Virtus Heritage

Dirawong Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plan

Bandjalang Aboriginal Corporation

Our team collaborated on a cultural values study with the Bandjalang Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) to conduct cultural site surveys at their spiritual lands in the Dirawong Reserve, Evans Head NSW.  

The project involved a drone flight over the area to assist with cultural mapping and management recommendations. It also provided background on previous heritage studies and addressed relevant legislative, management and environmental contexts.

As part of the project overseen by our Principal Archaeologist, Dr Mary-Jean Sutton, with Senior Archaeologists Pauline Fowler and Martin Wright, fieldwork and Women’s and Men’s surveys were conducted to inform the assessment of cultural significance in consultation with BAC. Tangible and intangible cultural values were described, and an implementation plan was developed to manage these values, including inputs from our team’s geomorphologist and partner, Simon Pearce, Principal Environmental Consultant, GHD.

Screen capture of the 3-dimensional model / orthomosaic of the Red Hill Artefact site created using the RPA (Mavic 2 Pro), landform overview looking from the south-east.
The view south to Snapper Rocks
The view north to Red Hill.

Sites included artefact scatters and traditional campsites, sensitive landforms for resource collection, and story places. Some of the sites are places with restricted knowledge.

We are grateful to BAC for engaging us to support this important project.

Gallery

Explore More