Jerrinja Local Aboriginal Land Council

23/03/2026

PROTECTION SOUGHT FOR JERRINJA CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

Jerrinja Local Aboriginal Land Council (JLALC) has lodged applications with the Federal Government seeking to protect Aboriginal heritage that exists on sites at West Culburra and East Crescent that have been earmarked by property developer Sealark Pty Ltd.

Jerrinja LALC has written to Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt asking him to declare the sites protected under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (ATSIHPA).

Archaeological survey work at both sites has revealed evidence of the Jerrinja People’s long occupation and custodianship. At the East Crescent site in particular, works have uncovered over 18,000 artefacts. Cultural value and anthropological studies have further demonstrated Jerrinja People’s cultural connection to the cultural landscape in which both these sites are located.

The Jerrinja LALC Board and CEO said “We take our obligation to protect Country seriously. This obligation is not just legislated, but more importantly, it is cultural.

“As we have stated publicly and repeatedly, we are not against development, but when inappropriate developments threaten to destroy Aboriginal cultural heritage, including cultural landscape and ecological values, we will take whatever action we can to try and prevent that occurring.

“We urge Minister Watt to consider the heritage protection application as a matter of urgency”.

As one of Jerrinja LALC’s applications states:

“Jerrinja People are the direct descendants of the original custodians of the Specified Area and its surrounds and have strong cultural connections to it… [and] it is ultimately the Jerrinja People who have the cultural authority to identify and describe the cultural significance of the Specified Area and its surrounds.

“Members of the Jerrinja LALC hold traditional responsibilities to look after it for the benefit of future generations in accordance with traditional customs, and to ensure the Country is healthy for future generations.

“Exercising the right to look after Country is a fundamental aspect of Aboriginal
cultural identity, spirituality and well-being. The Applicant has a cultural responsibility to enact and preserve intergenerational custodianship and as a result has a responsibility to make this application. ”

The Jerrinja LALC Board and CEO said: “We want to stress that these heritage applications are NOT land claims. Freehold land is not subject to such claims, so it is literally impossible. But we know from experience that some in the community will seek to misrepresent this genuine attempt to protect our culture. Those who choose to do so are just perpetuating a racist trope.

“Our efforts to protect these significant sites from Sealark’s proposed developments
are long-standing. These ATSIHPA applications are just the latest in a series of actions.

“Other legal, lobbying, advocacy, and direct negotiation efforts have so far failed to
protect these sites.

“We are hopeful that the Environment Minister will make a declaration for the protection of these significant parts of the Jerrinja cultural landscape and the tangible and intangible values they contain.”

The dispossession of Jerrinja People around Culburra occurred through 19th century settler land grants, agricultural, fishing and urban expansion, and the later reserve system, which forced the community off much of their traditional coastal land while concentrating them at Roseby Park.

Despite this, Jerrinja People have maintained continuous cultural connections to Country.

13/03/2026

The first thing which needs to be said here is that this is Aboriginal community business which should have no place on social media. However now that Sealark has chosen to crow about it we want to make our position clear.

We have no involvement in, and have disendorsed at every opportunity, the “Aboriginal” Advisory Group Sealark has established and is shamelessly promoting for their West Culburra development proposal.

Don’t just trust the weasel words in the attributable quote (we’ll get to who it’s attributed to in a little while), check the detail – which is, as always with Sealark, hidden in plain sight. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plan (ACHMP) sets out that the Terms of Reference are to be written by Sealark. Membership is to comprise Sealark, Crown Lands, Council, and only a minimum of 50% “The Aboriginal Community” (which in itself is problematic, because that’s as defined in the Concept Plan consent conditions, so it’s Registered Aboriginal Parties per the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment and we all know how far they cast the net for those). Crown Lands and Council weren’t just invited to “attend”, they’re to be invited to be part of the “Aboriginal” Advisory Group.

We do not know who the 7 recognised Jerrinja community members are who are on this group. What we will say is that it seems when Sealark is faced with genuine concerns they are more than happy to use divide and conquer tactics in pursuit of their financial goals.

Does anyone really think it’s appropriate for Government agencies and the proponent itself to be on this group?

Does anyone really think that a Development Consent Authority that needs to assess whether conditions of a Concept Plan consent are met, as they pertain to community engagement, Aboriginal community consultation, and the implementation of an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plan, can do so with any impartiality whatsoever if they’re on this Group?

We could write all day about our problems with this group. A grand total of one meeting a year minimum. The advisory only nature of the group. It’s offensive, it’s a case study in how to consult when you don’t want to consult but your consent conditions say you must. Sanctioned consultation. Procured at a rate of $250 per community member per meeting.

The irony of course is that Jerrinja community views on this development were already well known. We’d objected, including to the Independent Planning Commission who knocked back the original proposal for a variety of cultural, environmental and social reasons including our concerns. Now this many years down the track Sealark has curated their own Aboriginal Advisory Group comprising a selection of the Aboriginal Community (and themselves, and agencies). Any wonder we are concerned it is to hear what they want to hear?

We’ve made our views on all this known to Sealark, their consultants, and every level of Government. And just to prove how little Sealark listens to us when we voice our views, even after we refused to participate, we were still invited to. Twice.

By the “Independent Chair”. Who, back when they first were gloating about his engagement on social media last September, was only being labelled as a *facilitator* for this charade of a group.

The plot sickens.

No, we are not splitting hairs. Last we checked, a Chair is actually part of the body they’re chairing. A facilitator is not. Just like the difference between Crown Lands and Council being invited to attend, or be members of, the Group.

We held back our thoughts on Sealark’s engagement of Paul Knight at the time. More accurately, Immersive Country. It’s unclear whether Sealark has contracted Mr Knight’s company, or just Mr Knight himself as a Sole Trader, considering that he also holds Immersive Country as one of his multiple trading names. Either way let’s not kid ourselves that this is some benign independent individual - or that this is the only development project Sealark has engaged Immersive Country to work on.

A side note on one of Mr Knight’s multiple registered business names: how unethical is it to register “Environment and Heritage NSW” as a business name? How misleading is it to be able to say to potential clients or community members “I’m Paul Knight from Environment and Heritage NSW”?

It should be unthinkable that an Aboriginal person who as far as we know only became acquainted with Sealark when he was a member of the NSW Heritage Council, allegedly working for the protection of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, who stood on Jerrinja Country with Jerrinja Elders hearing firsthand of the cultural vandalism this property developer is committing, would be so mercenary as to then commence work for that developer.

“Independent”, hey?

There are no words for the level of cultural disingenuity it takes to have an email signature alleging to take guidance from the beliefs and values embedded in the natural landscape, and then serve a developer hell bent on razing that landscape.

Shame on you. No wonder the only promotion of this debacle is non-Aboriginal people looking for validation from non-Aboriginal people.

21/12/2025

Developers with a difference, alright. Not one, but two 380-plus house subdivisions on the outskirts of coastal villages, clearfelling unburnt threatened species habitat, impacting the Jerrinja cultural landscape.

And - OF COURSE - not one but two significant community consultation inputs right on the holiday shutdown period. Don’t let it be said they didn’t ask, right?

One last call out to allies before we all take a break for the year. Can everyone who’s interested in the Callala Glider Forest head over to this link (possibly via the Callala Matters FB page if you need a refresher!) and give your preliminary thoughts on the planned development.

There’s some surveys we actually don’t encourage participation in because we think a high response rate serves the developers interests.

But in this case, Sealark is getting ready to lodge their Masterplan DA - the Callala equivalent of the West Culburra Concept Plan.

We’ve had a look at the survey questions, and frankly it’s no wonder there’s community misinformation flying around about the benefits this developer and these developments will bring. Talk about getting expectations up. Talk about leading questions. We still found room though to get our point across - we hope you do, too.

Survey closes 5pm Tuesday.

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

19/12/2025

Well done to everyone who lodged a submission regarding the West Culburra DA. At last count there were almost 160 submissions on Council’s DA Tracker and no doubt more will be uploaded. The overwhelming majority (over 4:1) are against.

Our understanding is that this level of public objection generally means the Regional Planning Panel will hold a public meeting about the DA. Between that, and the fact that Panels should share Council’s assessment report and recommendation prior to making a decision, we are hopeful for transparency if nothing else.

We have made our voices heard. Let’s hope the Panel listens.

18/12/2025

Reminder: West Culburra submissions close 5pm tomorrow!

12/12/2025

So the eco-conscious facade of the “developer with a difference” seems to have slipped now their first major DA is on exhibit.

Gone are the days of bokeh-heavy photos from their “stewardship” (read: offset gaming) sites. Instead, they run to the utterly predictable Murdoch press for this sort of dismissive, offensive tabloid coverage.

Is that really how low you are stooping to shore up support for your proposal?

How dare you trivialise the fact you are clearfelling threatened species habitat? How dare you be so blase about Matters of National Environmental Significance?

We are not NIMBYs. We are Traditional Owners and our ancestors and their deep connection, intrinsic knowledge and understanding of true sustainability have cared for this Country for tens of thousands of years and our cultural practices to this day are founded on that.

For the record, that includes the work this LALC and others are doing with the State Government to save threatened species like the Glossy Black Cockatoo. Which is threatened due in part to habitat loss from developments like yours.

28/11/2025

Sealark have lodged the Stage 1 Development Application for West Culburra (DA25/2276), and it is on public exhibition until December 19.

Our page followers know how strongly we object to this development on cultural grounds. The land targeted for this development is an important part of the Jerrinja cultural landscape and our campaign to protect it is our cultural obligation.

As we have stated over and over, ecological values are our cultural values and the scale of destruction being proposed here to threatened species habitat makes it inconceivable to us that the proposal gained EPBC approval, much less that it’s progressed to DA lodgement stage. But here we are, and now is the time for everyone to act.

We strongly urge everyone to lodge a submission via Shoalhaven City Council’s eProperty platform (search for DA2025/2276 - or see link in first comment below). Please note this is not Council’s DA tracker.

Don’t forget, there are as many reasons to object to this development as there are hectares of threatened species habitat slated for clearing! Perhaps you are worried about the impact on water quality in Curley’s Bay, or further upstream in the Crookhaven and Shoalhaven estuary systems (and their oyster industry) or the runoff impacts on Lake Woolumboola. Perhaps it’s the impact on flora and fauna including migratory shorebirds.

Maybe it’s not about ecological impacts for you. Maybe it’s about infrastructure. Can Culburra’s already stressed roads, drainage, carparks and other physical let alone social infrastructure stand up to another 400 houses?

And, considering the amount of unoccupied houses and short term rentals already in Culburra, let’s not kid ourselves that this development will in any way address the housing crisis. It’s not designed to. An overheated coastal market, full of holiday homes, far away from schools, transport etc?

Their claims about affordable housing are disingenuous in the extreme. Over the life of the staged development they’re providing 10% of the blocks, not housing, to a community housing provider. That’s all. And while they’ll make a big deal about how an affordable housing component isn’t mandated by any state planning controls etc, they’ll neglect to mention it *is* a condition of their LEC Consent.

Our allies at Culburra Residents and Ratepayers Action Group will be at Frankie’s coffee caravan tomorrow morning from 8:30am to 12pm, if anyone wants to have a chat about the development before you write your submission. There is also some material available on our website.

Please make your voice count.

19/09/2025

ALLEN PRICE - SCOTS COLLEGE REGANVILLE UPDATE

It’s taken a month but we are finally in the position to provide an update on this situation. As will come as no surprise to absolutely anyone excepts Scots College and Allen Price, we have been notified that an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment (ACHA)is being undertaken for this development.

Who knew?

That’s not actually a rhetorical question. We have good reason, by virtue of nearby recorded sites, if not common sense or common decency, to hold the opinion that Scots should have known. But they have relied on Allen Price. We stated in our last post about the many, many ACHAs Allen Price have commissioned and how inconceivable it is that they would think this site, given its location, wouldn’t require one.

Thank you to our allies and supporters who have taken an interest in this matter. Thanks also to ABC Illawarra for picking up this story and covering it on air on 13th August. Both Scots College and Shoalhaven City Council provided comment to ABC. Allen Price declined to comment to ABC as well.

Wilful ignorance, blatant disrespect, or quite possibly a racist attitude? It’s hard to know in the absence of any engagement whatsover. What we do know is that wherever you walk, you walk in the footsteps of our ancestors. You cannot ignore history, let alone rewrite it. This is ancient Country and the few protections that are afforded it by planning instruments must be upheld.

08/08/2025

As our page followers know, we do not shy away from critique of developments that threaten the Jerrinja cultural landscape. It is our cultural obligation to protect Country. It is also our legislated mandate to protect and promote Jerrinja culture and heritage. When we post, we do so as a positive duty and in good faith, and we are unapologetic about adding our voice to public discussion, especially about developments that impact our unceded ancestral lands.

The proposal (DA25/1446, for those inclined to look it up) by Scots College for another boarding campus at the Reganville property on Culburra Road is likely one such development. The problem is, that despite the Development Application having been lodged in April this year, internal and external referrals occuring through May, and all documentation being available on Council’s DA tracker, we can only say “likely”. Why? Because there is no Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment. Not even a due diligence assessment. Not even the bare, bare minimum.

It would be too easy for this to be a post about Scots College. This is, after all, one of the chief beneficiaries of Warren Halloran, and now of the Halloran Trust. The site of the infamous “rewilding” debacle. It could be a post about the inherent privilege and entitlement of private schools, of old money. We could, rightly, also take aim at Shoalhaven City Council (as we have done offline), for the manner in which we even came to find out about this development in the first place. There is a lot to be outraged about.

But instead, this post is directed behind the scenes. While the majority of our commentary is reserved for development proponents (and recently, one in particular), there are others in the system that both enable, and significantly benefit from, harmful developments. One company in particular has their fingerprints all over literally every development we are currently advocating against.

Allen Price is a conglomerate formed from Allen Price Scarrats and Cowman Stoddart. They sell themselves as offering surveying, town planning, civil engineering - everything proponents could wish for. Apparently, this expertise cancels out the need for pre-lodgement advice from local government prior to submitting major DAs such as this one, which may have resulted in them being told they needed to consider Aboriginal cultural heritage.

But then again, you’d think they might have known that without being told. Given their *extensive* involvement, as mentioned, in projects which have significant impacts on the Jerrinja cultural landscape, given just how many Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessments they themselves have commissioned, how familiar they are with the due diligence requirements under the NPW Act, given they are very involved in a project just downstream on the Crookhaven River and therefore know full well the likelihood of impacts on cultural heritage…

We could go on. But we don’t need to. The point is, Allen Price lodged this DA, they chose to include what they deemed important. We can go onto the DA tracker and see what colour powdercoating the doorframes will have on the dorms, but we can’t see what if any cultural heritage impacts there will be, because they didn’t see that as important.

Yes, we do trust that Council will make them go back and do the job properly. No, they shouldn’t have to.

Allen Price was approached for comment prior to this post, and did not even have the courtesy to respond.

19/07/2025

Callala and Culburra have a lot in common. Both are coastal villages in the middle of Jerrinja Country, where our cultural landscape is home to areas of immeasurable cultural significance, and particularly since the Black Summer bushfires, some of the most important areas of biodiversity and threatened species habitat in the local area.

Both are currently the target of developers, most prolifically Sealark, with their plan to drastically increase the size of the villages with a rationale that includes the “need” for additional housing. Yet both, according to census data, have some 40% of existing homes sitting empty. And that’s without getting into the merits (cough, cough) of expanding one road in and out coastal villages without the infrastructure, services, and facilities of larger towns and cities.

It’s one thing for those of us who campaign against over-development to understand and name this situation, but it’s another thing altogether for some of those who traditionally stand to benefit from it, ie real estate agents, to name the elephant. We commend these local real estate agents for calling the situation at Callala for what it is. And we wonder whether there’s any agents in Culburra who would like to offer their own commentary on the West Culburra development. At last count there were 45 listings on realestate.com for Culburra Beach and Orient Point. Is there truly a “need” for more?

It is a sad irony that the natural environment, that our ancestors cared for for countless generations and our ongoing cultural practice is to continue to care for and protect today, is what draws development to the area. But inappropriate development, beyond what is sustainable, and at the expense of cultural and natural heritage, is something we will unashamedly continue to oppose.

We’d like to encourage everyone interested in the future of Callala to come along to the community meeting being held by Callala Matters tomorrow from 4 - 6pm at the Callala Bay Community Centre, across from the shops on Emmett St.

03/07/2025

Our CEO Alfred Wellington was interviewed for an article in this fortnight’s Koori Mail. While we are posting the article here, we do encourage anyone who can afford to, to purchase the Koori Mail either digitally or in hard copy, and support a 100% Aboriginal owned newspaper. Thanks to Marion Williams for covering this important issue.

Word count didn’t allow for a lengthy reply to the NSW Government’s comments in the article itself, beyond discussing cynicism and consultation fatigue. But anyone looking at their response from an Aboriginal community perspective would be rightly wondering why the focus on consulting with industry groups.

That curiosity could lead you to the Aboriginal Affairs NSW website, where there’s even cartoon infographics on their Aboriginal Cultural Heritage roadmap and an explainer that they’ll “support industry and landowners in the process”. There’s an infographic showing a vision for Aboriginal Cultural Heritage management that includes economic activation.

There are no words strong enough - in fact, no words necessary - for how far removed from our vision for Aboriginal Cultural Heritage management the concept of economic activation is. Don’t know whose vision this is - maybe the industry and landowner stakeholders - but it’s certainly not this Land Councils and we would hope that it’s not a view that’s been put forward by any body claiming to speak on our behalf.

Compare and contrast that, for example, to Victoria. Visit the website of the First People - State Relations group within Victoria’s Department of Premier and Cabinet. Their focus is cultural rights, self-determination, treaty and truth. Not to mention the First People’s Assembly of Victoria, and the Treaty Authority. And of course, this week, the tabling of the Yoorrook Justice Commission’s final report, Truth Be Told. A truth of historic and ongoing systemic injustice.

There is still a commitment to deliver standalone legislation within this term of Parliament. Anyone feeling sufficiently motivated might want to raise this issue with their local (State) member of parliament, or directly with the state Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, David Harris MP.

01/07/2025

🌿 The Junior Rangers at Jerrinja Local Aboriginal Land Council have been doing incredible work out on Country. They’re helping to replant the endangered Magenta Lilly Pilly, a tree with rich cultural significance that plays a critical role in the ecosystem.

Not only are they protecting an endangered species, they’re also keeping culture and traditional knowledge alive and strong.

The work you do is just one example of why we’re expanding the number of Junior Ranger sites across the country.

Thank you 🌿✨✊🏾