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When will a Cultural Heritage Management Plan be required?

Cultural Heritage Management Plans are mandatory for listed high impact activities proposed for listed areas of cultural heritage sensitivity, as defined in the Aboriginal Heritage Regulations 2007.

High impact activities are prescribed in the Aboriginal Heritage Regulations 2007. High impact activities include developments with the potential to cause significant changes in land use.

Areas of cultural heritage sensitivity are landforms and land categories that are generally regarded as more likely to contain Aboriginal cultural heritage. An area of cultural heritage sensitivity (other than a cave) is no longer regarded as sensitive if all of it has been subject to past significant ground disturbance .

Significant ground disturbance is defined as disturbance of the ground or waterway by machinery in the course of grading, excavating, digging, dredging or deep ripping (to a depth of 60cm or more). Ploughing, other than deep ripping, is not considered significant ground disturbance for the purposes of the Regulations.

The Regulations also lists activities that are exempt from requiring the preparation of a Cultural Heritage Management Plan.

Aboriginal heritage planning tool

A simple way in which to check whether a Cultural Heritage Management Plan is required for a proposed activity is to use the Aboriginal heritage planning tool and follow the prompts.

You can look at areas of cultural heritage sensitivity by viewing our Maps section.

A ‘How to’ guide

The Guide to Preparing Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plans (PDF 6980 kb) or Word (27089 kb) sets minimum standards for conducting cultural heritage assessments and preparing a Cultural Heritage Management Plan.

To assist in evaluating a Cultural Heritage Management Plan, Aboriginal Affairs Victoria has developed an Evaluation Checklist (PDF 74 kb).
The Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 requires that a Plan be prepared in an approved form. Maps of the activity area also need to be prepared in accordance with an approved form. All assessment documentation forms can be found at Aboriginal Heritage Act - Guides and forms.

For information about fees and fines under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 please refer to our page on fees and penalties.

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