6. Discussion - Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
- Previously Recorded Aboriginal Sites and Places
- Previous Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Studies
- Aboriginal Site Prediction Model and Implications for this Investigation
- Relocation of Previously Recorded Sites
- Areas of Archaeologically Potential/Sensitivity
- Discussion - Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
- Aboriginal Cultural Significance
The results of the background research and site survey indicate that past land-use practice and high levels of ground disturbance have had a severe impact on surface archaeological sites. The banks of Dandenong Creek have been previously surveyed on three separate occasions (Vines 1997, Rhodes 1990,1993) with only one Aboriginal scarred tree located (AAV 7922/353) and no other cultural heritage material identified. The previous studies have assessed the Dandenong Creek and adjacent floodplain, alluvial terraces and hills as being of low archaeological potential for lithic sites.
The majority of the City of Monash was never subject to archaeological survey prior to its urbanisation and as such a range of site types that would have existed in these areas such as, surface stone artefact scatters, in situ archaeological deposits along creeklines and ochre quarries, are likely to no longer exist. As such, the condition of the waterways and small reserves throughout the City of Monash is not known and will require archaeological survey.
Post-Contact land use activities along the Dandenong Creek Valley, such as road and creek crossing construction, introduced fill, channeling, drainage and wetland construction have resulted in an increase in soil erosion and sediment deposition. Murphy (2000) suggests the current creek channel may bear little resemblance to the alignment of the creek in pre-Contact times. This study has identified that all creek lines and tributaries in the study area have been subject to channeling and/or are underground and within areas of urban residential and recreational development. As low potential to locate sites may still exist in the land adjacent to the smaller creek lines as well as the floodplain, adjacent alluvial terraces and hills of the Dandenong Creek Valley. It is unlikely that any undisturbed or significant lithic deposit of Aboriginal cultural material will exist in situ in any section of the study area. Any artefacts that may be subsequently found in the study area would have no integrity and would be considered as being of low scientific significance.
The extensive tree clearance in the past throughout the City of Monash has probably removed the majority of potential Aboriginal scar tree sites from in the study area. In later years there was a trend to keeping native trees in some areas, such as golf courses and reserves. Small pockets of remnant vegetation have also been identified in reserves within the City (see Background Information). There is a limited possibility that as-yet-undetected scarred trees still exist along creeklines, reserves, golf courses, and other areas where mature pre-Contact Eucalyptus trees are present.