At Navin Officer Heritage Consultants we are able to build project teams that are tailored to a range of projects.
We work across both Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) and historic settler heritage. One of our strengths and a reason for our success is our expertise across both Indigenous and non-indigenous heritage fields.
First Nations heritage
Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rich and vibrant cultures which have existed for tens of thousands of years. Indigenous communities are intellectual repositories about Australia’s environment and the landscape of many places has been shaped by the hands of Indigenous people over hundreds of generations.
Many places continue to hold cultural, historical and spiritual importance to Indigenous communities. These may be places where significant historical events occurred, communities resided after being displaced by European settlers, where the previous generations are buried, places where cultural and food resources exist, or ceremonial and education sites in use by communities today.
Aboriginal heritage assessments extend well beyond the archaeological record and encompass documenting and understanding the values and knowledge held today by Indigenous communities about landscapes or places. This might include, for example, landscapes that are part of dreaming or creation stories or are associated with important individuals or events, bushland containing traditional food or medicine resources, objects such as old trees which may have been carved or had bark removed to construct canoes, or rock formations which have been carved or were sources of raw material for making tools.
We have been working with First Nations Peoples to document traditional knowledge and histories, manage existing heritage places and understand landscapes, sites and Aboriginal objects which may potentially be impacted during development and /or conservation activities.
Historic Heritage
This amorphous term covers Australian heritage from the time of European Invasion and settlement through to the heritage of contemporary communities including the heritage of townships, and migrant communities. We understand the complexity of overlying heritage values that may relate to any one place, site or monument.
Our people include a range of specialists including historians, anthropologists, archaeologists including lithics specialists and bioarcheologists, and built heritage specialists who can be assembled into project teams to address projects objectives, complexity and scale.
