Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council Strategic Plan 2021-2026

In a landmark piece of legislation, the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council was created through the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, as the only statutory authority composed entirely of Victorian Traditional Owners. Then, as now, the significance of Council’s representation is a positive step towards empowerment.

Today, some 15 years later, a seismic change has happened in the way that Traditional Owners’ rights, responsibilities, knowledge and voice is considered and appreciated in the broader community. As a Council, we are true to our values and provide leadership that is constructive, visionary and forward-thinking.

Government’s own policies of self-determination for Victorian Traditional Owners are reflective of this change but it is time that they are implemented in legislation. The time has come for Traditional Owners to do more than play a part, they must realise their rights to control their Cultural Heritage through the law that governs the protection and management of that Cultural Heritage, we do this is not only for us but for all Victorians.

The health and wellbeing of our People has been affected in all kinds of ways. Working with and respecting Traditional Owners will make a difference. What’s happened so far has made a difference, and further reforming of the Act will make a difference as well.

Our Peoples’ Cultures are bound by our relationships to each other, our Countries and our Ancestors. Fundamental to our wellbeing is a connection to our Culture and our connection to each other is a core part of this. We speak to, with and for our Peoples to maintain our rights as First Peoples to have our voices heard and valued.

As a Council of Traditional Owners, we seek to advocate for the inherent rights of our Peoples. We communicate the spiritual, cultural and intergenerational responsibilities of our Peoples and educate all in the community on who we are as Traditional Owners, who our Ancestors were and who our children will be. In all, we do we will apply the principles of self-determination and advocate for these rights to be activated and respected. Everybody in the Victorian community needs to learn, understand and respect Aboriginal Cultural Heritage. We will all be better for the experience.

Together, across generations, we are the protectors of Cultural Heritage through imposed legislation and community cultural expectations. It is in our children’s lifetimes that our ambitions to be accorded the rights outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be realised. This Declaration enshrines the rights of our People and affirms that Indigenous Peoples are equal to all other peoples while recognising the right of all peoples to be different, to consider themselves different, and to be respected as such.

The Act and Declaration, together, provide some of the greatest protections for Traditional Owners in the country. However, there is still much to be done in realising a fundamentally self-determined and tangible ownership of our Culture, Heritage, History and Country.

Mick Harding
Chairperson
Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council

The Council’s vision is of a community that understands and respects Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and the cultural responsibilities of Traditional Owners. The Council recognises Traditional Owners as the primary guardians, keepers and knowledge holders of their Cultures.

When we speak of Cultural Heritage, we are speaking of more than the manifestation of our Ancestors in the landscape, we are speaking of wellness, wellbeing and the inherited and fundamental rights of our Peoples.

Cultural Heritage refers to the knowledge and lore, practices and people, objects and places that are valued, culturally meaningful and connected to identity and Country. It shapes identity and is a lived spirituality fundamental to the wellbeing of communities through connectedness across generations. And, it has been passed from the Ancestors to future generations through today’s Traditional Owners whose responsibilities are profound and lifelong.

As a Council of Traditional Owners, we are proud of the Aboriginal Cultures of Victoria. We are committed to strengthening the knowledge held by Aboriginal People across Victoria. Cultural Heritage is our inheritance and our legacy. Through our work and cultural responsibilities, we support self-determination as a collective right for our People.

The Council is made up of up to eleven Traditional Owners who are appointed by the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Members of the Council must reside in Victoria and have demonstrated traditional or familial links to an area in Victoria. They are also required to have relevant knowledge or experience in the management of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage in Victoria.

Council is not currently representative in its membership, instead comprised of Traditional Owners with the knowledge and experience required. It is comprised of members of RAPs and non-formally recognised Traditional Owner groups, ensuring that the voices of a broad range of Traditional Owners are heard. Each Council member contributes perspective, understanding and knowledge to Council’s decisions that are made as a collective of individual Traditional Owner voices.

The Council plays an important role in the implementation of the Act. The Council’s principal functions are:

• making decisions on Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) applications
• monitoring RAPs
• protecting Ancestors’ resting places and returning Ancestors to Country
• caring for Secret or Sacred (Sacred) Objects in Victoria
• managing the Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Fund
• promoting understanding and awareness of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
• providing Advice to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and government.

Vision

Our vision is of a place where language is spoken easily, Traditional Owners are respected, Countries are cared for appropriately and Cultures are proudly lived by all our Peoples.

Our vision will only be realised through:

• respecting Traditional Owner rights and responsibilities to Culture and Community
• supporting our Peoples to advocate, communicate and educate about these inherited, fundamental and spiritual responsibilities for the benefit of all people
• significant legislative changes, ensuring Traditional Owners manage their Cultural Heritage.

Purpose

Our purpose is to uphold Traditional Owner rights and responsibilities to Culture and Community. Supporting our People to advocate, communicate and educate about these inherited, fundamental and spiritual responsibilities for the benefit of all people.

Values

Our Peoples are the Traditional Owners, custodians of a rich and complex system of values that inform our day to day to lives, governance structures and systems of belief. They are values of respect – respect for each other, respect for Country and respect for Ancestors.

Pride

Supporting our People to proudly live Cultures and care for Countries.

Equality

Ensuring honesty, respect, integrity and fairness all Council’s work.

Rights

Advocating for the inherent rights of our Peoples.

Unity

Standing shoulder to shoulder with each other in our decision making.

Objectives

Our Objectives are numbered Ganbo to Woduyullul (1 to 5) in the Bunurong language.

ganbo

Our Peoples’ managing their Cultural Heritage.

pendurong

Community understanding of our Cultural Heritage.

ben-ge-ro-gan-mil

Council’s independent and authoritative voice.

bengero bengero

Supported and strengthened RAPs.

woduyullul

Our Peoples’ responsibilities to our Ancestors.

From the Gunaikurnai language, this means:

"Together our heart is strong, like the sap in the wattle tree that keeps the tree growing, it makes it strong, keeps it alive. It represents the heart, mind and soul of the people to be strong in their culture. Loong wurk wurk bramungma represents the many relationship of family who belong to their lands."

The wellbeing of our Communities is grounded in lived spirituality, shared Culture and connection to Country. Supporting Traditional Owners to live their Culture in themselves, through their children and on their Country is a fundamental pathway to realising Council’s vision of a proud and well Peoples.

When people are proud of their Culture, they share it. Pride grows through cultural connectedness and this objective strengthens Council’s commitment to supporting Traditional Owners to deepen, celebrate and share their connection to Culture.

Strategic Actions

"We are an old Peoples, living old Cultures in an old environment. To be well, to thrive and to share our Cultures, we must first support our People."

Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council
February 2021
Melbourne

In the Wamba Wemba language, this means:

"The community working together."

We inherit our Cultural Heritage from our Old People, a living Culture extending thousands of generations. Whilst destruction, salvage and denial of this ownership of Countries and Cultures continues, it is essential that Council works to promote Traditional Owner responsibilities in the diverse Victorian community.

Council has both a cultural and statutory responsibility to promote public understanding of Cultural Heritage. It is through education, communication and understanding that appreciation and respect are born. Whilst the rights of Traditional Owners to control their Cultural Heritage continues to be questioned and not be respected, it is essential that Council pursues this work on behalf of all Victorians.

Strategic Actions

"When all in our communities live their respect for the inherited responsibilities of Traditional Owners and are proud of their own contribution to caring for Country and the cultural wellbeing of Our People, then we will be able to walk together towards reconciliation. But only then."

Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council
February 2021
Melbourne

In the Monero Ngarigo language, this means:

"Our land, our mother, our home
Our footprints connect us to our beautiful lands
Sit quiet, sit and listen to our talk about our future."

We live the principle that we must ourselves determine our lives, our rights, our responsibilities, our Cultures and our futures. We have a collective responsibility and inherited right to our Cultures and Countries that is as unique as it is fundamental. We must be enabled to live self-determination through our embodiment of the oldest living Cultures on earth.

As a statutory body of Victorian Traditional Owners, it is essential that the structures through which Council works are decolonised. It is both fundamental to the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and commitment to principles of self-determination that Council becomes truly autonomous of government.

Strategic Actions

"It is in our Cultures to respect the strength of words and the meaning of symbolism. In speaking openly and with focus about the colonising structures in which our Peoples live their Cultures, we remove some but only some, of its power. To truly be allowed to determine our lives for ourselves, the authorities that help manage our Cultures must be governed by Traditional Owners."

Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council
November 2020
Lakes Entrance

In the Dja Dja Wurrung language, this means:

"RAPs represent the right People, the only People, who can speak for their Countries.

The knowledge, lore, cultural responsibilities and authority of the Traditional Owners they represent is theirs alone, inherited from their Ancestors.

RAPs have a fundamental role to speak for Country and Culture within their registration area, that is not defined by the colonising structures of their registration but is supported by it."

RAPs represent the right People, the only People, who can speak for their Countries. The knowledge, lore, cultural responsibilities and authority of the Traditional Owners they represent is theirs alone, inherited from their Ancestors. RAPs have a fundamental role to speak for Country and Culture within their registration area that is not defined by the colonising structures of their registration but is supported by it.

Through processes of legislative reform and strategic action, Council seeks to secure the inherited rights of our Peoples to care for Countries, Communities and Cultures.

Strategic Actions

"It is essential that our Peoples’ representative and inclusive structures for governance of Cultures are respected and supported to thrive."

Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council
May 2021
East Melbourne

In the Taungurung language, this means:

"Our Ancestors we take care of,
Our beliefs we take care of,
Our Country we take care of,
We share with everyone."

Our Old People and Sacred Objects were taken without consent or ceremony. Whilst they remain in a state of damning exile from Country, our communities cannot rest nor can they bear the burden of their responsibilities to return their Ancestors home and Sacred Objects to Communities.

Council has a fundamental responsibility to support Traditional Owners in the custodianship and sensitive repatriation of Ancestors to Country and Sacred Objects to Communities. Council will continue to support and advocate for Traditional Owners to lead the conversation on the repatriation of Ancestors and Sacred Objects currently in Council’s care.

Strategic Actions

"We have a cultural responsibility to return our Old People to their Country for ceremony and burial. Until this is done, we cannot rest or heal."

Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council, December 2020, Melbourne