Arrow Energy Surat Gas Project Non-Indigenous Heritage Report by Heritage Consulting Australia Pty Ltd GPO Box 2677 Canberra ACT 2601 September 2011 Table of contents Executive summary ........................................................................................................... ii 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Study area .......................................................................................................... 4 2. Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 4 3. Legislative context and standards ................................................................................ 6 3.1 Commonwealth legislation ................................................................................. 6 3.1.1 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999 .......... 6 3.1.2 Australian Heritage Council Act, 2003 .................................................... 7 3.2 Queensland legislation ....................................................................................... 8 3.2.1 Queensland Heritage Act, 1992 .............................................................. 8 3.2.2 National Trust Act, 1963 ....................................................................... 11 3.3 Legislation affecting sites of local heritage significance ................................... 11 3.4 Cultural heritage guidelines .............................................................................. 12 3.5 Cultural heritage significance ........................................................................... 13 3.6 Threshold indicators ......................................................................................... 16 3.7 Levels of significance ....................................................................................... 17 3.8 Significance and setting ................................................................................... 18 3.9 Significance assessment of archaeological sites ............................................. 18 3.10 Historical themes ............................................................................................ 19 4.0 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 20 4.1 Desktop investigation ....................................................................................... 20 4.2 Field investigations ........................................................................................... 29 4.3 Consultation ..................................................................................................... 30 4.4 Limitations ........................................................................................................ 32 5. Existing environment .................................................................................................. 32 5.1 Registered sites of national or international significance .................................. 33 5.2 Registered sites of state heritage significance ................................................. 33 5.3 National Trust listed sites ................................................................................. 35 5.4 Sites identified during fieldwork ........................................................................ 36 5.5 Review of heritage reports ............................................................................... 45 5.6 Sites documented in Chinchilla Council heritage study ..................................... 49 6. Potential impacts ........................................................................................................ 53 6.1 Potential impacts to undetected sites ............................................................... 54 7. Recommended mitigation and management measures .............................................. 54 7.1 Managing non-Indigenous cultural heritage sites ............................................. 55 7.1.1 Site selection ........................................................................................ 56 7.1.2 Land access .......................................................................................... 56 7.1.3 Engineering and construction ............................................................... 57 8. Cumulative impacts .................................................................................................... 57 9. Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 58 10. References ............................................................................................................... 58 11. Glossary ................................................................................................................... 61 Appendix 1. Constraints mapping ................................................................................... 63 Appendix 2. Sensitivity maps .......................................................................................... 65 Appendix 3. Historical context ........................................................................................ 73 Appendix 4. Site gazetteer ............................................................................................ 115 HCA 2011 Arrow Energy Surat Gas Project - Non-Indigenous Heritage i Executive Summary Project Overview Arrow Energy Pty Ltd (Arrow) proposes expansion of its coal seam gas operations in the Surat Basin through the Surat Gas Project. The project development area covers approximately 8,600 km2 and is located approximately 160 km west of Brisbane in Queensland's Surat Basin. Project infrastructure including coal seam gas production wells and production facilities (including both water treatment and power generation facilities where applicable) will be located throughout the project development area but not in towns. Facilities supporting the petroleum development activities such as depots, stores and offices may be located in or adjacent to towns. Objectives This investigation focuses on the historical cultural heritage of the proposed Arrow Energy Surat Gas Project in the Surat Basin, encompassing both non-Indigenous heritage and contact history. The overall objective is to meet the requirements of the Final Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Environmental Impact Assessment. The ToR requires; • a description of the known and potential historical cultural heritage values of the project development area; • an assessment of potential impacts during construction, operation, rehabilitation and decommissioning phases of the project; • the measures by which these impacts can be mitigated and managed to ensure the retention of the region’s cultural heritage values. A regional history of the Surat Gas Project development area has been prepared to provide the context in which to evaluate identified historical sites. More than one hundred non-Indigenous heritage sites were identified during fieldwork carried out in the study area. Few of these had been recorded prior to site investigations associated with this project and were not included on any heritage list. Most are locally significant, although some possess attributes that identify them as being of State significance, and this would warrant their inclusion on the Queensland Heritage Register. This suite of sites provides physical evidence of a range of human endeavours carried out through the region in the past 165 years that document the region’s history and complement the historical records that describe the events that occurred here. Legislative context and standards In Queensland, both Commonwealth and State legislation protects non-Indigenous heritage sites. This legislation primarily addresses the protection of sites deemed to be significant at a national or state level. In addition, state legislation considers sites of local significance, placing obligations HCA 2011 Arrow Energy Surat Gas Project - Non-Indigenous Heritage ii on local councils to consider these sites in local planning instruments. Methodology The Surat Gas Project development area encompasses an area of approximately 8,600km2, measuring nearly 250km north-south and 70km east-west, at its widest. Given the extent of the project development area and that the location of the project gathering infrastructure and compression and processing facilities has yet to be defined, a multi-staged assessment process has been used to document known non-Indigenous sites and places and assess the potential for others to occur in the study area. The initial assessment entailed detailed historical research, the examination of documentary sources and consultation with local groups and individuals. This evidence of heritage places and historical themes has been used to identify zones within the project development area with a high potential to contain further historic sites and places. Following this site modeling, localised field investigations were undertaken in these sensitive zones leading to the recording and documentation of additional historical places and sites. Limitations The historical research and fieldwork program has yielded considerable results, in an area where in the past there has been only limited systematic site recording. Coverage of the project development area has been complete in many areas, with further unrecorded sites