Grampians) Landscape — Traditional Owner Cultural Values
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Greater Gariwerd (Grampians) Landscape — Traditional Owner Cultural Values Final Report Prepared for Parks Victoria October 2020 PO BOX 21, Moreland, VIC Australia 3058 T +61 3 9380 6933 GML Heritage Victoria Pty Ltd trading as Context ABN 31 620 754 761 www.contextpl.com.au Report Register The following report register documents the development and issue of the report entitled Greater Gariwerd (Grampians) Landscape Traditional Owner Cultural Values, undertaken by Context in accordance with its quality management system. Job No. Issue Notes/Description Issue Date No. 2481 1 Final Report 29 October 2020 Quality Assurance The report has been reviewed and approved for issue in accordance with the Context quality assurance policy and procedures. Project Director & Reviewer Janine Major, Project Director Issue No. 1 Signature Position: Principal Date: 29 October 2020 © GML Heritage Pty Ltd (trading as Context) 2020 Project Team: Dr Janine Major, Project Director/Project Manager Chris Johnston, Specialist Advisor Dr Steve Brown, Specialist Advisor Dr Helen Doyle, Associate/Historian Dr Coral Montero-Lopez, Senior Consultant/Archaeologist Juliet Berry, Graduate Consultant/Mapping Copyright Historical sources and reference material used in the preparation of this report are acknowledged and referenced at the end of each section and/or in figure captions. Reasonable effort has been made to identify, contact, acknowledge and obtain permission to use material from the relevant copyright owners. Unless otherwise specified or agreed, copyright in this report vests in Context and in the owners of any pre-existing historic source or reference material. Moral Rights Context asserts its Moral Rights in this work, unless otherwise acknowledged, in accordance with the (Commonwealth) Copyright (Moral Rights) Amendment Act 2000. Context’s moral rights include the attribution of authorship, the right not to have the work falsely attributed and the right to integrity of authorship. Right to Use Context grants to the client for this project (and the client’s successors in title) an irrevocable royalty-free right to reproduce or use the material from this report, except where such use infringes the copyright and/or Moral Rights of Context or third parties. Acknowledgment of Country Context acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land and waters of the Greater Gariwerd Landscape and pay our respect to its Elders, past, present and emerging. Important information on this Draft Report Warning Traditional Owners are advised that this report contains the names of Aboriginal people who are deceased. Quotes from historical sources This report does not use quotes from historical and archival sources that are deemed to be offensive in the language they use to describe Aboriginal people or past violent events. We recognise that such quotes may cause cultural harm. Where relevant, such sources have been paraphrased. ‘Traditional Owner’ and ‘Aboriginal people’ There are different views concerning the use of ‘Traditional Owner/s’ versus ‘Aboriginal person/people’. Both terms are used in this report. ‘Traditional Owners’ is used when referring to those people who’s Country includes all or part of the Greater Gariwerd Landscape. The term ‘People of Gariwerd’ is also used in this sense. ‘Aboriginal people’ is used when referring to Indigenous communities more generally. Cultural values versus cultural heritage values ‘Cultural values’ is used in preference to ‘cultural heritage values’. This is because, for Traditional Owners, cultural values can relate to both cultural and natural heritage (e.g. plant and animal species) and because ‘heritage’ is a term that cannot necessarily be applied to all aspects of Aboriginal places and cultural practices (e.g. some family stories; some personal and emotional experiences). Acknowledgements The consultants acknowledge the assistance of our clients — Parks Victoria, including the many people from that organisation who assisted us in a variety of ways. Our thanks also go to all those who participated in the Cultural Values Workshop (18-19 February 2020; Halls Gap) and the Parks Victoria Staff Workshop (17 February 2020). We also express our gratitude to all of those people who contributed information, discussion and feedback on this report. Cultural Values Workshop participants. BGLC staff and members: Frank Clarke, John (Jack) Clarke, Noelene Douglas, Stuart Harradine (Cultural Heritage Manager), Louise Lyons, Ron Marks, Annebelle (Annie) Moore and Marjorie Pickford. EMAC staff and members: Trevor (Reg) Abrahams, Marcus Clarke (CEO), John Clarke (Cultural Landscapes Manager), Craig Edwards, Paul Kelly, Alice Ugle. GMTOAC staff and members: Damein Bell (CEO), Beryl Booth, Keicha Day, Nicole Hudson, Levi Lovett, Lodi Lovett, Dale McDonald, Leroy Malseed, Aaron Morgan, Denis Rose and Corey Theatre. DELWP staff: Carlee Hamilton. Aboriginal Victoria staff: Matthew Phelan. Parks Victoria Project Control Group members. Michael Stewart (CEO, BGLC), Marcus Clarke (CEO, EMAC), Damein Bell (CEO, GMTOAC), Stuart Hughes (PCG Chair — Director, Park Planning and Policy, PV) and Jason Borg (Regional Director, West, PV). Observer. Stuart Harradine (Cultural Heritage Manager, BGLC) Parks Victoria staff. Jonathan Almond (GGNP — Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park; Fire and Emergency), Josh Chikuse (Manager, Park Planning), David Flagg (Acting Regional Cultural Heritage Coordinator MCT – Managing Country Together), James Hackel (Park Planning Officer), John Grayling (GGNP; Operations), Michael Hansen (GGNP; Environment), David Lucas (Manager, Traditional Owner Partnerships, MCT), Andrew Martin (Heritage Advisor MCT), Gavin McDevitt (Heritage Advisor MCT), Rhonda McNeil (GGNP; Area Chief Ranger), Marlon Parsons (Manager, Heritage Operations MCT), Maria Pizzi (Director MCT), Dylan Santimo (GGNP; Environment), Anika Spiridis (GGNP; Environment), and Matt White (GGNP; Visitors and Communities). SUMMARY Gariwerd is a beating heart of Aboriginal spirituality. this land vibrates with the energy of our ancestors. It hums and sings and brings life to everything and everyone.1 Gariwerd is a significant cultural landscape for Traditional Owners. For more than 22,000 years, Gariwerd was, and remains, the living, hunting, gathering, cultivating, ceremonial, Dreaming Country and territory of Jadawadjali and Djab Wurrung language groups and their ancestors. The land and waters provide a wealth of resources (plants, animals, minerals) and the People of Gariwerd nurtured the land to which they are intricately connected. They pass down stories about how the land was created, along with teachings on how to care for Country. Traditional Owners have a spiritual connection to Gariwerd, to all plant and animal species, to the night skies and the wider setting of the mountain ranges. They also have a cultural responsibility to care for Country. Physical evidence, such as rock art, mounds, scarred trees, stone quarries and stone artefacts, is widespread across Gariwerd and provide evidence for settlement by Traditional Owners over more than 22,000 years. This Traditional Owner Cultural Values report is concerned with the values — or meanings and significance — associated with the places and features that are evidence of past culture and heritage, it also recognises the current stories, knowledge and practices connected with the Greater Gariwerd Landscape. The report acknowledges that all places with evidence of past settlement, occupation and activities of the People of Gariwerd are important to the present day Traditional Owners. In John Clarke’s words: ‘In a Maar sense, time is irrelevant. We never really put any focus on when an event occurred. What's important is that it did occur.’2 The Victorian Government is preparing a Draft Management Plan for the Greater Gariwerd (Grampians) Landscape. The plan will be prepared in partnership with the Traditional Owners of the Greater Gariwerd Landscape. An understanding of and respect for Traditional Owner culture and heritage will be an integral part of the Management Plan; and will guide the future management of the landscape. This draft Traditional Owner Cultural Values report acknowledges that Traditional Owners are the rights-holders for Gariwerd and that their culture and heritage are central to the future management of the Greater Gariwerd Landscape. This report has been prepared for Parks Victoria and will also seek review and comment from the three Traditional Owner Corporations — Barendji Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation 1 Louise Lyons, BGLC Traditional Owner participant, Cultural Values Workshop, Halls Gap 18-19 February 2020. 2 John Clarke is the Cultural Landscapes General Manager with the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation. ABC News. ‘How Gunditjmara words and traditions hold stories of Victoria's rich volcanic history’, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-21/indigenous-stories-from-times-of-volcanic- eruptions/12003576. Greater Gariwerd (Grampians) Landscape — Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Values (Final Report, October 2020) i (BGLC), Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation (EMAC) and Gundit Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (GMTOAC). It is intended that this report be published and made publicly available. Therefore the content and language used in writing this report is mindful of these two audiences: one concerned with management of Country, the other the general public with an interest in the culture and heritage of the People of the Greater Gariwerd Landscape. The information