Focus area 6
Respect culture and heritage
We are committed to partnering with our communities, including Aboriginal people and communities, to ensure sustainable co-design and the consideration of relevant culture and heritage across all of our projects.
Our goals
Aboriginal culture is acknowledged, integrated and preserved
Acknowledge and incorporate culture through stories, examples and best practice
Why it's important
Australia has a rich diversity of culture, heritage and history. It is vital that we protect and conserve the places, objects and cultural values for our communities and future generations.
We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia, and understand that meaningful engagement is critical to ensuring culture and heritage are understood and preserved.
Aboriginal culture is acknowledged, integrated and preserved
Our transport network follows the traditional songlines, trade routes and ceremonial paths. These paths contain Aboriginal heritage such as objects, places, dreaming stories, songs, cultural practices and traditions that our nation’s First Peoples followed for tens of thousands of years.
In creating our transport infrastructure and networks, we recognise and value the importance of connecting to Country. Through our specialist engagement team, we are committed to incorporating local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge, cultures, art and heritage into the places we create.
Continuing our efforts towards reconciliation, we transitioned from Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) 2019-2021 to Stretch RAP 2022-2025. This Stretch RAP further embeds reconciliation into our organisation and across the industry. A series of frameworks and strategies will continue to guide our efforts across employment, procurement and community engagement.
Acknowledge and incorporate culture through stories, examples and best practice
We are proud caretakers of a wide range of heritage places and objects such as buildings, land and water-based archaeological relics, historic bridges and wharves, streetscapes, towns, cultural plantings, natural elements and memorials. Our dedicated heritage procedures, guidelines and resources, along with our Sustainability Plan, help us identify, assess and manage these valuable assets. We do this to conserve, adapt and interpret our shared living history.
We are committed to delivering positive outcomes for Aboriginal culture and heritage in project development and delivery by embedding our Aboriginal Culture and Heritage Framework and Aboriginal co-design principles across projects.
Throughout the 2022-23 financial year, we engaged with local Aboriginal communities to feature Aboriginal art and design elements in projects and to understand, acknowledge and celebrate the cultural significance of project sites.
We continue to provide opportunities for our people to learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories and ongoing spiritual connection to the lands and waterways of NSW so that we can create a culturally safe and inclusive environment for everyone.
Case studies and highlights
For more on our performance visit:
