Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988
{{short description|South Australian legislation}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
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The Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 (AHA{{cite web|url=https://kokatha.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/CIP-Kelaray-Pty-Ltd-Lake-Torrens-Murdie-Exploration-Program.pdf|title=Application for authorisation under the Aboriginal Heritage Act1988(SA): Kelaray Pty Ltd–Lake Torrens Murdie Exploration Program|series=Consultation Information Package|date=2020}}) is the principal South Australian legislation protecting and preserving the state's Aboriginal heritage.[http://www.ccsa.asn.au/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=147 CROW, H (2002) Conserving Aboriginal Heritage as posted on Conservation Council of South Australia's web page] Accessed 6 March 2008 It repealed and replaced the Aboriginal and Historic Relics Preservation Act 1965,{{cite web | website=South Australian Legislation | title=Aboriginal and Historic Relics Preservation Act 1965| url=https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/ABORIGINAL%20AND%20HISTORIC%20RELICS%20PRESERVATION%20ACT%201965.aspx | access-date=1 July 2020}} which was the first state legislation to protect Aboriginal Australian heritage in Australia.{{cite web|work=Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Laws (ALRC Report 31)|publisher=Australian Law Reform Commission|title=The Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Laws and Traditions Today Recognition through Legislation|url=http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/6.%20The%20Recognition%20of%20Aboriginal%20Customary%20Laws%20and%20Traditions%20Today/recognition-thro-0#_ftn38|archivedate=19 April 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419133235/http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/6.%20The%20Recognition%20of%20Aboriginal%20Customary%20Laws%20and%20Traditions%20Today/recognition-thro-0}}{{cite web|publisher=Australian Government Department of Environment, Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities|title=Protection under state and territory laws|url=http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/laws/indigenous/protection-laws.html|archivedate=5 June 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605202216/http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/laws/indigenous/protection-laws.html}}
The Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Division of the South Australian South Australian Department of the Premier and Cabinet has responsibility for managing this legislation, so ensuring that South Australia's Aboriginal heritage is protected, preserved, and transmitted into the future.[http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/heritage/types.html South Australia's Department of Environment and Heritage web page on heritage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723015036/http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/heritage/types.html |date=23 July 2008 }} Accessed 6 March 2008
1996 Evatt Review
During 1996, the Hon. Elizabeth Evatt AC carried out a comprehensive review of the Australian Government's then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cwlth), and, in the process, reviewed the Aboriginal heritage protection arrangements of each state.EVATT, Elizabeth (1996) Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984. Australian Government. Canberra. As part of Evatt's review the following observations were made about South Australia's Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988:
= Background to the state law =
The Act makes it a crime to damage broadly defined classes of Aboriginal heritage without first obtaining the authority of the Minister responsible for the Act.EVATT, Elizabeth (1996) Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984. Australian Government. Canberra. Pages 321-329
The Act vests the powers to protect and preserve Aboriginal heritage in the Minister responsible for the Act, who is required to take such measures as are practicable for protecting a preserving Aboriginal sites, objects and remains.
= Aboriginal heritage protected =
The Act had was judged to be "..one of the broadest definitions of Aboriginal cultural heritage in any of the Australian State and Territory laws..". It was also acknowledged as being the only legislation outside the Australian Capital Territory to expressly recognise that Aboriginal traditions may change over time.
Aboriginal sites and Aboriginal objects are defined as those:
that are of significance according to Aboriginal tradition, or that are of significance to Aboriginal archaeology, anthropology or history.
Aboriginal tradition is defined as:
traditions, observances, customs, or beliefs of the people who inhabited Australia before European colonisation and includes traditions, observances, customs and beliefs that have evolved or developed from that tradition since European colonisation.
This legislation therefore covers both sacred sites and sites of anthropological, historical or archaeological importance.{{cite web | title=Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 | website=South Australian Legislation | url=https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/ABORIGINAL%20HERITAGE%20ACT%201988.aspx | access-date=18 June 2020}}{{cite book|url=https://www.dpti.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/35612/DOCS_AND_FILES-1093752-v1-Environment_-_Technical_Standards_-_Cultural_Heritage_Guidelines_-_A_Handbook_for_Staff.PDF|title=Cultural Heritage Guidelines: A Handbook for Staff and Contractors|publisher=Government of South Australia|author=TransportSA|date=1999|isbn=0-646-37726-4}}
=Criminal sanctions=
Within South Australia it is a criminal offence to:
- excavate land uncovering Aboriginal sites, objects or remains without the Minister's authority;
- damage Aboriginal sites, objects or remains without authority;
- fail to report the discovery of an Aboriginal site or object or remains to the Minister (though this obligation does not apply to tourists, hikers, and other non-land owners/occupiers)
- fail to comply with directions the responsible Minister may give (in the form of a notice to interested parties) prohibiting or restricting access to Aboriginal sites, objects or remains.
The Act applies to all individuals and corporate entities in the state, including the state itself, at risk of individual fines greater than {{AUD|10,000}}, and corporate fines greater than {{AUD|50,000}}. Only Aboriginal peoples themselves are exempt, if their actions are in accordance with relevant Aboriginal traditions.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite journal |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AboriginalLawB/1997/2.html |last=Goldflam|first=Russell |title=Noble Salvage: Aboriginal Heritage Protection and the Evatt Review|date=1997|volume= 3|issue=88|journal=Aboriginal Law Bulletin|via=austlii}}
External links
- {{cite web | title=Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988|website=South Australian Legislation | publisher=Government of South Australia | url=https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/Aboriginal%20Heritage%20Act%201988.aspx}}
{{Aboriginal South Australians}}
Category:South Australian heritage law
Category:1988 in Australian law