Heritage assessment FAQs (ACT & NSW)

Often yes, especially where council planning controls or Aboriginal heritage sensitivity mapping flag potential, or where the landform is the kind associated with Aboriginal objects. In NSW the first step is usually a due diligence assessment; in the ACT, a heritage assessment under the Heritage Act 2004. A short conversation with COLCO can usually tell you whether you need to worry.

Possibly, yes. In NSW, Aboriginal objects are protected everywhere under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 — regardless of whether the land is listed — so unlisted vacant or rural land can still require assessment if Aboriginal objects are present or likely. Historic (non-Aboriginal) controls, by contrast, generally apply only to listed items, their vicinity, or heritage conservation areas. So ‘not listed’ doesn’t always mean ‘no heritage obligations’.

Not strictly — but completing one under the Due Diligence Code of Practice gives you a legal defence against prosecution for unknowingly harming Aboriginal objects. Proceeding without it exposes you to serious penalties if objects turn out to be present, so it’s the standard, prudent first step for any ground-disturbing project.

Before, wherever possible. Councils increasingly expect heritage to be addressed at lodgement, and discovering a heritage constraint after approval — or after the machines are on site — is far more expensive than managing it up front.

There’s no fixed price — cost is driven by the size and complexity of the site, whether ground disturbance is involved, how long Aboriginal community consultation runs, and whether test excavation is needed. A due diligence assessment sits at the lower end; a full ACHAR with survey, consultation and excavation is a larger commitment. COLCO scopes and quotes up front, and usually recommends a due diligence assessment first so you only pay for the level of investigation your site warrants.

Yes — for Aboriginal heritage, lodging an Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit (AHIP) application with Heritage NSW attracts a separate statutory application fee. That’s distinct from, and additional to, the professional fee for the assessment itself.

It depends on the jurisdiction and the path. In NSW, a due diligence assessment can be a couple of weeks, while a full ACHAR with community consultation and an AHIP should be planned for several months (the 2010 consultation requirements and permit determination both take time). In the ACT, a straightforward Cultural Heritage Assessment can move faster, but where RAO consultation and an excavation permit from the ACT Heritage Council are required, you should still allow a couple of months or more. In both, early engagement is the best protection for your program.

Because it’s a structured, legislated process with fixed minimum timeframes designed to give Aboriginal people a genuine say. It runs in stages — registering the Registered Aboriginal Parties, providing project information (about four weeks to respond), seeking input on the methodology, and reviewing the draft report (a further minimum period). These are statutory minimums that can’t be compressed, which is why early engagement matters.

Significance is assessed against formal criteria based on the Burra Charter’s values — historic, aesthetic, scientific (research potential) and social, cultural and spiritual — plus rarity and representativeness. NSW uses seven criteria set by the Heritage Council of NSW; the ACT uses the criteria in section 10 of the Heritage Act 2004. A place only needs to meet one criterion to be significant. For Aboriginal heritage, significance also includes cultural value that only the Aboriginal community can speak to, alongside the archaeological assessment. See our full explainer: How heritage significance is assessed.

They reflect the community to which a place matters. Local significance means importance within a local government area (listed on a council LEP); State significance means importance to NSW as a whole (the State Heritage Register, under the Heritage Act 1977); National and World Heritage are separate Commonwealth and international layers. A higher level means greater scrutiny and a higher approval body — it affects how a proposal is assessed, not whether you can develop.

It does not automatically stop your project. It means the heritage values must be identified, weighed and managed — usually through a Statement of Heritage Impact (historic) or an ACHAR/AHIP pathway (Aboriginal heritage in NSW), or a CHA/SHE in the ACT. The consent authority weighs the impact and whether it’s justified or can be mitigated. Most significant places can still be developed with a design that respects or manages the values.

Very rarely outright. A listing changes how you develop, not whether you can. Councils routinely approve alterations, additions and even partial demolition where the impact is justified and well managed; full demolition of a significant item is the hardest outcome and is granted only rarely. The practical effect is greater scrutiny and a need to show the heritage impact is acceptable — which a sympathetic design, prepared with heritage advice early, is far more likely to achieve.

Routine maintenance and many internal changes are often covered by standard exemptions and need no consent. External changes, extensions, structural work and demolition normally require development consent (and, for State-listed items, approval under the Heritage Act 1977). The test is whether the work respects the item’s significance. The safest course is heritage advice — and a word with your council’s heritage advisor — before you design the work.

An Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment Report — the detailed NSW report assessing Aboriginal objects and places on a site, the impact of a proposal, and how impacts will be managed. It includes Aboriginal community consultation and underpins an AHIP application.

An Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit, issued by Heritage NSW under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. You need one before any activity that will harm an Aboriginal object or place where that harm can’t be avoided.

A search of the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System — the NSW Government database of recorded Aboriginal sites, objects and heritage reports. It is a standard first step in due diligence.

Aboriginal people do — through Registered Aboriginal Parties in NSW and Representative Aboriginal Organisations in the ACT. The archaeologist’s role is the scientific assessment and the proper running of consultation, not speaking for cultural values.

Stop work in that area immediately and don’t disturb, move or collect anything — harming Aboriginal objects without authorisation is an offence, carrying penalties up to $1.1 million for corporations. The find should be recorded on AHIMS, and you’ll generally need an assessment and, if harm is unavoidable, an AHIP before works continue there. COLCO can guide you through the process so works can resume lawfully.

No. Aboriginal objects are legally the property of the Crown, but there is no mechanism in NSW for an Aboriginal heritage finding to take a private freehold owner’s land or create a claim over your title. In most cases the presence of objects affects how and where you can carry out new ground disturbance — not your ownership or continued existing use.

Yes. The ACT manages both Aboriginal and historic heritage under the Heritage Act 2004 (ACT Heritage Council, Representative Aboriginal Organisations). NSW manages Aboriginal heritage under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (AHIPs, Registered Aboriginal Parties) and historic heritage under the Heritage Act 1977. COLCO works across both.

No — ACHARs are a NSW instrument. In the ACT the equivalents are a Cultural Heritage Assessment (CHA) and a Statement of Heritage Effect (SHE) under the Heritage Act 2004. Likewise, AHIPs, AHIMS, RAPs and Section 60 are NSW-only.

Briefly: a due diligence assessment (NSW) is the first-step check for Aboriginal objects; an ACHAR is the detailed NSW Aboriginal assessment; an AHIP is the NSW legal permit to harm Aboriginal objects where it can’t be avoided; a SOHI assesses impacts on listed historic items in NSW; and a CHA/SHE are the ACT equivalents prepared for the ACT Heritage Council. NSW and the ACT use different laws and terms, so a document for one doesn’t carry over to the other.

A Heritage Management Plan sets out how the heritage values of a place are protected and managed over time — useful for large, staged or long-running sites where heritage must be managed alongside ongoing works, rather than resolved one assessment at a time. A Conservation Management Plan (CMP) is the related document for managing a specific significant place. Both are used in the ACT and NSW.

A salvage (or mitigation) plan sets out how Aboriginal objects or historic material will be recovered, recorded and managed where impact to a site can’t be avoided — for example through controlled excavation, surface collection or relocation, often with the relevant Aboriginal community. It turns an unavoidable impact into a documented, defensible process that satisfies the regulator and the conditions of a permit.

Archival recording is the systematic documentation of a heritage place or structure — through measured drawings, photography and written description — to preserve a permanent record before works, demolition or change. It is frequently required as a condition of approval for historic heritage items.

Yes. Heritage impact is a mandatory consideration, and a poorly justified impact is a common ground for refusal or conditions. If your application is refused, you generally have a right of merits appeal to the NSW Land and Environment Court, where heritage issues are regularly decided. The most reliable way to avoid that is a robust, evidence-based heritage impact assessment from the outset.

Not as of 2026. Aboriginal heritage in NSW is still administered under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974. Reform has been promised but no standalone Act is yet in force — see our Insights article for the current status.