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Protected Places Resources

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15.01.2022 Some of the most rewarding work I’ve had over the years is working with Indigenous communities helping to protect their Country and helping to get them more involved with working with government land managers. I was asked by Bush Heritage Australia if I would be interested in helping to prepare a discussion paper on the Tourism Options for the Kuku Djungan Native Title Lands at Ngarrabullgan (Mt Mulligan) in Far North Queensland. I had the great privilege of spending several ...days onsite with Senior Traditional Owners visiting sites and discussing options. There are a wide range of opportunities that could be implemented at a place like Ngarrabullgan and the surrounding area. However, any opportunities proposed would need to be balanced with the overriding need to protect the nationally, and probably internationally, significant Aboriginal cultural, historic and natural values of the site. The use of the site by visitors would also need to be carefully balanced with other commercial uses of the site that are proposed to be continued, at least in the short-term, including mining and beef cattle grazing and management. Ngarrabullgan is of the highest order of cultural significance, at Regional, State and National levels. It contains the oldest known archaeological site in Queensland and one of the oldest in Australia (Ngarrabullgan Cave); one of the densest known concentrations of Pleistocene and early Holocene rock-shelters with cultural materials in Queensland and in Australia; and to date the only known example of a landscape whereby the history of Aboriginal spirituality has been archaeologically tracked back in time. It is today at the heart of Kuku Djungan country and cultural identity. Ngarrabullgan is also of high Regional, State and National significance with respect to its natural environment. It is an outstanding example of a rare geomorphic process and history, and contains numerous rare, threatened and endemic species and habitats, some of which do not occur anywhere else on the planet. It is also of high Regional and State (and possibly National) significance through an event that took place in 1921, when a coal-mining explosion under the mountain resulted in the death of seventy-five miners, to this day the worse mining disaster in Queensland’s history. My thanks go out to the Kuku Djungan community for their warm welcome to their Country.

01.01.2022 The latest project I’ve been working on, with a team of great colleagues, is to produce an Interpretation and Visitor Experiences Implementation Plan for the Grampians Peaks Trail (GPT) for Parks Victoria. The GPT is a great initiative and a huge undertaking that will ultimately see the completion of the approximately 160km, north to south, thirteen-day through walk linking some existing trails with (mostly) new work and the establishment of new hiker camps for overnight stop...s. Our team consists of Interpretation experts, writers, graphic designer, tourism experts, facilitator and on-ground logistics coordinator. It’s been a huge effort completing a penultimate draft of the report over a three-month period. It’s been a great opportunity to visit one of Australia’s premier national parks (first time for me). We’ve been getting out walking parts of the trail including built and yet to be built sections. There have been some great people we’ve met along the way including through our consultation with Traditional Owners, community members and of course Parks Victoria staff who are on-ground in the park and those responsible for tourism, visitor experience, community liaison, interpretation and trail construction. We’ve also worked with the landscape architects involved in the project, tourism industry and local businesses. It’s clear the park staff and the community care greatly about this iconic place and it has been a pleasure to be involved in this way. The photos show some of the team out on the job. For the latest information about the Grampians Peaks Trail go to https://parkweb.vic.gov.au//plans-and/grampians-peak-trail