A Victorian farmer has denied he deliberately destroyed a 1500-year-old Aboriginal cultural heritage site on his farm, arguing he believed it was a safety issue.

Adrian McMaster, whose family purchased the property between Ballarat and Dunkeld in 1904, allegedly used an excavator to remove rocks in an arrangement resembling an eel – known as the Kuyang Ceremonial Ground – in 2021.

He has been charged with one offence under the Aboriginal Heritage Act, with the 300 metre arrangement having been a recognised and registered site of Aboriginal significance since 1975.

The ABC reported the 65-year-old told Ballarat Magistrates Court he was moving stones to get a weed sprayer "in there," labelling it a "fire hazard."

His lawyer, James Portelli, said Mr McMaster had made an honest mistake and didn't know the rocks were the eel formation. He said his client was not disputing the legitimacy of the Aboriginal heritage site, nor that it was on his property, and he had engaged in rock removal.

Mr McMaster said he had limited knowledge of Indigenous rock formations, telling the court: "Being a miner, a rock's a rock."

Senior heritage advisor John Tunn said he was driving past the property when he pulled over and told Mr McMaster to be careful in what he was doing and get advice.

He told the court he twice warned Mr McMaster he was interfering with a known heritage site as he removed the rocks, but Mr McMaster said he was not prepared to take Mr Tunn's word as gospel.

"I wanted to finish doing that job and get it out of the way. Safety first," he told the court.

Prosecutors argued he was "on notice" to do more before destroying the formation but chose to ignore the advice, arguing he had conducted his own research into the formation and concluded the stones formed part of a settler-made sheepfold.

While he said he did not accept the site was culturally significant, Mr McMaster argued he would never "go out intentionally to do damage" and cited his experience as a fly-in fly-out worker in Western Australia's Pilbara region as giving him knowledge on Indigenous cultural heritage.

The ABC reported that when questioned by prosecutor Emily Allan over the inconsistencies in his approach to Aboriginal heritage in WA compared to his own farm, Mr McMaster said that as a farmer, you are thinking of doing "preventative" stuff, not asking people to get permission.

"I don't know anyone in Lake Bolac of Aboriginal background … never seen them in my lifetime," he said.

Nonetheless, he argued: "I am not going out to do something that would harm their heritage and make me look bad."

"I have worked alongside many First Nations people for over 40 years on many mine sites," he added, arguing he would not do anything to interfere with the friendships he had made with Indigenous people over his lifetime.

The court, which will hand down its finding on May 1, is being asked to decide whether Mr McMaster's actions were a "mistake of fact or law" and if the mistake was "reasonable and honest".