are assessed and included on protective statutory lists. This indicator provides some limited trend information on how many heritage items are listed for protection for the Register of the National Estate, but not as yet for the new lists.

Other indicators for this issue:

• NCH-01 Process of listing, area and distribution of identified natural heritage places 
• NCH-03 Process of listing, area and distribution of identified historic heritage places 
• NCH-04 Process of listing, area and distribution of significant heritage objects 
• IW-34 Examples of deterioration of condition of wetland vegetation 
• BD-02 Conservation status of nationally significant species and ecological communities, compared with previous years 
• BD-04 Listed threatened species or ecological communities for which recovery action is showing stable or increasing populations 
• BD-07 Examples of Indigenous knowledge of species and ecological communities and their utilisation for management by Indigenous and non-Indigenous managers and for other purposes by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people 
• IW-10 Assessment of river condition indices