OPEN REPORT ASSESSMENT of ABORIGINAL HERITAGE VALUES and TRADITIONAL USES Atlas Project - Image Resources NL September 2020 ______
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OPEN REPORT ASSESSMENT OF ABORIGINAL HERITAGE VALUES AND TRADITIONAL USES Atlas Project - Image Resources NL September 2020 __________________________________________________ ABORIGINAL HERITAGE VALUES AND TRADITIONAL USES ASSESSMENT Recognition of People & Country Horizon Heritage Management acknowledges and pays respect to the Yued ‘Noongar’ Traditional Owners and community of the land and sea of this ‘boodja’ (country). We pay respect to the Elders past, present and emerging who hold the memories, traditions, culture and hopes for the future. Horizon Heritage has chosen to use the spelling Noongar (other options; Nyoongar, Nyungah & Nyoongar) for this report. Yued refers to the Noongar dialectal group north of Perth. Confidentiality This is an open report and no information in this report is confidential or restricted. Disclaimer This assessment report is being supplied to Image Resources so it can understand the likely Aboriginal heritage values and traditional uses at its proposed Atlas Project. Image Resources has to manage its requirements and responsibilities under the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act (1972) (AHA) and be aware of and minimise risks to Aboriginal heritage and culture. Aboriginal sites, places and objects are afforded protection under the AHA. Copyright This report is the property of Horizon Heritage Management. The copyright owner has given permission to Image Resources to use the contents of the report. Acknowledgements Horizon Heritage Management acknowledges the assistance of Preston Consulting for this assessment report. Abbreviations ACMC Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee AHA Aboriginal Heritage Act (1972) DMIRS Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety DPLH Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage GIS Geographic Information System GPS Global Positioning System ILUA Indigenous Land Use Agreements MGA Map Grid of Australia NSHA Noongar Standard Heritage Agreement NTC Native Title Claimant Group SWALSC South West Aboriginal Sea and Land Council WGS World Geodetic System Horizon Heritage Management Damien Lafrentz HORIZON HERITAGE MANAGEMENT 1 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE VALUES AND TRADITIONAL USES ASSESSMENT CONTENTS 1 PROJECT BRIEF .............................................................................................................. 3 2 PROJECT BACKGROUND .................................................................................................. 4 3 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE ACT ............................................................................................. 6 4 YUED ‘NOONGAR’ PEOPLE ............................................................................................... 7 4.1 IDENTIFICATION OF KEY ABORIGINAL STAKEHOLDER GROUP ................................................................... 7 5 ETHNOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND ......................................................................................... 8 6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................................... 13 7 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE INQUIRY SYSTEM RESEARCH ............................................................ 15 7.1 DPLH ABORIGINAL HERITAGE INQUIRY SYSTEM ............................................................................. 15 7.2 DPLH ABORIGINAL HERITAGE INQUIRY SYSTEM RESULTS ................................................................... 15 7.3 DPLH REGISTERED ABORIGINAL SITES ........................................................................................ 16 7.4 DPLH OTHER HERITAGE PLACES .............................................................................................. 18 7.5 SITE TYPES ....................................................................................................................... 21 7.6 DPLH HERITAGE SURVEY REPORTS ........................................................................................... 22 7.7 SUMMARY DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................ 26 8 LANDSCAPE SITE DISTRIBUTON ....................................................................................... 29 9 CURRENT LAND USE ACTIVITY ......................................................................................... 30 10 GEOLOGY & VEGETATION .............................................................................................. 31 11 LANDSCAPE ASSESSMENT .............................................................................................. 32 12 BUSH TUCKER & MEDICINE ............................................................................................ 34 13 ASSESSMENT CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................... 38 14 RECOMMENDATION ..................................................................................................... 38 15 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 39 16 DPLH AHIS RESULTS ...................................................................................................... 42 LIST OF MAPS Map 1: Atlas Project Assessment Area Locality Map.......................................................... 5 Map 2: Atlas Project Assessment Area Land Condition Map ............................................ 36 Map 3: Atlas Project Assessment Area Ephemeral Water Landscape Features ................. 37 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Aboriginal group identified as a key stakeholder in the assessment area .............. 7 Table 2: DPLH Registered Aboriginal sites within proximity to the assessment area ......... 16 Table 3: DPLH Other Heritage Places within proximity to the assessment area ................ 18 Table 4: DPLH Heritage Survey Reports ........................................................................... 22 Table 5: Image Resources Heritage Survey Report ........................................................... 25 HORIZON HERITAGE MANAGEMENT 2 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE VALUES AND TRADITIONAL USES ASSESSMENT 1 PROJECT BRIEF Horizon Heritage Management was engaged by Image Resources NL (Image Resources) to undertake an assessment of Aboriginal heritage values and traditional uses in order to understand the extent and characteristics of any known and likely Aboriginal heritage values within their Atlas Project area. Image Resources are planning for the potential development of the Atlas Project, a mineral sands mine located approximately 18 km east of Cervantes, Shire of Dandaragan, in Western Australia. Image Resources intends to refer the Project for assessment under the Environmental Protection Act 1986 and as such needs to understand the potential Aboriginal heritage values of the site. These values will be considered in project design to ensure impacts are minimised and assessed through the EPA assessment process. An assessment of Aboriginal heritage values is therefore required for the project in order to better understand the known and potential Aboriginal heritage values of the land and resulting Aboriginal heritage requirements. The assessment should: Identify whether any registered Aboriginal heritage sites occur within the Project or in close proximity; Provide a contextual assessment of the general Aboriginal heritage values of the area; Identify any features at the Project that may: o Be ethnographic sites; o Have a higher likelihood of the presence of archaeological sites; o Be of high value for bush tucker or bush medicine; and Provide recommendations as appropriate to minimise impacts to Aboriginal heritage values. HORIZON HERITAGE MANAGEMENT 3 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE VALUES AND TRADITIONAL USES ASSESSMENT 2 PROJECT BACKGROUND 1The Atlas tenement (MLA 70/1305) covers 947 ha and overlays a combination of Unallocated Crown Land and freehold farmland. Mining at the project will utilise dry open cut mining techniques to extract approximately 9.5 Mt of ore over an initial three to four year period. A Wet Concentrator Plant will be constructed and operated on site to recover the contained heavy minerals via gravity separation. The northern quarter of the ore body is located on freehold land currently used for stock grazing. The rest of the ore body is located on land covered with native vegetation. A regional location map is shown as Map 1. The Project includes the following characteristics: The proposed mine pit is approximately 6 km long, 200 – 400 m wide and 1 – 10 m deep; Proposed excavations would use dry mining techniques in successive blocks; Backfill of the mined voids with overburden and tailings (sand and clay fines fractions) would progressively occur as the mining advances from one block to another; There is expected to be a high-water table in the vicinity of the ore body (2 – 5 m depth). 1 Atlas Heritage Survey Scope of Works, 20/07/2020. HORIZON HERITAGE MANAGEMENT 4 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE VALUES AND TRADITIONAL USES ASSESSMENT Map 1: Atlas Project Assessment Area Locality Map HORIZON HERITAGE MANAGEMENT 5 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE VALUES AND TRADITIONAL USES ASSESSMENT 3 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE ACT Aboriginal Heritage Legislation Requirements The Western Australian Aboriginal Heritage Act (1972) (AHA) was enacted to ensure that Aboriginal heritage to which the AHA applies could be appropriately protected and preserved. All Aboriginal sites of archaeological and ethnographic significance in Western Australia are protected by the AHA, whether or not they have previously been identified or registered, provided that the site can