Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management
The Cultural Heritage Unit (CHU) was established as a result of the Tweed Shire Council Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Mapping Project/Plan (ACHMP). The ACHMP was adopted by Tweed Shire Council in July 2018 and requires proponents to obtain an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) assessment from the Tweed Byron Local Aboriginal Land Council (Tweed Byron LALC) as part of the Council’s Development Application (DA) process. The CHU provides proponents with a written ACH assessment report which is then submitted to the Tweed Shire Council as part of their proposal. On occasion, monitoring of ACH in sensitive areas may be required and the CHU provides these services also.*
Tweed Byron LALC played a pivotal role in the creation and completion of the ACHMP. Tweed Byron LALC worked alongside the Tweed Shire Council Aboriginal Advisory Committee as well as cultural knowledge holders of the local Aboriginal community. We believe that by cooperatively combining our insights, knowledge and aspirations we have together developed a Plan that may well set a new benchmark for the management of ACH.

Tweed Byron LALC has a cultural responsibility to protect culture and heritage within its boundary. The NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, provides the legislative framework for Tweed Byron LALC to carry out its cultural obligations and reads:
- Take action to protect the culture and heritage of Aboriginal persons in the Council’s area, subject to any other law; and
- Promote awareness in the community of the culture and heritage of Aboriginal persons in the Council’s area.
With regard to these roles and responsibilities, the Tweed Byron LALC recognises the importance of the ACHMP as a local government policy and procedural document that assists it in meeting these cultural and statutory obligations. Tweed Byron LALC undertake to work cooperatively with Tweed Shire Council to meet all the ACHMP objectives.
The Tweed Aboriginal community of today includes descendant custodians of the land as well as people from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds. The Tweed Byron LALC acknowledges Aboriginal cultural diversity in many forms; including people with different language backgrounds, different names or group identities, different systems of belief, and a special cultural attachment to ‘Country’. The Tweed Byron LALC is committed to represent the interests of the Aboriginal community where those interests are in accord with local Aboriginal knowledge and practices, and are within established local cultural protocols.
Cultural knowledge included in the ACHMP has been freely contributed for the benefit of the whole Tweed community. Tweed Byron LALC will undertake to ensure that this information is used in a respectful and appropriate way. Within the broader framework of NSW cultural heritage legislation, the Tweed Byron LALC will continue to work alongside Tweed Shire Council and the Office of Environment and Heritage, to obtain improved awareness and management outcomes for Aboriginal cultural heritage. Furthermore, Tweed Byron LALC will support those initiatives that better protect and conserve Aboriginal heritage sites and places.
The Tweed Byron LALC supports the implementation and use of this ACHMP as an appropriate means to recognise and respond to issues of cultural heritage within the Tweed Local Government Area.

Tweed Aboriginal mapping layers have always existed and the Aboriginal community has throughout time ‘documented’ or captured those layers with lore, stories, song and dance, bark paintings, body art, cave/rock paintings and sand art etc. The ‘written’ mapping, and the eventual digitised mapping, of ACH is the modern westernised system of capturing and documenting what has always been in existence; that is, the key elements referred to in the ACHMP:
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What these key elements do is articulate the pre-existence of these ancient mapping layers and documents them in a way that non-Aboriginal people can understand. Furthermore, they also inform the westernised line of scientific enquiry which has supported what we Gooris have always spoken of.
There are many non-Aboriginal people who have earned tens, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars researching, documenting and applying their knowledge of ACH that they have acquired freely from authentic knowledge holders. Non-Aboriginal people who have documented Aboriginal communities and their existence over time have collated, not created, resources of cultural knowledge. Some of these people have collated the information to the benefit of the Aboriginal community, however some have not. The CHU is now the vehicle for the Tweed Byron LALC/Aboriginal Community to take control of the provision of ACH services as the Bundjalung Mapping Project (Tweed Shire), its evolution into modern mapping layers and ultimately the ACHMP could never have been achieved without the Aboriginal community’s trust, knowledge or sanction.
Understanding, properly valuing, protecting and preserving ACH requires first and foremost, knowledge and respect. It also needs people ‘on Country’. There are aspects of ACH which are intangible such as ancient and spiritual customs, beliefs, stories, feelings and sensibilities; and other aspects that are physical such as objects and places, features of the landscape and the environment. Only Aboriginal people, and often only those entrusted with the knowledge, can inform this process. In the absence of this knowledge, any effort to preserve ACH cannot succeed and although there may arise challenges in managing potentially conflicting land uses and cultural values, these can also become a powerfully positive process for all concerned.
*Tweed Byron LALC also provides ACH assessment services to parts of the Byron and Lismore Shire Local Government Areas. Please contact the CHU to enquire if your property is within the Tweed Byron LALC’s boundary.
CHU PH Number: 07 5536 1926


07 5536 1926
culturalheritage@tblalc.com
Council Statement of Acknowledgement
and Commitment
- Acknowledges the Tweed Aboriginal communities long standing campaign and dedication to ensuring a solid framework and procedures are put in place within Council, regarding Aboriginal culture and heritage within the Tweed Shire.
- Acknowledges the commitment, time, knowledge and expertise provided by the Tweed Shire Council Aboriginal Advisory Committee, members of the Aboriginal community, Tweed Shire Council staff and Councillors who have contributed to the ACHMP.
- Acknowledges that cultural information included in the ACHMP has been willingly contributed by the local Tweed Aboriginal community, for the benefit of the whole Tweed community and the Tweed Byron LALC seek to ensure that this information is used in a respectful and appropriate way.
- Will recognise the importance of the ACHMP as a local government policy and procedural document that assists us in meeting our cultural and statutory obligations and we make a strong commitment to work cooperatively with Tweed Shire Council to meet all the ACHMP objectives.
- Will commit to represent the interests of the broader Aboriginal community where those interests are in accord with our local knowledge and practices, and are accepted as established local cultural protocols.
- Will support the implementation and use of this ACHMP as an appropriate means to recognise and respond to issues of Aboriginal cultural heritage within the Tweed Shire.