Aboriginal Heritage Act - Scientific analyses on Aboriginal objects from the Upper River Murray Region
If you are a Traditional Owner or an Aboriginal party with an interest in the Upper River Murray region, we want to hear from you.
What's being decided?
Professor Amy Roberts of Flinders University (Applicant) is proposing to conduct destructive and non-destructive scientific analyses on 30 Aboriginal objects held in the South Australian Museum’s (SAM’s) collections, originally collected from the Upper River Murray region between Morgan and the South Australian border (Research Project).
Under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 (SA) (Act), authorisation under section 23 of the Act is required to damage, disturb or interfere with any Aboriginal site, object or remains. Authorisation is also required under section 29(1)(b) of the Act to remove an Aboriginal object from the state.
Your views will help the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (Minister) decide whether authorisations should be granted to the Applicant to facilitate the Research Project.
Background
The Minister, who is responsible for Act, has received an application for authorisations under the Act from the Applicant to undertake the Research Project.
The Research Project seeks to satisfy the following four key aims:
- to determine how old the objects are
- to identify the types of wood used to create the objects
- to understand what the objects were used for
- to learn how the objects were manufactured/decorated.
The objects include examples of wooden boomerangs, shields, dishes, spears and other items
Get involved
Section 13 of the Act requires the Minister to consult with relevant Traditional Owners, the State Aboriginal Heritage Committee (Committee) and any other Aboriginal people or organisations that he considers may have an interest in this matter. If you are a Traditional Owner or an interested Aboriginal party, please read the Consultation Information Pack and consider responding to at least the following questions:
- Should the authorisations sought by the Applicant be granted? Why or why not?
- If the authorisations are granted, what conditions (if any) should be imposed on them?
- Will the Project provide you with any direct or indirect benefits (e.g., cultural, financial or personal)?
- Are there any other matters the Minister should consider when deciding this application?
If you wish to learn more, to lodge a submission and/or be notified once a decision in this matter has been made, you can:
- Call us on (08) 8429 9419
- Visit AAR’s website
- Email your feedback to AAR.CIR@sa.gov.au
- Post your feedback to:
Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation
Attorney-General’s Department
GPO Box 464
ADELAIDE SA 5001
See the Consultation Information Pack for further details on how to lodge a verbal or written submission.
AAR is available to assist people to record submissions if they have any difficulty in doing so.
Submissions must be received by AAR by Monday 26 May 2025.
What are the next steps?
You may request that AAR keeps any cultural information in your submission confidential. AAR will facilitate these requests, where possible, in line with procedural fairness principles. Otherwise, AAR will forward your submissions in full to the Applicant for comment. Once the public consultation has closed, AAR will forward your submissions and the Applicant’s comments to the Committee, whose views will also be sought.
AAR will collate all submissions, the Applicant’s responses to them, the Committee’s advice, and its own recommendations to the Minister to make a final decision about the application.
