Aboriginal Place for Mambo-Wanda

By Kathy Brown, Mambo-Wanda Wetlands Conservation Group.

In June this year I wrote an email on behalf of the Mambo-Wanda Wetlands Conservation Group to Port Stephens Council. It was an enquiry about the Aboriginal Place claim for the Mambo Wanda Wetlands. Carol Ridgeway-Bissett, a well known Worimi traditional knowledge holder, has been waiting over 10 years for a decision on her application for Mambo-Wanda Wetlands to be declared an Aboriginal Place. This process began in 2011 and Carol has received no word of its progress in the past 2 years. Below you can read a timeline of events related to this claim.

I have been informed by Council officers that the matter now lies with the State Government’s Heritage NSW Department. This is an extract from Council’s response:

“As Heritage NSW are responsible for assessing Aboriginal Place nominations, enquiries relating to the status of nominations would be best directed to them. Please note that Heritage NSW has previously advised that the timing of such determinations is contingent on their capacity to complete the relevant assessments and reports. Council will continue to provide support as requested by Heritage NSW to facilitate the assessment of all Aboriginal Place nominations.”

What is an Aboriginal Place and what does it mean?

An Aboriginal Place is an area of land that has special significance for Aboriginal people. It can have spiritual, historical, social, educational, natural resource use or other type of significance. These places range from small ceremonial sites to mountains and lagoons and have been identified all over NSW. When a significant place is declared an Aboriginal Place, it is protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.¹

The efforts of our local community to protect Mambo and Wanda Wetlands have been well documented. Recent articles include Mambo-Wanda Wetlands, a chequered past, Discover the Maiangal history & special environment of Wanda Wetlands, and The Magic of Mambo.²

One of the most revealing reports is from a speech made to State Parliament by local MP RSL Jones in1994 on community efforts to save Wanda Wetlands and its significance as an Aboriginal place:

WORIMI WOMEN’S SACRED SITE

The Hon. R. S. L. JONES[10.00]: I draw to the attention of the House the problem of potential development on a very important women’s sacred site at Salamander Bay. Ms Carol Ridgeway-Bissett, a woman from the Worimi tribe, has been lobbying for some time to have her traditional area protected. Port Stephens Council wants to have a 77-lot development on this bushland area bounded by Wanda Avenue, a sportsground, Muller Road and Kemp Street. This area has been a traditional Aboriginal site for many years. I refer to the official journal of the Anthropological Societies of Australia, Mankind, of September 1939 and to an article by W. J. Enright BA:

Fourteen or fifteen years ago, Billy Ridgeway saw a figure of a woman near a deep waterhole close to Salamander Bay. That hole is 40 to 50 feet deep. They thought she was a goingun(a female spirit) and they decided to go down to burn some fat with a view of attracting her, but when they went down a fortnight later it was found to be absolutely dry. It had never been known to be dry before or since. This is the hole to which women resorted to perform increase ceremonies.

In the Mankind magazine in June 1937 there is a similar reference in another article by W. J. Enright, called “Notes on the Aborigines of the North Coast of NSW”, under the heading “A Worimi Increase Ceremony”:

When any woman of the Worimi tribe residing about Port Stephens, New South Wales, desired to have a child, she would go to a big freshwater hole near Sandy Point; there she would express her wish to have a child, and then completely immerse herself in water. No further rites were performed.

Ms Carol Ridgeway-Bissett and other members of the Worimi tribe have made representations to Robert Tickner, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, to the council and to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, but have received no satisfaction. I refer to an article prepared by Paul Collis, a representative of the Hunter Region Initiated Men’s Council and an active member of the Mindaribba Aboriginal Land Council. He is, by profession, an Aboriginal studies teacher and is currently studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication studies at the University of Newcastle. In this article he spoke about the housing development proposed in the Wanda wetlands at Salamander Bay. He stated:

The area is traditionally a Koori Women’s Birthing and Initiation site. It also provided food for these women – it contains over 60 edible and medicinal plants.
This site is one of only three known sacred waterholes in the Hunter region.
It is the home of Worimi women’s sex totem – the White Throated Tree Creeper.
It is a sanctuary for other animals including koalas, flying squirrels, bandicoots and a variety of birds. There is also a rookery.

He gave a historical background to the details of the use of the area as a birthing site:
Women traditionally came here to have babies, usually accompanied by an older Koori woman, who acted as a midwife. No men were allowed to go there – ever.
The site provided safety and shelter; mother and child would stay until they were safe and well enough to travel and rejoin their group.
This area has also, until very recently, been used as an initiation site. At a certain age young women were initiated into adulthood: this involved secret ceremonial rituals performed by the older women who accompanied the young initiates.

One purpose of the initiation was to introduce young women to knowledge and information regarding care for the land and preservation of the site. It was their responsibility to preserve the area and all the flora and fauna it contained. Women were expected to pay continual visits throughout their lives to do two things: care for the area; and pay respect and maintain their spiritual link through that secret waterhole.

He and other members of this tribe are most concerned about the housing development, which will destroy the site forever. They are worried about the damage that pollution will cause to the waterhole and about destruction of the natural bushland. The whole area is a wetland, and the proposal is to completely fill the wetlands area with sand. Mr Collis stated that this site is the home of an endangered species, the eastern ring-tailed bandicoot, and is also its natural habitat. He said that if the bandicoots are forced to move they will be gone forever, and that this area remains the last sanctuary for this species in the Hunter region. Mr Collis asks that government, whether the State Government or the Federal Government, protect this area from any development at all, and that the whole area be preserved as it is and as it has been for many thousands of years. It is most important that the Government pay attention to the Worimi tribe, particularly to Carol Ridgeway-Bissett and other tribe members who are trying to preserve that area. It is important for the Government to ensure that this area is not destroyed and is kept as a women’s sacred site forever.³
Legislative Council Hansard – 21 September 1994

Since 1994

The preservation and protection of Wanda Wetlands has had ongoing community support since the 1990s when council proposed a 77 home housing estate in the reserve. This was defeated by determined and informed community action led by Carol Ridgeway-Bissett and Darrell Dawson, who with others, had just formed a lobby group of environmentally-aware groups called EcoNetwork Port Stephens.

Wanda Wetlands is a 13ha parcel of land between Wanda Ave and Soldier’s Point Road in Salamander Bay. In 1997 after a 7 year battle to save it from being a housing subdivision, Wanda Wetlands was declared a place of special significance to the Worimi people.

The Newcastle Herald stated in March 1997 – “The wetlands is an aboriginal sacred site and was used by the Worimi people for birthing and burial purposes. It is also a significant wildlife corridor and is home to one of the Tomaree Peninsula’s most significant colonies of koalas.”

It is the only remaining ecosystem of its type on the Tomaree Peninsula, being wetland forest with old growth in excess of 120 years. Wanda provides a rich habitat and sanctuary for a variety of wildlife including several endangered species. These include the Greater Broad Nosed Bat, the Little Bent Wing Bat, the koala, squirrel glider and Wallum froglet.

This information, with photographs, is located on the edge of the wetlands and has been erected by Port Stephens Council.

Information Board on the edge of Wanda Wetlands

However, we found that all the paperwork has not been completed when Port Stephens Council advised in 2021 that Wanda Wetlands has not been subject to a Council resolution classifying it as a Culturally Significant Site under the Local Government Act. Council and NPWS both consider it culturally significant and manage it accordingly, however the final act of a Council resolution has still not completed the documentation required.

The Mambo-Wanda Wetlands Conservation Group wrote to local councillors in the last term of the previous council asking for help on this matter but nothing was resolved. The matter of the Aboriginal Place classification for Mambo-Wanda Wetlands is now on the agenda of Council’s Environmental Advisory Group.

We hope that this doesn’t take another 10 years to be resolved.

References and useful links:

Aboriginal Cultural Heritage – NSW Government
Discover the Maiangal history & special environment of Wanda Wetlands – Wetlands Day Events 2023 and The Magic of Mambo – NSW Landcare Gateway
Legislative Council Hansard – 21 September 1994

Application timeline for Mambo-Wanda Wetlands to be declared an Aboriginal Place
Aboriginal Place Declaration
Aboriginal Place – Custodian and Knowledge holder of the Maiangal people – July 2021
Mambo-Wanda Wetlands, a chequered past – EcoUpdate July 2023
Mambo-Wanda in the news