Country, Culture, Spirit

Along the takayna coast is the National Heritage-listed Western Tasmania Aboriginal Cultural Landscape, with globally significant Aboriginal cultural values, including the greatest number, diversity and density of Aboriginal hut sites in Australia.

Extensive scatters of stone artefacts, huge middens containing shells and bones of marsupials and seals, rock shelters, human burial grounds and petroglyphs of geometric forms all add to the rich Aboriginal cultural heritage of takayna. 

“Our middens are an incredible gift, telling us much more than just what people ate, but showcasing an array of information about time, place and of how people lived. Layers of shells representing generations of knowledge left for all of us to learn from. When these middens are crushed by the force of vehicles being driven over them it destroys this information, it changes the story, this damage is irreparable and irreversible – the story is lost forever,” 

– Sharnie Read, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. 

Off-road vehicles and 4WDs that drive along the remote takayna coast are causing irreversible damage to the Aboriginal heritage landscape that has existed for more than 40,000 years. These vehicles have driven directly across vast areas of middens and other irreplaceable sites. Globally significant cultural values in takayna are under-recognised, unprotected, vandalised and repeatedly disrespected. This cultural landscape is priceless to Tasmania’s Aboriginal community, especially because of the relatively low level of post-invasion disturbance.