Keeping Regional Emergency Services Infrastructure Compliant With Aboriginal Heritage Regulations Across Victoria
The Country Fire Authority is Victoria’s volunteer and career fire and emergency service, delivering an ongoing program of new and upgraded fire stations across regional and outer metropolitan Victoria.
Station projects are individually modest but collectively demanding from a heritage perspective. Sites are spread across multiple Registered Aboriginal Party areas, land options in small townships are often limited, and community expectation for delivery is high. A heritage constraint discovered late on a single site can hold up a build with no realistic alternative location.
Australian Cultural Heritage Management has supported the Country Fire Authority across this program, completing a Cultural Heritage Management Plan for the Pyalong CFA Station and due diligence assessments for proposed stations at Callawadda, Clear Lake, Pomonal, Greendale, Buninyong, Dundonnell and The Basin. Our team worked with Registered Aboriginal Parties, stakeholders and project planners to identify and assess cultural heritage sensitivity early in planning, so designs could be refined where needed and compliance pathways confirmed before commitments were made.
The result is emergency services infrastructure delivered in full compliance with Victorian Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation, with the deep histories and cultural landscapes of regional Victoria properly accounted for in the process.
Client
Country Fire Authority (CFA)
Location
Victoria
Sectors
Infrastructure
Public Sector
Services
Results Delivered
Delivering Cultural Heritage Due Diligence and CHMP Approvals Across a Statewide CFA Station Program
Australian Cultural Heritage Management supported the Country Fire Authority across a series of new and upgraded fire station developments throughout regional Victoria, completing a Cultural Heritage Management Plan for the Pyalong CFA Station and due diligence assessments for seven further proposed sites. Working closely with Registered Aboriginal Parties and project planners, our team identified and managed cultural heritage sensitivities early, keeping delivery of critical community infrastructure on track.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do new fire stations require cultural heritage assessment in Victoria?
Yes, in many cases. Construction of a new facility is classified as a high impact activity under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, and where the site falls within an area of cultural heritage sensitivity a due diligence assessment, and potentially an approved CHMP, is required before works can proceed. For the Country Fire Authority’s regional station program, Australian Cultural Heritage Management completed due diligence assessments across seven proposed sites and an approved CHMP for the Pyalong CFA Station. Learn more about our due diligence services.
What is a heritage due diligence assessment and when is it enough on its own?
A due diligence assessment reviews sensitivity mapping, heritage registers and site conditions to determine whether an activity triggers a mandatory CHMP. Where the site is found to be significantly ground disturbed or the activity does not meet the threshold for a high impact activity, no further assessment may be required, allowing a project to proceed with confidence. Australian Cultural Heritage Management completed this assessment across seven CFA station sites, several of which were cleared to proceed on this basis.
How can emergency services agencies manage heritage obligations across many small sites at once?
Assessing a portfolio of sites together, rather than one project at a time, gives an agency a comparable risk picture across its capital works program and allows effort to be directed to the sites that genuinely require it. Australian Cultural Heritage Management applied a consistent assessment methodology across the CFA’s Callawadda, Clear Lake, Pomonal, Greendale, Buninyong, Dundonnell and The Basin station projects, alongside the Pyalong CHMP.
What triggers a mandatory CHMP for a small regional building project?
A mandatory CHMP is triggered where a high impact activity, such as significant ground disturbance for a new building, is proposed within an area of cultural heritage sensitivity as mapped under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006. Site size alone is not the deciding factor. A due diligence assessment is the fastest way to confirm whether a small regional project, such as a new CFA station, falls within this requirement.
