Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report

Environmental Impact Statement Maxwell Solar Farm APPENDIX F ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE ASSESSMENT REPORT NGH Pty Ltd |19-069 Final | F-I Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Maxwell Solar Pty Ltd 18-Jun-2019 Maxwell Solar Farm Project Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Muswellbrook Local Government Area Near Muswellbrook18-Jun- 2019Upper Hunter Valley Prepared for – Maxwell Solar Pty Ltd – ABN: 73 093 876 307 Author: Geordie Oakes (AECOM Principal Heritage Specialist) AECOM Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Maxwell Solar Farm Project Maxwell Solar Farm Project Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Client: Maxwell Solar Pty Ltd ABN: 73 093 876 307 Prepared by AECOM Australia Pty Ltd Level 21, 420 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000, PO Box Q410, QVB Post Office NSW 1230, Australia T +61 2 8934 0000 F +61 2 8934 0001 www.aecom.com ABN 20 093 846 925 18-Jun-2019 Job No.: 60598331 AECOM in Australia and New Zealand is certified to ISO9001, ISO14001 AS/NZS4801 and OHSAS18001. © AECOM Australia Pty Ltd (AECOM). All rights reserved. AECOM has prepared this document for the sole use of the Client and for a specific purpose, each as expressly stated in the document. No other party should rely on this document without the prior written consent of AECOM. AECOM undertakes no duty, nor accepts any responsibility, to any third party who may rely upon or use this document. This document has been prepared based on the Client’s description of its requirements and AECOM’s experience, having regard to assumptions that AECOM can reasonably be expected to make in accordance with sound professional principles. AECOM may also have relied upon information provided by the Client and other third parties to prepare this document, some of which may not have been verified. Subject to the above conditions, this document may be transmitted, reproduced or disseminated only in its entirety. 18-Jun-2019 Prepared for – Maxwell Solar Pty Ltd – ABN: 73 093 876 307 AECOM Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Maxwell Solar Farm Project Quality Information Document Maxwell Solar Farm Project Date 18-Jun-2019 Prepared by Geordie Oakes Reviewed by Andrew McLaren Revision History Authorised Rev Revision Date Details Name/Position A 15-May-2019 Technical Review Andrew McLaren (AECOM Senior Heritage Specialist) B 17-May-2019 Client Review Donna McLaughlin (Malabar Coal Manager Environment and Community) C 18-June-2019 Finalisation Geordie Oakes (AECOM Principal Heritage Specialist) 18-Jun-2019 Prepared for – Maxwell Solar Pty Ltd – ABN: 73 093 876 307 AECOM Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Maxwell Solar Farm Project Table of Contents Executive Summary i 1.0 Introduction & Background 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Background 1 1.3 Project Overview 1 1.4 Study Area 1 1.5 Proponent and Planning Approval Process 2 1.6 Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) 2 1.7 Assessment Objectives 2 1.8 Scope of Current Assessment 2 1.9 Project Team 3 1.10 Report Structure 4 2.0 Applicable Policy & Legislation 7 2.1 Commonwealth Legislation 7 2.1.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 7 2.1.2 Native Title Act 1993 7 2.1.3 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 8 2.2 State Legislation 8 2.2.1 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 8 2.2.2 Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 9 2.2.3 National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 9 2.3 Local Government 10 2.3.1 Muswellbrook Local Environmental Plan 2009 10 3.0 Aboriginal Community Consultation 11 3.1 Stage 1 - Notification and Registration 11 3.1.1 Consultation with Regulatory Agencies 11 3.1.2 Public Notification 12 3.1.3 Invitations for Expressions of Interest 12 3.1.4 Notification of Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs) 13 3.2 Stage 2 - Presentation of Information about Project 13 3.3 Stage 3 – Gathering Information about Cultural Significance 14 3.3.1 Draft Assessment Methodology 14 3.3.2 Archaeological Survey 15 3.4 Stage 4 - Review of Draft Assessment Report 15 4.0 Landscape Context 18 4.1 Physical Setting 18 4.2 Topography 18 4.3 Hydrology 19 4.4 Geology 19 4.5 Soils 19 4.6 Flora & Fauna 21 4.7 Historical Context and Land Use 21 4.8 Key Observations 25 5.0 Ethnohistoric Context 26 5.1 Introduction 26 5.2 Social and Territorial Organisation 26 5.3 Settlement and Subsistence 35 5.4 Material Culture 36 5.5 Ceremony and Ritual 39 5.6 Post-contact History 40 5.6.1 Dispossession and Resistance 41 5.6.2 Adaption and Resilience 55 6.0 Archaeological Context 57 6.1 Regional Context - The Hunter Valley 57 6.1.1 Introduction 57 18-Jun-2019 Prepared for – Maxwell Solar Pty Ltd – ABN: 73 093 876 307 AECOM Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Maxwell Solar Farm Project 6.1.2 Open Artefact Sites: Distribution, Contents and Definition 57 6.1.3 Flaked Stone Artefact Technology 59 6.1.4 Aboriginal Stone Quarrying: Australia & the Hunter Valley 62 6.1.5 Chronology and Texture-Contrast Soils 64 6.1.6 Occupation models 65 6.2 Local Archaeological Context 72 6.2.1 AHIMS Database 72 6.2.2 Previous Archaeological Investigations within the Study Area 72 6.3 Archaeological Predictions 76 7.0 Archaeological Survey 77 7.1 Survey 77 7.1.1 Aim and Objectives 77 7.1.2 Methodology 77 7.2 Survey Results 77 7.2.1 Survey Coverage and Effective Coverage 77 7.2.2 Findings 78 8.0 Significance Assessment 80 8.1 Principles of Assessment 80 8.2 Scientific Value 80 8.2.1 Rarity and Representativeness 80 8.2.2 Research Potential 81 8.2.3 Identification Process for Current Assessment 82 8.3 Assessment of Scientific Significance 82 8.4 Cultural Value 82 8.4.1 Cultural Landscape 82 8.4.2 Landscape Features 82 8.4.3 Aboriginal Dispossession and Resistance 83 8.4.4 Mt Arthur Burial 84 9.0 Impact Assessment 85 10.0 Management Recommendations 86 10.1 Statutory Requirements 86 10.2 Recommendations 86 Management of Previously Unrecorded Aboriginal Objects 86 Human Skeletal Remains 86 11.0 References Cited 88 Appendix A Project SEARs 96 Appendix B Agency Letters 100 Appendix C Agency Responses 102 Appendix D Newspaper Advertisement – Hunter Valley News 104 Appendix E OEH & LALC RAP Notification 107 Appendix F Draft Assessment Methodology 121 Appendix G RAP Responses to Draft Report 123 Appendix H Consultation Log 125 18-Jun-2019 Prepared for – Maxwell Solar Pty Ltd – ABN: 73 093 876 307 AECOM Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Maxwell Solar Farm Project List of Figures Figure 1 Regional Context 5 Figure 2 Study Area 6 Figure 3 Landform & Hydrology 20 Figure 4 Georeferenced excerpt of undated parish map for Parish of Brougham. Study area marked in red (Source: Land and Property Information NSW) 22 Figure 5 Georeferenced excerpt of undated parish map for Parish of Savoy. Study area marked in red (Source: Land and Property Information NSW) 23 Figure 6 Disturbance 24 Figure 7 Excerpt from Tindale’s (1974) tribal map (Tindale, 1974) 27 Figure 8 Gunson’s (1974) tribal map for the lower Hunter Valley, based on the observations of Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld (from Kuskie, 2012: 39, Fig. 8, after Gunson, 1974) 28 Figure 9 Return of Aboriginal Natives, Patrick’s Plains, 2 June 1834. This return lists the ‘place of district of usual resort’ for the ‘Hungary Hill Tribe’ as Fal Brook (SRNSW, Reel 3706) 33 Figure 10 Depiction of Biame in Biame Cave, Milbrodale, as recorded by Matthews (1893) (from Matthews 1893: Plate XIX) 40 Figure 11 Map of the Hunter Valley showing European landholdings up to 1825. Estates of relevance to incidents of Aboriginal-European conflict between 1825 and 1827 marked with arrows and labelled modified from (Campbell, 1926) 46 Figure 12 Map showing the location of reported incidents of Aboriginal-European conflict in the Hunter Valley between 1825 and 1827, including the ‘Ravensworth massacre’ (from Dunn, 2015: 228, Fig. 16). 47 Figure 13 Moore's (2000) reduction model for the technology of Hunter Valley microlith assemblage (from Moore 2000: 29, Fig. 5) 62 Figure 14 AHIMS Sites 75 Figure 15 Survey Coverage 79 List of Tables Table 1 Registered Aboriginal Parties 12 Table 2 RAP responses to draft methodology 14 Table 3 RAP field representatives by organisation 15 Table 4 RAP responses to draft ACHAR 15 Table 5 Aboriginal returns for districts and estates in the mid-to-upper Hunter valley between 1827 and 1844 (data compiled from originals / facsimiles held at the State Archives of New South Wales, [4/2045], Reel 3706) 50 Table 6 McCarthy’s Eastern Regional Sequence (ERS) of stone artefact assemblages 60 Table 7 Hiscock’s relative dating scheme for the Sandy Hollow 1 flaked stone assemblage (after Hiscock 1986a: 100) 61 Table 8 Aboriginal occupation models for the Hunter Valley 66 Table 9 Site search results (5 km x 5 km area) 72 Table 10 Previous Aboriginal Heritage Assessments 73 Table 11 Effective coverage data for the current survey 77 Table 12 Values relevant to determining cultural significance, as defined by The Burra Charter (ICOMOS 1999). 80 18-Jun-2019 Prepared for – Maxwell Solar Pty Ltd – ABN: 73 093 876 307 AECOM Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report i Maxwell Solar Farm Project Executive Summary AECOM Australia Pty Ltd (AECOM) was commissioned by Maxwell Solar Pty Ltd (Maxwell) to complete an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment for Maxwell Solar Farm project (‘the Project’) located approximately ten kilometres south-south east of Muswellbrook, NSW (Figure 1). This assessment forms part of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which is being prepared to support a Development Application for the Project in accordance with Part 4 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act).

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