Summary:
Booderee Botanic Gardens are owned by the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community. They are the only Aboriginal owned botanic gardens within Australia, covering an expansive 80 hectares (Parks Australia 2017). Booderee National Park was named by the Aboriginal community in the native ‘Dhurga’ dialect, which translates to ‘bay of plenty’ (Parks Australia 2017). The region has been occupied by Indigenous communities for many thousands of years. During the early 1800s, European settlers dispossessed this land from the local Aboriginal people and it was not until 1995 that it was returned back to the Aboriginal traditional owners of the land. Today Booderee National Park is co-managed by the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community and the Director of National Parks (Parks Australia 2017).
Booderee Botanic Gardens contains over 1000 different plant species native to the South Coast of New South Wales (Director of National Parks, n.d.). Booderee Botanic Gardens contain many different natural environments, including heath, woodland, rainforest and forest (Director of National Parks, n.d.). Additionally, Booderee Botanic Gardens are home to a number of protected native animal species, including mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians (Farrier and Adams 2011, p8).
Booderee Botanic Gardens contain many aspects of intangible cultural heritage that hold specific social and spiritual value to the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community. The community associates a deep significance with Booderee Botanic Gardens and the landscape of the National Park. They remain tightly connected to their cultural heritage (Parks Australia 2017).
The local Indigenous community make use of Booderee Botanic Gardens in a number of ways. The gardens are used to provide native plants of significance to the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community, which are necessary for interpreting Aboriginal plant use. Plant life within the garden is also used to educate the local Aboriginal community in numerous traditional practices and customs.
Booderee National Park and Botanic Gardens have now put initiatives in place to train the local Aboriginal community in skill acquisition and professional development (Farrier and Adams 2011, p.19). And although the Aboriginal community understands the importance of employing trained professionals within the management of Booderee National Park and Botanic Gardens, their future aim is to be able to fill many of these positions with qualified members of the Aboriginal community (Farrier and Adams 2011, p.19).
Although The Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community and the Director of National Parks both hold different beliefs behind their approaches to preservation, their desires for the outcome of the National Park and Botanic Gardens are generally the same (Farrier and Adams 2011, p.16). Yet, there is still a yearning within the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community for sole management. Caring for the land is a traditional concern for the Indigenous community, so it makes sense that they be the one’s employed to undertake that task (Farrier and Adams 2011, p.19).
Image List:
1.Cultivated Gardens, photo courtesy of Weekend Notes, http://www.weekendnotes.com/booderee-botanic-gardens/
2.Koori Garden, photo by author
3.Rainforest Trail, photo by author
4.Forest Trail, photo by author
5.Umbrella Bracken Fern, photo courtesy of Parks Australia, http://parksaustralia.gov.au/booderee/people/botanic-gardens.html
6.Native Bird Life, photo courtesy of Parks Australia (URL as above)
7.Lake View Trail, photo by author
8.Acknowledgement of Reconciliation, photo by author
Bibliography:
Australia ICOMOS 1999, The Burra Charter: The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, retrieved Monday 22nd May 2017, http://australia.icomos.org/publications/charters/
Director of National Parks (n.d.), Booderee Botanic Gardens Brochure, retrieved Monday 22nd May 2017, http://www.environment.gov.au/resource/botanic-gardens-brochure-booderee-national-park
Farrier and Adams 2011, Indigenous – Government Co-Management of Protected Areas: Booderee National Park and the National Framework in Australia, retrieved Tuesday 16th May 2017, http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2075&context=scipapers
Parks Australia 2017, Booderee Botanic Gardens, retrieved Monday 22nd May 2017, http://parksaustralia.gov.au/booderee/people/botanic-gardens.html
QCAA 2008, Relationships To Country: Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islander People, retrieved Monday 15th May 2017, www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/approach2/indigenous_res005_0803.pdf
Smith, L 2006, ‘The Discourse of Heritage’ in The Uses of Heritage, Taylor & Francis, United Kingdom, pp.11-43