Challenge:

Mandandanji Cultural Heritage Services Pty Ltd’s (MCHS) primary objective is to support proponents undertaking works in the Mandandanji Claim area, to meet their obligations under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 (Qld).

As the long term opportunity for Cultural Heritage Officers to complete fieldwork and clearances diminishes, it becomes more important for MCHS to identify and grow these alternatives.

Solutions:

ECHO can assess where and to what extent cultural heritage may impact projects within the native title claim area. In doing so you have the ability to reduce risk and improve your project delivery services. The solution delivers a management regime for cultural heritage that is technically sound and business based. Risk reduction, improved scheduling and cost savings can be achieved not just in cultural heritage management but also in any other project component or process that might depend on cultural heritage clearance.

Result:

ECHO enables Mandandanji to quantify the project area and effort required for Cultural Heritage (CH) surveying and more importantly prioritises areas for CH field monitoring. Remove subjectivity from cultural heritage management and centrally manage integral data and processes.

Mandandanji

Optimising Cultural Heritage conformance in Mandandanji country

All significant Aboriginal cultural heritages in Queensland are protected under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003. Under the legislation, a person carrying out an activity must take all reasonable and practicable measures to ensure the activity does not harm Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage (Section 23 (1), the cultural heritage duty of care). This applies whether or not such places are recorded in an official register and whether or not they are located in, on or under private land.

Mandandanji people have been involved in the Western district of Queensland, around Roma long before occupation. Mandandanji people have a strong connection with and care for the country. Since 1995 they have been actively and formally involved in the Native Title process.

Expert Cultural Heritage Optimisation (ECHO) is a workflow solution developed by Mipela for predicting the likelihood of finding a cultural heritage site or artefact. ECHO can estimate the cost of field monitoring as well as helping enterprises prioritise tasks. ECHO can play a vital role in providing valuable information, demonstrating conformance with ‘Cultural Heritage Duty of Care’ in terms of the Act.

In conclusion, ECHO delivers improved scheduling and cost savings not just in cultural heritage management but also in any other project component or process that might depend on cultural heritage clearance.