Find out more about Victoria’s Aboriginal places and objects.
https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/aboriginal-places-and-objects
Throughout Victoria, even in the most intensively developed regions, the landscape holds the imprint of thousands of generations of Aboriginal people.
Each part of Victoria, from the coast to the high country and from the semi-arid Mallee to the rainforests of the east, has places where Aboriginal people lived, ate, were expressing themselves artistically, passing on creation stories and cultural values, engaging in conflict, establishing alliances and social networks, trading goods, celebrating rites of passage and committing the departed to their final resting places.
Ceremonial and spiritual places
There are also cultural heritage places where there may be no physical evidence of past cultural activities.
These include:
- places of spiritual or ceremonial significance
- places where traditional plant or mineral resources occur
- trade and travel routes
Information about such places may be passed down from one generation to the next or have been recorded in nineteenth century documents and records.
Where are they located?
Aboriginal places and objects can be found all over Victoria and are often near major food sources such as rivers, lakes, swamps and the coast.
They can also be found on private property. First Peoples – State Relations works in partnership with landowners, land managers and Aboriginal communities to record, protect and manage these places and objects.
Aboriginal cultural heritage fact sheets
The Aboriginal cultural heritage fact sheets provide information about the types of Aboriginal cultural heritage found in Victoria.
- Aboriginal Scar Trees
- Aboriginal mounds
- Aboriginal freshwater middens
- Aboriginal flaked stone tools
- Aboriginal burials
- Aboriginal surface scatters
- Aboriginal quarries
- Aboriginal ground-edge axes
- Aboriginal grinding stones
- Aboriginal stone arrangements
- Aboriginal axe-grinding grooves
- Aboriginal coastal shell middens
- Aboriginal rock art
- Aboriginal historical places
- Aboriginal places on private property