The law demands the establishment of an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Committee and empowers the Committee to evaluate on behalf of the community

places and objects alleged to be associated with Aboriginal persons

and

recommend to the Minister places and objects which…are, or have been, of special significance to persons of Aboriginal descent and should be preserved, acquired and managed by the Minister.

Those sites and objects must be kept on a register and the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage maintains an online Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Inquiry System (ACHIS) that purports to provide information concerning Aboriginal Cultural Heritage in Western Australian via an interactive map.

Screenshot of the ACHIS Greater Perth area showing many sites 2025-10-29 173337

The map has different views including topographical and satellite with many layer options to display or hide five different Cultural Heritage types (Register, Lodged, Historic, Protected Areas, Heritage Survey Areas) and things like road names, mining tenements, rivers, and local government areas.

The map shows hundreds of site numbers across WA, with each one linked to its own entry in the database. The public system provides information on each site including the Name, Place Type, Region, and the site’s Culturally Sensitive Nature.

Click on the image of the greater Perth area to see an example of how the Site numbers are displayed.

When a user zooms in on a site, each one has a boundary.

Some sites have regular shaped boundaries like the first screenshot below that shows a square over the homes and businesses in the northern Perth suburb of Dog Swamp.

The second image below is more reflective of most sites, with irregular shaped boundaries that sometimes outline a body of water or park like that roughly mirroring the Claremont golf course and lake.

Screenshot of the ACHIS showing many suburban homes and parks in Dog Swamp subject to the Act 2025-10-29 173525
Screenshot of ACHIS showing homes and golf course in Claremont subject to the Act 2025-10-29 173749

Other sites are based around a geographic feature like a river and its tributaries.

The screenshot below is of the Avon River to the east of Perth – and the main river into which the tributary on Tony’s property flows.

As you can clearly see, the map shows sites laid over the Avon River and most of its tributaries, but not all those marked on the topographical map – despite the evidence presented in Court that resolution 01 for 006 of 6 February 2021 of the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee states:

that it is resolved the ACMC recognises that site 15979 Avon River is not a separate site but is included within site 3536 Swan River and the mythology refers to the whole river system.

Furthermore, the fact that the map shows a number of tributaries not covered by the site seems to ignore the Department’s only Aboriginal elder witness who confirmed the Committee’s view that the whole water system is of cultural significance:

Lawyer: So when you say every part of the water system is significant to your people, are the tributaries important to your people?

Expert witness: Very much so.

Screenshot of ACHIS showing the Avon River with some (but not all) tributaries identified as sites 2025-10-29 173107

It is alarming that the Committee’s resolution appears to have not been fully enacted.

However, the bigger issue is how can a person be charged for not knowing a line has been drawn around their property on a map, when the Department openly admits it doesn’t tell landowners when change the map and the map is not accurate?

Tony needs your support to overturn the charges and make sure it doesn’t set a dangerous precedent for everyone else.