The Gully Aboriginal Place - Draft Plan of Management (PoM)

The Gully Aboriginal Place PoM 2021 was adopted at the Council meeting 26/10/2021. For further details see the Business Papers here:

bmcc.nsw.gov.au/documents/2021-10-26-council-meeting-enclosure-to-item-12-part-1

bmcc.nsw.gov.au/documents/2021-10-26-council-meeting-enclosure-to-item-12-part-2

Final Report: The Gully Aboriginal Place Proposed Recategorisation Public Hearing and Submissions

The purpose of this report is to convey to Blue Mountains City Council the verbal and written submissions made in relation to a public hearing held on Saturday 7 August 2021 regarding the proposal to recategorise community land in The Gully Aboriginal Place in Katoomba.

This report has been prepared under Section 40A of the Local Government Act 1993.

This can be downloaded here or from the document library.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Public Hearing will now be taking place via Zoom:

• When: 1-2.30pm, Saturday 7 August, 2021
• Where: Zoom platform (the link will be emailed to registered participants)
• Register: email: Council@bmcc.nsw.gov.au or phone 4780 5000 and quote 'The Gully Public Hearing'
• Registration by 5pm Friday 6 August 2021 is essential to attend the online public hearing.

Registered participants will need to provide an email address and download the Zoom app on a desktop or mobile device to receive the invitation to the online public hearing.

For anyone who is unable to participate in the online public hearing, they can comment on proposed land recategorisation by making a written submission or contact Council until Sunday 22 August 2021 via:

• the online submission form
• in writing to Council by: email: council@bmcc.nsw.gov.au
• post: Blue Mountains City Council, Locked Bag 1005, KATOOMBA NSW 2780 Attention: Andrew Johnson/Soren Mortensen

The Gully Aboriginal Place Draft Plan of Management proposes amending the existing land categories from Community land to Natural Area - bushland to reflect changes to vegetation mapping and from Sportsground to Natural Area – bushland; Natural Area – wetland; and Natural Area – watercourse (at the previous racetrack location).

The Draft Plan of Management also includes three parcels of Crown Land that are part of the Katoomba Falls Reserve.

The Public Hearing is required under the Crowns Land Management Act 2016 and will be conducted by an independent planning consultant.

Submissions on The Gully Aboriginal Place Draft Plan of Management can be made in the following ways:

Written submission

Send to:

Blue Mountains City Council

Locked Bag 1005

Katoomba NSW 2780

Ref File: F10911 Draft Gully Plan of Management

Email submission

council@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

Ref File: F10911 Draft Gully Plan of Management

For submissions, please include your name and email address and reference the following before adding your comments:

• Content Section i.e 2.3 Natural Landscape
• Page Number

Online submission - click here

Closing date for submissions is: Monday 26 July, 2021

Need more information?
Soren Mortensen - Environmental Planning Officer smortensen@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

View The Gully Aboriginal Place Draft Plan of Management

Public exhibition of the draft Plan of Management (PoM) is required under Sections 38 and 40 of the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act), which requires not less than 28 days for public exhibition of the draft plan and not less than 42 days for submission on the draft plan. The Council has determined to place the draft Plan of Management on public exhibition, and to provide a period of 60 days, during which submissions can be made to the Council from May to July 2021.

The Gully Aboriginal Place includes Crown Land which too is covered by the draft PoM. The PoM has also been prepared in accordance with Division 3.6 of the Crown Lands Management Act 2016 (CLM Act 2016). The public exhibition, provision for comment and adoption of a plan of management under the CLM Act 2016 is in accordance with the LG Act 1993.

Being an Aboriginal Place listed under the National Parks Act 1974, draft PoM for The Gully, has also been prepared following the NSW Government’s Guideline for Developing Management Plans for declared Aboriginal Places 2012.

As part of the preparation of the draft PoM for The Gully Aboriginal Place consultation with the Gully Aboriginal community and the broader community was undertaken. This included communications and engagement with:

• Aboriginal families of former Gully residents and their descendants;
• NAIDOC Week participants in The Gully (2018); and
• People who visit and use The Gully through the Have Your Say survey.

Common to all these communications, the Council sought to understand the view of stakeholders on:

• What’s important?
• What needs to be protected?
• How should be The Gully be in the future?

The outcome of this consultation is presented in Chapter 5 of the Draft Plan of Management Talking with the Community. A complete summary of stakeholder engagement is presented in Talking with the Community Stakeholder Engagement Report - The Gully Aboriginal Place Katoomba. Plan of Management review.

The Council acknowledges the importance of community participation in the preparation of Plans of Management for community land. While the Council has received a wide range of responses and ideas for the future management of The Gully, decisions on whether a suggestion can be included in the PoM is measured against the core cultural values of The Gully as an Aboriginal Place, and whether the ideas are supportive of these core values. This direction has also been guided through the Council’s formal relationship with The Gully Traditional Owners Inc, The Gully Cooperative Management Agreement.

Under Section 40A of the Local Government Act, a proposed change to the categorisation of Council Community Land requires a public hearing. The Gully Aboriginal Place Draft Plan of Management, proposes a change to an existing land category (as defined under Section 36 of the LG Act 1993) over a section of Council Community Land within the Aboriginal Place boundary. This proposed change is the removal of the ‘Sports Ground’ category over the former race track to be replaced with the ‘Natural Area’ category (including Bushland, Wetland and Watercourse). This change is proposed out of respect to the deep cultural values of The Gully and its current site use. Also proposed are some minor boundary changes to the ‘General Community Use’ category and ‘Natural Area’ boundary changes to more accurately reflect updates to Council vegetation mapping.

The proposed changes to land categories on Council Community land will be addressed in a separate public hearing following the public exhibition period and prior to adoption of the Plan of Management.

This Public hearing is planned to occur after Public Exhibition which runs from May to July, 2021. The Council will notify the Public Hearing date and location once determined.

The Gully is located in the Blue Mountains, west of the township of Katoomba, and is part of the upper catchment of the Kedumba River which feed Sydney’s drinking water supply. The Gully was declared an Aboriginal Place in 2002 under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. The Gully was nominated as an Aboriginal place because of its significant pre-contact Aboriginal sites, and post contact settlements and its ongoing occupation by Aboriginal People until forced eviction in 1957. (1)

The existing Plan of Management, titled The Upper Kedumba River Valley was revised in 2004, and incorporated the public reserve of Frank Walford Park and parts of Katoomba Falls Reserve (McRae’s Paddock and Cascades/Selby Street section) This Plan of Management (POM) is 16 years old and does not reflect the contemporary cultural values and perspectives held by the Gully community. Funding from the NSW Government, NSW Heritage Grants – Aboriginal Heritage Projects has been made available to review and update the Plan of Management for the Gully.