Mordialloc Bypass
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Mordialloc Bypass Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment Commissioned by WSP for VicRoads 17 September 2018 Authors: Andrea Murphy & Dr Tom Rymer rchaeology t TARDIS heritage advisors PO Box 776 Beaconseld, VIC 3807 www.aatardis.com.au ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT IMPACT HERITAGE ABORIGINAL CULTURAL MORDIALLOC BYPASS ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Commission by WSP Sponsor VicRoads (ABN 61 760 960 480) Authors Andrea Murphy & Tom Rymer Completed 17 September 2018 The intellectual property within this report and the primary research material therein are the property of Archaeology At Tardis Pty Ltd and may NOT be used, reproduced or distributed in any way without prior written consent of Archaeology At Tardis. Ethnographic information that has been provided by Aboriginal people and included in this report is the property of the Aboriginal community to which the informant/s is/are representing at the time the information was given. Such information may NOT be reproduced or distributed in any way without prior written permission from that community. Any advice and/or opinions offered within this report by Archaeology At Tardis does not constitute legal advice or represent those of any third party. The report remains the property of the Sponsor. It may NOT be used, reproduced or distributed in any way without the written consent from the Sponsor. i DOCUMENT HISTORY Version No. Reviewed By Edited By Date A Tom Rymer Tom Rymer 31.01.2018 B Robert Skelly Tom Rymer 09.03.2018 C Tom Rymer Tom Rymer 26.06.2018 D Tom Rymer Tom Rymer 01.08.2018 E Andrea Murphy Tom Rymer 17.09.2018 DISTRIBUTION OF COPIES Version No. Distributed To Reason Date Issued A WSP Review 31.01.2018 B WSP Review 09.03.2018 C WSP Review 26.06.2018 D WSP Review 01.08.2018 E WSP Final 17.09.2018 Authors: Andrea Murphy & Tom Rymer Project Archaeologist: Tom Rymer Name of Organisation: Archaeology At Tardis Name of Project: Mordialloc Bypass EES AAT Project Number: 3459.2250 ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iii 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Project Description 1 1.2 Reasons for Preparing this Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Impact 1 Assessment 1.3 Activity Area 2 2 LEGISLATION AND POLICY 5 2.1 Commonwealth Government 5 2.1.1 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 5 1999 2.1.2 Native Title Act 1993 5 2.1.3 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 5 1984 2.2 State Government 5 2.2.1 Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 and Aboriginal Heritage 5 Regulations 2007 2.2.2 Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 6 3 METHODOLOGY 6 3.1 Desktop Assessment 6 3.2 Standard Assessment (Ground Surface Survey) 7 3.3 Complex Assessment (Subsurface Excavation) 7 4 EXISTING CONDITIONS 7 4.1 Stakeholder Consultation 7 4.2 Desktop Assessment Results 8 4.2.1 ACHRIS Search 8 4.2.2 Registered Aboriginal Places 8 4.2.3 Reports and Published Works 9 4.2.4 Historical and Ethno-Historical Accounts 13 4.2.5 Geology and Geomorphology in the Activity Area 15 4.2.6 Strategic Values 21 4.2.7 Land Use History 24 4.2.8 Site Prediction Model 25 4.3 Standard Assessment (Ground Surface Survey) Results 26 4.3.1 Fieldwork Results and Interpretation 26 4.3.2 Standard Assessment Site Prediction Model: Areas of 27 Archaeological Potential 4.3.3 Standard Assessment Conclusions 27 4.4 Complex Assessment (Subsurface Excavation) Results 28 4.4.1 Fieldwork Results and Discussion 28 4.4.2 Complex Assessment Conclusions 28 4.5 Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (Standard and Complex Assessments) 29 iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 RISK ASSESSMENT 31 5.1 Methodology 31 5.1.1 Risk Assessment Methodology 31 5.2 Key Findings 35 6 IMPACT ASSESSMENT 36 6.1 Avoidance, Minimisation, Management of Harm and Contingency Plan 36 6.2 Cumulative Impact 36 7 ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS 40 8 CONCLUSION 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDIXES 1 Glossary 44 TABLES (IN TEXT) 1 Legislative Instruments and Project Implications 6 2 Survey Areas 7 3 Activity Area Geomorphological History 19 4 Stone Sources 23 5 Survey Area, Ground Surface Visibility and Effective Survey Coverage 26 6 Risk Assessment Matrix 33 7 Risk Assessment Likelihood Categories 33 8 Environmental Risk Assessment Consequences Descriptors 34 9 Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Environmental Risk Assessment Register 35 10 Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Cumulative Effects Environmental Risk 37 Assessment 11 Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Environmental Performance Requirements 40 MAPS (IN TEXT) 1 Activity Area Location (Topographic) 3 2 Activity Area (Aerial) 4 3 General Location of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Places in the Activity 30 Area FIGURES (IN TEXT) 1 Archaeological Survey in the Geographic Region 11 2 Surface Geology of the Activity Area 17 3 Stratigraphic Expression of the Soil Profile of Activity Area Sediments 18 4 Activity Area Geomorphological Information 19 5 Carrum Swamp 1866 22 iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Archaeology At Tardis Pty Ltd would like to thank the following organisations for their assistance: BLCAC BWF WSP VicRoads ABBREVIATIONS AAT Archaeology at Tardis Pty Ltd ACHRIS Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Register and Information System ASTT Australian Small Tool Tradition AV Heritage Services Branch, Aboriginal Victoria BLCAC Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation BP Years Before Present (1950) BWF Boon Wurrung Foundation CBD Central Business District CHMP Cultural Heritage Management Plan EES Environmental Effects Statement EVC Ecological Vegetation Classes GIS Geographical Information System HCO Holocene Climatic Optimum Ka Thousand years ago LDAD Low Density Artefact Distribution LGM Last Glacial Maximum Ma Million years ago MT Mechanical Trenches RAP Registered Aboriginal Party TO Traditional Owner TOG Traditional Owner Group TP Test Pit WLaCCHCAC Wurundjeri Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council Aboriginal Corporation *Throughout this report several technical terms are used that may not be familiar to some readers. An extensive glossary has been included as Appendix 1 and should be referenced for an explanation of terms. © Copyright – This report is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Archaeology At Tardis Pty Ltd Project No 3459.2250 v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report assesses the potential impacts to Aboriginal cultural heritage associated with the construction of the Mordialloc Bypass. The project is for a divided arterial road comprising two two-lane carriageways, connecting the Dingley Bypass (between Boundary and Tootal Roads) with the northern end of the Mornington Peninsula Freeway at Springvale road. The project is located approximately 21km southeast of the Melbourne CBD. The Minister for Planning decided 13 September 2017 that an Environment Effects Statement (EES) was required for the Mordialloc Bypass. One reason cited for the decisions was the potential effect of the project on indigenous cultural heritage values within the project alignment. Prior to the referral of the project, a mandatory Aboriginal cultural heritage management plan (CHMP 15026) was commenced. The assessment was completed by the end of October 2017. It comprised a desktop, standard (ground surface survey) and complex (subsurface testing) assessment. Consultation was conducted with the relevant Traditional Owner Groups (TOs) with an interest in the project area including the Wurundjeri Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council Aboriginal Corporation (WLaCCHCAC), the Boon Wurrung Foundation (BWF) and Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (BLCAC). They also participated in the assessment. The BLCAC currently have a Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) application over the project area. The strategy employed to assess potential impacts to Aboriginal cultural heritage associated with the methods to be used in the construction of the Mordialloc Bypass is twofold. Firstly, discussion of potential impacts is contingent upon a summary of the relevant primary legislation that applies to the project. In addition, a summary of CHMP 15026 which identifies the known Aboriginal cultural heritage values in the study area and associated existing CHMP conditions that relate to the conduct of cultural heritage investigations within the activity area are fundamental to assessing potential impacts. LEGISLATIONS AND POLICY Aboriginal cultural heritage is subject to both Commonwealth and State Government legislation. Commonwealth legislation includes the Native Title Act 1993, Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. State Government legislation includes the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, Aboriginal Heritage Regulations 2007 and Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010. The assessment of Aboriginal cultural heritage values in the activity area was conducted under the CHMP process required under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 and Aboriginal Heritage Regulations 2007. EXISTING CONDITIONS The existing conditions are based on the assessment and results in the Mordialloc Bypass CHMP 15026 (Murphy & Rymer: in preparation). The desktop assessment (Section 4.2) reviewed the relevant geographic region including registered Aboriginal places; reports and published works; history and ethnohistory; landforms and geomorphology, including geology, soils and environment; landuse history and strategic values. The relevant vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY evidence was used to produce