INDIGENOUS CULTURAL HERITAGE MAP A FIRST FOR QUEENSLAND

Premier Peter Beattie and Natural Resources Minister Craig Wallace today released Queensland’s first statewide map of indigenous cultural heritage sites at a Community Cabinet meeting in Yarrabah, near Cairns.

The map lists more than 200 landscapes, places and objects considered significant by Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The map includes the State’s oldest known cultural heritage site, quarries, rockshelters, carved trees, engravings, paintings, travel routes and grinding grooves.

“Queensland has a rich indigenous heritage stretching back tens of thousands of years,” Mr Beattie said

“All Queenslanders – indigenous and otherwise - are inheritors of this extraordinary legacy,” he said.

“The Cultural Heritage Map of Queensland will help all Queenslanders appreciate the history and traditions of our State.

“It will be an eye-opener to many Queenslanders who may not be aware of the great number and importance of Queensland sites.”

Examples of cultural heritage sites listed on the map include:

·Ngarrabullgan Cave (Mt Mulligan) near Cairns has been excavated and dated as over 37,000 years old - currently the oldest cultural heritage site in Queensland;

·Fish traps on Hinchinbrook Island, near Cardwell. The site is very extensive, covers many hectares, and has been described as an 'automatic seafood retrieval system';

·Rock art sites on Bathurst Head, Cape York, and offshore islands in Princess Charlotte Bay contain paintings of European ships - a record of initial contact with Europeans;

·A stone axe quarry at Lake Moondarra, near Mount Isa, which, at 6sqkm, is one of the biggest in Queensland. Stone axes from here were traded over large areas of Queensland;

·Ban Ban Springs, near Gayndah, is a Dreaming Place to the Wakka Wakka people. It is home to the rainbow serpent, a ceremonial site relating to birth, rites of passage and initiation. It was the first site recorded on the register of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003;

·Yam Island in Torres Strait has stone-bounded plots and pathways and stone-lined drainage systems which have been linked to horticulture; and

·Deebing Creek near Ipswich was a mission which was established under the Aborigines Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897. It is of considerable historical significance to people whose families lived there.

The map also lists settlements and missions, police and contact sites and massacre sites.

Mr Wallace said the map highlighted the need to protect vulnerable sites for the future benefit of all Queenslanders.

He said a number of sites included on the map were in national parks and are already known to the public.

“However, the map does not show exact locations due to the fragility of some sites,” Mr Wallace said.

Mr Wallace said Cultural Heritage Map of Queensland would be distributed to Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups, libraries, local councils and departmental regional offices.

“It will be a wonderful resource to educate all Queenslanders about our unique indigenous heritage,” he said.

Mr Wallace said traditional owners from across the state were included in an extensive consultation process during the map’s planning stages. The project was also discussed with representatives from several cultural heritage bodies registered under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003.

There are substantial penalties for harming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage in Queensland.

Individuals found guilty of damaging cultural heritage face up to two years imprisonment and fines of up to $75,000, while corporations face fines of up to $750,000.

Mr Wallace said all Queenslanders to report cultural heritage places in their area to the Cultural Heritage Coordination Unit in the Department of Natural Resources and Water by calling (07) 3238 3836.

Mediacontact: Premier’s office 3224 4500

Minister Wallace’s office: Paul Childs on 3896 3689 or 0407 131 654

22 July 2007