Council blocks bid to protect heritage site

An Indigenous group in the City of Mandurah in WA has lost a bid to stop the building of a new brewery  entertainment hub in the city.

Law firm Lavan Legal sent a letter to the council on their behalf revealing that WA’s map of Aboriginal heritage places “clearly included the location of the proposed development”.

But Mandurah City Council dismissed a bid to revoke the lease for the site, that will be home to a 650-seat brewery/restaurant, chocolate factory and 18-hole mini golf.

“Aboriginal people in the town do not want this pub,” Kay Bernard said on behalf of the Nala Boodja Aboriginal Corporation.

“It’s a sacred heritage ground for our people, for 1000s of years we’ve been meeting there.”

The Heritage map of the area encompasses most of the western foreshore of the city’s inlet, 70kms south of Perth and was a Noongar camp where George Winjan, an Aboriginal elder lived in the 19th century.

But City officials dismissed the protest, saying  the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage had confirmed that works would not fall within Winjan’s Camp.

Frank Nannup from the Winjan Corporation said the Foreshore has always been a family area.

“An alcohol outlet shouldn’t be there, alcohol should be elsewhere,” he told the Mandurah Times.

Lorraine Morrison said the City of Mandurah had failed to undertake reasonable, meaningful and proper consultation with the local Indigenous people.

“Mandurah is already home to enough licensed venues, the Western Foreshore is one of the last remaining spaces that is truly safe and welcoming for children and families,” she said.