North Central Catchment Management Authority

Calm river bordered by gum trees with reflections on the water under a clear blue sky

The North Central Catchment Management Authority (North Central CMA) oversees one of Victoria’s most diverse and culturally significant regions. Covering 13% of the state, the area stretches from the Murray River to the Great Dividing Range and includes major river systems such as the Campaspe, Loddon, Avoca and Avon‑Richardson. These landscapes support internationally significant wetlands, box‑ironbark forests, and a rich Aboriginal cultural heritage that continues to shape land and water management across the region. 

ACHM has supported the North Central CMA by delivering expert cultural heritage services that help integrate Aboriginal knowledge and values into the Authority’s environmental and natural resource programs. Our work aligns with the CMA’s strong partnerships with Traditional Owners, ensuring cultural heritage is respected, protected, and appropriately considered in regional planning and on‑ground works. With extensive experience in cultural heritage assessment and compliance, ACHM provides the CMA with the clarity, accuracy, and technical support needed to manage heritage obligations and uphold cultural responsibilities across this important landscape.

Melton City Council

Aerial view of Melton Town Centre with streets, shops, car parks and landscaped public spaces

ACHM supports Melton City Council across multiple infrastructure programs, including road and transport upgrades such as the works associated with the Melton Highway corridor. Our role includes delivering Cultural Heritage Management Plans and due diligence assessments for council‑led upgrade projects in the region—ensuring cultural values are identified early, constraints are clearly mapped, and road design progresses with full statutory compliance.
 
Recent work with Melton City Council—including CHMPs for Middle Road Upgrade and associated shared‑path, recreation‑reserve and road‑upgrade projects—demonstrates ACHM’s capability in providing responsive, technically robust heritage advice that supports efficient program delivery in one of Victoria’s fastest‑growing municipalities.

Post-Event Heritage Evaluation (PEHE) Program

Aerial view of Barmah National Park wetlands with winding waterways and floodplain forest

ACHM is delivering Post-Even Heritage Evaluation (PEHE) post‑flood event heritage surveys for Parks Victoria, providing rapid mobilisation, risk‑aware fieldwork, and end‑to‑end reporting across multiple reserves—including Walpolla, Wandella Nature Conservation Reserve, Dartagook Wildlife Reserve, and Westblades Swamp Wildlife Reserve.

Our team has coordinated survey notifications, field surveys, VAHR access, and site‑card preparation while streamlining invoicing and budget control to keep delivery on track. We have processed VAHR feedback and resubmissions and are finalising report updates pending registry numbers, ensuring quality assurance without delay.

With four concurrent work packages, and the re-recording of over 70 heritage sites in the north of Victoria, the PEHE program showcases ACHM’s capacity to scale quickly, protect cultural values, and deliver compliant outcomes under challenging flood‑recovery conditions.

Western Highway Duplication

ACHM provided specialist cultural heritage advisory services for the Western Highway Duplication between Buangor and Stawell, delivering the mandatory Cultural Heritage Management Plan required for the project. Our team undertook comprehensive desktop and standard assessments to identify and manage Aboriginal cultural heritage sensitivities along the corridor.

We worked closely with VicRoads and the Registered Aboriginal Party to ensure full compliance with the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, while carefully integrating cultural heritage considerations into planning, design, and construction plans. ACHM’s approach ensured regulatory certainty, safeguarded cultural values, and supported the smooth delivery of this major infrastructure upgrade.

VicRoads

ACHM has a long record of successfully delivering cultural heritage services for VicRoads across major road and highway upgrades throughout Victoria. Our work includes multiple Complex and Standard CHMPs for the Safe System Road Infrastructure Program (SSRIP), salvage investigations for projects, and large‑scale CHMP’s and salvages for the Western Highway duplication, Midland Highway expansion, South Gippsland Highway expansion, Melton highway, Princes Highway expansion, Northern Highway works and extensive works on the Wallan-Kilmore bypass.

Through detailed desktop, standard and complex assessments, stakeholder consultation and regulatory navigation under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, ACHM supports VicRoads in delivering safe transport infrastructure while protecting Aboriginal cultural heritage values.

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

Water flowing through Cohuna Weir gates with green railings, concrete supports and rock embankments
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

Route map of VicRoads Wallan-Kilmore Bypass showing the proposed alignment around Kilmore and Wallan
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

Aerial view of Sunbury Electrification Project rail corridor works with tracks, machinery and crews

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.