Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

ACHM were engaged by the Gippsland Fire Management division of DELWP to provide cultural heritage management advice, field assessment and site recording services for their bush fire management team. 

This included revisiting and assessing over 200 Aboriginal places, predominantly in the Victorian high country, re-recording and updating the VAHR records, and applying for Cultural Heritage Permits and undertaking CHMP’s where necessary. 

Mallee Catchment Management Authority

The Mallee Catchment Management Authority (Mallee CMA) oversees one of Victoria’s largest and most culturally rich landscapes, managing programs across waterways, biodiversity, agriculture, salinity, floodplains, and cultural heritage throughout the 3.9‑million‑hectare Mallee region. Since 2017, ACHM has supported the Mallee CMA by delivering numerous Cultural Heritage Management Plans (CHMPs) and a wide range of cultural heritage assessments across projects of varying scale and complexity. 

ACHM’s work with the Mallee CMA strengthens the Authority’s commitment to protecting Aboriginal cultural values and supporting Traditional Owner‑led landscape management. The region is home to thousands of years of continuous Aboriginal occupation, with rich cultural sites concentrated around the Murray River and freshwater systems that sustained generations of Traditional Owners.

Through detailed due diligence and archaeological assessments, collaborative fieldwork, and expert cultural heritage guidance, ACHM has helped ensure that land, waterway, and environmental projects across the Mallee proceed with full respect for Country and compliance with cultural heritage legislation. Our long‑standing partnership reflects a shared commitment to safeguarding cultural landscapes while enabling sustainable natural resource management across the Mallee.

Water for a Growing West

The Water for a Growing West project is a major Melbourne Water initiative designed to support the expanding communities of Melbourne’s western growth corridor.
 
As part of this work, ACHM completed a Complex CHMP and conducted salvage excavations along the pipeline route between St Albans and Tarneit, recovering and analysing approximately 700 stone artefacts.
 
These investigations ensured that important Aboriginal cultural values were identified, documented and responsibly managed while enabling the delivery of vital water infrastructure to meet the needs of a rapidly growing region.

GMW Connections Project

ACHM has been a key heritage partner to Goulburn‑Murray Water (GMW) through the long‑running G‑MW Connections project—Victoria’s largest irrigation modernisation program. Over more than a decade, ACHM has delivered extensive cultural heritage management services across more than 300 individual infrastructure construction sites, including numerous Approved Cultural Heritage Management Plans (CHMPs) and due diligence assessments.
 
Our work has also included highly specialised archaeological programs, most notably the excavation, dating and careful repatriation of an important Pleistocene burial site at Ghow (Kow) Swamp in northern Victoria. In addition to the Connections program, ACHM continues to provide cultural heritage support across a wide portfolio of GMW projects—ranging from CHMPs for pipeline upgrades and regulator replacements to early‑stage design advice, GIS analysis, and heritage risk assessments—all ensuring that critical water infrastructure modernisation proceeds efficiently, lawfully and with full respect for Traditional Owner values.

VicRoads Wallan-Kilmore Bypass

ACHM supported planning for the Wallan–Kilmore Bypass through the provision of specialist cultural heritage advice, drawing on our extensive experience in archaeological and ethnographic assessment across major infrastructure projects.
 
Our involvement focused on identifying and managing Aboriginal cultural heritage places within the proposed alignment, ensuring that early‑stage design and environmental approvals processes properly accounted for cultural values, site protection requirements, and legislative obligations under Victorian heritage law.
 
By applying the same rigorous methodologies we use across Australia—including systematic field survey, cultural values assessment, and clear, defensible reporting—ACHM helped ensure that decision‑makers had an accurate understanding of the cultural landscape, enabling a bypass design that balanced infrastructure needs with responsible protection of Aboriginal cultural heritage.

Sunbury Electrification Project

ACHM were engaged to resolve significant cultural heritage challenges associated with the Sunbury Electrification Project. Called in after issues emerged during the original assessment, ACHM applied its multidisciplinary expertise across archaeology, project management and cultural heritage governance to deliver practical, cost‑effective solutions that allowed the project to progress while safeguarding Aboriginal heritage values.

Our team identified and accurately recorded an additional 90 previously unregistered heritage sites, ensuring that construction could proceed without disturbing these places and saving the client substantial costs.

ACHM’s field teams used advanced DGPS technology to achieve <10cm accuracy in mapping heritage sites and deployed ground‑penetrating radar where appropriate to assess sub‑surface cultural material. This combination of technical capability and cultural insight enabled efficient, targeted decision‑making that balanced construction requirements with the protection of cultural values.

ACHM worked closely with the Wurundjeri people throughout the process, ensuring Traditional Owner involvement and supporting culturally informed heritage management across the 15‑kilometre project corridor.

In addition to archaeological expertise, ACHM provided strategic guidance in navigating legislative and stakeholder complexities, enabling the project team to manage heritage obligations effectively within a highly regulated environment. ACHM’s contribution ensured that the Sunbury Electrification Project could be delivered safely, compliantly and respectfully—preserving significant cultural heritage, maintaining strong community relationships and supporting improved rail infrastructure for one of Melbourne’s key growth corridors.

Vicroads Princes Highway Duplication

ACHM has played a key role in supporting VicRoads across multiple stages of the Princes Highway Duplication project in Gippsland and the Surf Coast region of Victoria. Our work included completing a number of Cultural Heritage Management Plans for the project and undertaking major salvage excavations in partnership with Traditional Owners.
 
These excavations recovered several thousand stone artefacts, contributing important archaeological insights into the cultural landscape of the two regions, and ensuring that heritage values were properly identified, recorded and managed during road duplication works.