Media release – Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania, 20 July 2021
ABORIGINES CALL FOR PARTNERSHIP WITH WEST COAST COUNCIL TO PRESERVE ANCIENT HERITAGE INSTEAD OF OFF ROAD BASHING
Land Council Chairman Michael Mansell today urged the West Coast Council to “shift their focus from four wheel bush bashing to promotion and preservation of ancient Aboriginal heritage.”
“We would like to partner the West Coast Council in management of Aboriginal heritage in their region. Instead of spending $300,000 on four wheel drive infrastructure we could employ Aboriginal guides to promote Aboriginal culture and heritage. That would bring visitors into the west coast. Those visitors need accommodation, food and fuel. The image of the west coast institutions could therefore be transformed similar to the way Strahan reinvented itself from logging to tourism.
“Wukalina Walk is highly successful on the east coast. There are no reasons why similar low impact tourists could not be invited to the west coast to hear and see the magnificent middens, engravings and forests that Aboriginal people nurtured for thousands of years.’
Mr Mansell said the Aboriginal Heritage Act is destined to recognise greater authority of Aboriginal people over Aboriginal heritage.
‘’One consequence of revamped heritage laws is that local government will need to work more closely with Aboriginal people. We welcome general manager David Midson’s suggestion of opening up these talks sooner rather than later. We envisage Aboriginal guides operating out of Strahan and the Pieman River with walking groups experiencing where 700 Aborigines lived in 1828. We can restore the traditional villages so walkers can stay inside them. The real value of the west coast is its history, to be nurtured, felt and understood.”
