07 July 2008
Peter Garrett AM
Federal Member for Kingsford Smith
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
Celebrating NAIDOC week Heritage Minister, Peter Garrett has announced more than $3 million in support from the Commonwealth Government’s Indigenous Heritage Program for 49 Indigenous projects across Australia.
Mr Garrett said the program was aimed at helping community groups and individuals identify, conserve and promote the heritage values of places important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“The 49 projects being funded in this round of the Indigenous Heritage Program are spread across the country and share a common aim to maintain and protect Indigenous heritage values as an important part of Australia’s heritage.
“They include six New South Wales, 12 Northern Territory, eight Queensland, five South Australian, two Tasmanian, two Victorian and 14 Western Australian projects.
“In the Walgett region in New South Wales around $70,000 will help to protect sites of significance such as burials, campsites, bora grounds and hunting grounds to ensure the traditional knowledge of this rich Aboriginal heritage is passed on.
“The Maroochy Shire Council in Queensland will receive more than $90,000 to identify and protect cultural sites in the region through undertaking cultural heritage surveys, cultural heritage mapping and establishing a cultural heritage database with traditional owners.
“In South Australia about $45,000 will be used to record oral histories of Ngarrindjeri elders and create a DVD and other interpretive products about Dapung-Talkinjeri people and their land and lifestyles.”
Mr Garrett said Indigenous heritage was an important part of our nation’s past, present and future story, with significance not just for our Indigenous communities but for our entire Australian society.
“It’s vital we protect, preserve and promote their places so that future generations can share and pass on these stories for years to come.”
The Indigenous Heritage Program is delivered in cooperation with the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and Indigenous Coordination Centres (ICCs) as part of the whole of government delivery of services to Indigenous Australians.
A full list of the projects that have received 2008/09 Indigenous Heritage Program funding is available at www.environment.gov.au/heritage/programs/ihp/outcomes-08-09.html
For more information visit www.environment.gov.au/heritage/about/indigenous/index.html