April 30, 2025 – What is believed to be the oldest human construction in the world and one of the most significant cultural places in the region is set to benefit from a $350,000 grant to ensure it is preserved and respected for generations to come.

The National Heritage listed Baiame’s Ngunnhu site, also known as the Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps, was one of the great inter-tribal meeting places in Eastern Australia for many nations of First Nations peoples. Archaeologists estimate the Ngunnhu to be over 40,000 years old – making it one of the oldest human constructions on the planet – and it continues to have a strong social, cultural and spiritual association for First Nations people, who still use the traps to fish traditionally today.

As the Crown Lands Manager for this extremely important place, Brewarrina Shire Council was successful in securing funding from the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) in Round 7 of the Australian Heritage Grants Program (2024-25) to develop a plan to protect, conserve, and promote the National Heritage values of Baiame’s Ngunnhu and ensure the Ngemba people’s cultural connection is preserved and respected for future generations.   

Brewarrina Shire Council General Manager David Kirby said this was a significant investment in ensuring the sacred place was managed and protected appropriately, but also an opportunity to record the cultural heritage, connection and significance it holds.

“This funding is to help us build plans of management and understand the cultural importance, to ensure this rare and significant place is carefully looked after and made more accessible in respectful and appropriate ways. It’s not funding to redevelop,” said Mr Kirby.

“It will help us to establish clear guidelines for the conservation and protection of Baiame’s Ngunnhu, in terms of both their physical preservation and their cultural significance and perhaps identify opportunities for further innovative public engagement.

“Through the development of the plan, we’ll be able to take detailed documentation and recordings of the physical site through photographs, as well as archaeological, landscape and geospatial mapping.

“We will be working with Traditional Owners, the Ngemba Elders Group, and the local community to record and establish key stories, themes, cultural protocols and priorities for interpretation of the fish traps and surrounding cultural landscape.

“Essentially, this funding is helping us to preserve and record our history. It’s an incredibly important undertaking to safeguard Baiame’s Ngunnhu, both physically and culturally, and one that I personally am extremely proud to be a part of,” concluded Mr Kirby.