Ballarat

The salvage program in Winter Valley was sponsored ahead of the construction of a retirement village complex, Winter Valley Lifestyle Village. The proposed construction of the complex included a temporary sales office and display unit, a retention basin and roads and trunk sewer.

The registered Aboriginal Party for the site location is Wathaurung Aboriginal Corporation, trading as Wadawurrung. The language group and the country are divided into several clans, and within each clan, family groups also had their own territory. In Ballarat, their lives were severely disrupted by the establishment of European settlement.

The site had been used for pastoral activities with vegetation comprising grassland for cattle since colonisation. During the Complex Assessment of the CHMP, 810 stone artefacts were identified, with the majority of these manufactured on quartz. The Complex Assessment led to the management conditions for the salvage program and indicative salvage pit locations.

Stage 1 of the salvage was undertaken in September and October 2017 by Ochre Imprints and Archaeological Excavations, and Stage 2 was undertaken in March and April 2018 by Archaeological Excavations. The salvage program identified 8,633 artefacts from five Aboriginal Places. These artefacts included 6,914 quartz, 1,269 silcrete and 277 basalt. The quartz was locally sourced and other raw materials were possibly brought from other locations in the landscape and likely were worked on outside of the excavated area. A cluster of quartzite that has been located likely represents a single episode of knapping.

The places ranged from large, moderately-high density sites that were likely occupied intensively and regularly, to patchy, moderate-low density scatter that could represent sporadic and transient occupation. The investigations have demonstrated that Aboriginal people moved through and occupied the location regularly in the past. The tools identified indicate that tools were being made, used and repaired at this location.

The site has now been changed to a residential subdivision and associated infrastructure, with the original CHMP amended in 2021 to reflect the change in the development and sponsor.