GPS training for indigenous land managers is helping guide better management of a significant site in Central Queensland.
Fitzroy Basin Association Inc and Fitzroy Basin Elders Committee supported six people identified by the Gawula Aboriginal Land Trust Committee to undertake GPS training. These participants will put their new skills to use conducting a cultural heritage survey of Gawula, a parcel of land on the Central Queensland coast managed by the Trust, which will support the development of a cultural heritage plan.
Trust Chairperson, Sally Vea Vea, said that the training and cultural heritage plan would build on an existing natural resource management plan developed by the Trust for Gawula, which was launched in early 2009. She said the Trust was committed to maintaining the natural values and environmental sustainability of Gawula.
“The natural resource management plan provides short and long-term goals, targets and objectives for the management of the property, and now we are building our skills and capacity to achieve those outcomes,” Sally said. “In the future, we hope to operate a low impact environmental tourism venture with designated walking tracks and our own guides,” she said.
Gawula, also known as Mt Wheeler, is a 137 hectare freehold property on the coast near Rockhampton, within the traditional country of the Darumbal people. The area was transferred to the Trust by the Queensland Government in 2007, under the Aboriginal Land Act 1991. The trustees initiated the development of the natural resource management plan in order to protect and enhance the biodiversity, recreational and educational values of the site.
Sally said that sustainable land management activities, including controlled burning, had already started at the site as a result of the plan’s development. “The plan also defines our vision of Gawula providing a sacred and ceremonial gathering place to heal, through honouring the past and present traditions and customs, reconnecting to country by working and learning together to nurture, and revitalising and preserving our culture, traditions and natural environment for present and future generations,” she said.
Fitzroy Basin Elders Committee provided technical support and coordination for the development of the natural resource management plan, while Greening Australia researched, compiled and published the document. Funding support was provided by Fitzroy River and Coastal Catchments Inc, a sub-region of the Fitzroy Basin Association Inc responsible for coordinating natural resource management in areas including Rockhampton and Yeppoon.
