Revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report
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sydney METRO Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport Revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report April 2021 Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport Revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport Revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report April 2021 Client: Sydney Metro ABN: 12354063515 Prepared by M2A Level 25, 680 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000 ABN: 60 549 956 366 Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport Revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Contents Glossary and terms and abbreviations i Executive Summary iv 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Project context and overview 1 1.2 Key project features 1 1.2.1 Off-airport project components 2 1.2.2 On-airport project components 2 1.3 Project construction 4 1.4 Purpose of this technical paper 6 1.4.1 Assessment objectives 6 1.4.2 Secretary’s environmental assessment requirements 6 1.4.3 Assessment guidelines 7 1.4.4 Structure of report 7 1.5 Study area and construction footprint 8 1.6 Project team 9 2. Legislative and policy context 10 2.1 Off-airport legislative and policy context 10 2.1.1 Commonwealth legislation and policy 10 2.1.2 State legislation and policy 12 2.2 On-airport legislative and policy context 14 2.2.1 Commonwealth legislation and policy 14 3. Methodology 16 3.1 Overview 16 3.2 Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report 17 3.3 Background research 18 3.4 Archaeological field investigations 18 3.5 Social/cultural values assessment for the ACHAR 20 3.6 Direct and indirect impact assessment for the ACHAR 20 3.7 Post-ACHAR further survey and targeted test excavation 20 3.8 Aboriginal Archaeological Report 20 3.9 Social/cultural values assessment for the Revised ACHAR 20 4. Aboriginal community consultation 23 4.1 Stage 1 notification and registration 23 4.1.1 Consultation with regulatory agencies 23 4.1.2 Public notification 23 4.1.3 Invitations for expressions of interest 24 4.1.4 Notification of Registered Aboriginal Parties 24 4.2 Stage 2 presentation of information about the project 24 4.3 Stage 3 gathering information about cultural significance 24 4.3.1 Registration of interest 24 4.3.2 Draft assessment methodology 24 4.3.3 Archaeological field investigations 25 4.4 Stage 4 RAP review of draft ACHAR 25 5. Existing environment 27 5.1 Landscape context 27 5.1.1 Physical setting 27 5.1.2 Topography 27 5.1.3 Hydrology 27 5.1.4 Surface geology 28 5.1.5 Soil and geomorphology 28 5.1.6 Flora and fauna 29 5.1.7 Historical land use 31 5.1.8 Land disturbance 37 5.2 Archaeological context 38 5.2.1 Off-airport archaeological background 38 5.2.2 On-airport archaeological background 48 Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport Revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report 5.3 Regional context 50 5.4 Local context 52 5.4.1 Off-airport local context 52 5.4.2 On-airport local context 57 5.5 Ethnographic context 59 5.5.1 The Darug language and people 59 5.5.2 Post-contact history 59 6. Archaeological field investigations 64 6.1 Aims and objectives 64 6.2 Field investigation strategy 64 6.3 Field team and methods 64 6.4 Investigation results 64 7. Cultural heritage values and statement of significance 67 7.1 Overview 67 7.2 Principles of assessment 67 7.3 Scientific values 68 7.3.1 Rarity and representativeness 69 7.3.2 Identification process 69 7.3.3 Identified scientific values 70 7.3.4 Assessment of scientific significance 77 7.4 Cultural values 82 7.5 Historic values 82 7.6 Aesthetic values 82 7.7 Consolidated statement of significance 82 8. Assessment of potential impacts 84 8.1 Overview 84 8.2 Archaeological sensitivity 84 8.3 Cultural values 84 8.4 Potential off-airport impacts 84 8.4.1 Potential impacts to identified values 84 8.5 Potential on-airport impacts 90 8.5.1 Potential impacts to identified values 90 8.6 Summary 92 9. Cumulative impact assessment 93 9.1 Western Sydney International 93 9.2 Future M12 Motorway 93 9.3 The Northern Road upgrade 93 9.4 Cumulative impacts 94 10. Proposed management and mitigation measures 95 10.1 Approach to management and mitigation 95 10.2 Performance outcomes 95 10.3 Proposed mitigation measures 95 11. References 98 Appendix A Consultation log Appendix B Agency responses Appendix C Newspaper advertisements Appendix D Expression of Interest (EOI) letter Appendix E EES and LALC notification Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport Revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Appendix F Draft assessment methodology Appendix G RAP responses to draft assessment methodology Appendix H RAP responses to draft ACHAR Appendix I Regional archaeological context Appendix J AHIMS Search Results Appendix K Previous and current AHIPs Appendix L Ethnographic context List of figures Figure 1-1 Project alignment and key features 3 Figure 1-2 Construction footprint overview 5 Figure 3-1 Aboriginal archaeological assessment, reporting and management process flowchart 17 Figure 5-1 Excerpt from Dixon’s Map of the Colony of NSW, 1837 (source: SLNSW/IE3742276). Approximate location of the project shown in red. Labels indicating holdings of Governor King and Colonel O’Connell are shown to the north of the project 31 Figure 5-2 Excerpt from Map of the County of Cumberland, NSW 1894 (HLRV/1562201.jp2). Approximate location of the St Marys Station and northern portions of the construction footprint shown in red 32 Figure 5-3 Excerpt from Map of the County of Cumberland, NSW 1894 (HLRV/1562201.jp2). Approximate location of the middle portion of the construction footprint shown in red 33 Figure 5-4 Excerpt from Map of the County of Cumberland, NSW 1894 (HLRV/1562201.jp2). Approximate location of the southern portion of the construction footprint shown in red 33 Figure 5-5 AHIMS sites, transects and test pits 60 Figure 7-1 Identified sites and AHIMS sites 78 List of tables Table E-1 AHIMS sites within the on-airport construction footprint vi Table E-2 Off-airport AHIMS sites and mitigation measures (including sites within the construction footprint and those outside its bounds but within 100 metres) vii Table 1-1 Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements 6 Table 5-1 Development of land holdings within the construction footprint as depicted in parish maps 34 Table 5-2 Disturbance rating scheme 38 Table 5-3 Previous off-airport Aboriginal archaeological investigations 38 Table 5-4 Previous on-airport Aboriginal archaeological investigations 48 Table 5-5 AHIMS search results 53 Table 5-6 AHIMS sites within the off-airport construction footprint 54 Table 5-7 AHIMS sites within 200 metres of the off-airport construction footprint (excluding destroyed sites) 54 Table 5-8 AHIMS sites within the on-airport construction footprint 57 Table 5-9 AHIMS sites within 200 metres of the on-airport construction footprint 57 Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport Revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Table 7-1 Values relevant to determining cultural significance, as defined by The Burra Charter (1999) 68 Table 7-2 Aboriginal archaeological sites within the off-airport construction footprint 70 Table 7-3 Scientific significance assessment for identified Aboriginal sites within the off- airport construction footprint 71 Table 8-1 Potential off-airport direct impacts summary 85 Table 10-1 Performance outcomes for the project in relation to Aboriginal heritage 95 Table 10-2 Mitigation measures 95 Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport Revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report Glossary and terms and abbreviations Term Definition AAR Aboriginal Archaeological Report Aboriginal archaeological Area retains potential for the presence of surface and/or sensitivity subsurface Aboriginal archaeological deposits. Areas of Aboriginal archaeological sensitivity, when compared to areas of low potential, would be expected to have higher artefact counts, densities and assemblage richness values expected. Archaeological features such as knapping floors and hearths are also more likely to occur in these areas. The integrity of deposit(s) will be dependent on the nature of localised land disturbance activities and geomorphic phenomena. Aboriginal cultural heritage The tangible (objects) and intangible (dreaming stories, song lines and places) cultural practices and traditions associated with past and present day Aboriginal communities Aboriginal object Any deposit, object or material evidence (not being a handicraft made for sale), including Aboriginal remains, relating to the Aboriginal habitation of NSW Aboriginal place Any place declared to be an Aboriginal place under Section 94 of the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW) ACHAR Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report ACHMP Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plan AEPR Airports (Environment Protection) Regulations 1997 AHD Australian Height Datum AHIMS Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System - a register of New South Wales (NSW) Aboriginal heritage information maintained by Environment, Energy and Science (EES), which is a group within the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment AHIP Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit ASIR Aboriginal Site Impact Recording ATSIHP Act Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 BNI Blacktown Native Institution BP Before Present is a term used by archaeologists and geologists referring to dates obtained by radiocarbon dating. The “present” in this case is not the present day, which is constantly changing and therefore is unable to be used as a consistent point from which to measure. Instead the year 1950 was chosen to be used as the