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Toowoomba Traditional Owners develop cultural manual for landholders
In an innovative move the Condamine Alliance in Queensland has produced a cultural manual to assist landholders in identifying culturally significant Aboriginal sites and artifacts.
Developed by the Traditional Owners Board at the Alliance, the cultural heritage manual, titled Our Culture, is the first of its kind.
Funding
The Australian Government has provided more than $8,000 to help the Alliance develop the manual. Support was also received from the Queensland Department of Natural Resource Management & Water (DNRM&W).
Activities
"This is the only place I'm aware of in Australia that has developed a manual of this nature," Corie Leslie DNRM&W Indigenous Partnerships officer said. "It describes culturally significant Aboriginal sites and artifacts and has photos of them so landholders can identify them."
The Traditional Owners Board and the Condamine Alliance are working together to preserve cultural heritage in the region.
"They work on awareness raising for landholders and farmers," Corie said. "So far, we have had a great response to our workshops and other awareness-raising activities.
"The manual was developed to squash myths surrounding Native Title. It helps people to identify sites and outlines the process for enlisting help to identify these areas."
The process is a simple - if a landholder thinks they have found a culturally significant site or artifact they call Corie, who then calls a Traditional Owner and arranges a convenient time to meet with the landholder. If the site or artifact is found to be of significance the Condamine Alliance will fence the area at no cost to the landholder.
Achievements
The manual has helped get the word out to people in more ways than one.
"We are fortunate that the ABC has provided lots of radio coverage regarding the manual," Corie said.
"We are reaching out to the landholders and providing them with information to raise their awareness. Once people realise what we are doing they are keen to get involved."
Our Culture is 19 pages and easy to read. It is accompanied by a 'glove-box guide' containing photos and descriptions of sites and artifacts.
In addition to the manual, the Traditional Owners Board is now conducting free cultural heritage assessments for landholders who are about to embark on landcare projects.
More information
- Corie Leslie, Indigenous Partnerships Queensland Department of Natural Resource Management & Water: (07) 4620 0119
See also
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