Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01818:front:0:p8
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01818
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 19738–22549

scientific research and education. The park was renamed as Booderee National Park on 29 October 1997 following its declaration as Aboriginal Land on 11 October 1995. The park is jointly managed by the Director and its traditional owners through a Board of Management which has a majority of members nominated by the Council.

Booderee has always been a significant place for Koori people. It has provided sustenance and shelter for Koori people for many hundreds of generations. It is also part of a network of sites, places and landscapes (both on land and in the water) that have helped provide these generations with knowledge and understanding of how to properly manage and live with these lands and waters.

Traditional knowledge of the land and sea, the important places within and the plants, animals, foods and medicines is still being passed through new generations of Koori people at Wreck Bay.

The management and learning is continuing.

Location
Booderee National Park is located on the south-east coast of Australia, within the Jervis Bay Territory. It comprises most of the Bherwerre Peninsula on the southern side of Jervis Bay and St Georges Basin and includes part of the waters of Jervis Bay (Map 1).

The park itself covers an area of 6,379 hectares which includes 875 hectares of marine environment (Map 2). The park is adjacent to 403 hectares of land owned by the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council and to Commonwealth land used for residential and Defence purposes; the NSW Jervis Bay Marine Park and NSW Jervis Bay National Park also border much of the park.

 Map 1:                   Location of Booderee National Park

Map 2:                       Booderee National Park

History

Koori people of Wreck Bay have always strongly pursued and been committed to the recognition of ownership of their traditional home in the Jervis Bay area. This commitment and pursuit of recognition have not wavered and have persevered through a number of changes to government administration and management of the area.

Aboriginal people lived in the Jervis Bay region long before the sea rose to its current level 6,000 years ago and the present Bherwerre Peninsula was created. Much evidence of coastal Aboriginal communities would have been submerged as sea levels rose; the oldest archaeological evidence of Aboriginal occupation in the region includes a site at Burrill Lake, about 30 kilometres south of Jervis Bay, dating to more than 20,000 years ago. More than 100 prehistoric Aboriginal sites have been recorded on the Bherwerre Peninsula, the majority shell middens but also rock shelters, burial sites, ceremonial grounds and stone-flaking sites. Axe-sharpening tools have also been found.

The land and waters now covered by Booderee National Park has been the subject of a range