Karri Karrak Aboriginal Corporation has condemned Western Australia's Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage for removing tributaries and associated water places from Registered Aboriginal Site, the Blackwood River, known as Goorbilyup, a deeply sacred waterway to Wardandi, Pibelmen and Kaneang People, without meaningful consultation with Traditional Owners.

Karri Karrak Aboriginal Corporation says the recently amended boundary has stripped protection from parts of the registered Aboriginal Place, including Dry Brook Tributary, Tanjannerup Creek, Lightning Gully and Pinch Gully; noting that these changes "are only the first identified removals within the Nannup section of the Blackwood River boundary".

The organisation said the Department (DPLH) indicated further amendments to other sections of site and waterway are planned, and confirmed other registered river places across the South West are being, or are proposed to be, "reassessed and remapped".

Changes 'test the integrity and commitment' of the government to the recognition of Noongar peoples as the Traditional Custodians

Karri Karrak Aboriginal Corporation chair, Professor Stephen van Leeuwen, said DPLH has "stripped protection from the Blackwood River's cultural landscape without proper consultation, disregarding decades of Noongar knowledge and its own heritage records".

"This decision undermines the cultural authority of Noongar people and contradicts the commitments made under the South West Native Title Settlement," he said.

"Karri Karrak calls for full transparency, reinstatement of all removed tributaries, and an immediate halt to further boundary changes.

"No government should be allowed to quietly cut back Noongar heritage through administrative shortcuts."

Professor van Leeuwen the actions of the Department "test the integrity and commitment of government to the legislated recognition of Noongar peoples as the Traditional Custodians of Boodja, who hold enduring cultural responsibilities and rights as the Traditional Owners of Noongar land".

Karri Karrak said the state governments conduct raises "serious concern" that the "quiet reduction" of heritage protections for the Blackwood River is part of a broader departmental program to redraw culturally significant river systems across Noongar Boodja (Country) without Traditional Custodian consultation, consent or scrutiny. Those rivers include, but may not be limited to, the Harris River, Collie River, Sabina River, Margaret River and Preston River.

Karri Karrak said the Department's description of the decision as a "boundary clarification" is misleading.

"This is not a technical mapping matter but rather, the State making its own determinations about what legal and practical protections are afforded to Noongar Cultural Heritage, without proper regard to Traditional Custodian rights and knowledge that gives that heritage its meaning," Karri Karrak said in a statement.

More than two decades of heritage reports and Traditional Custodian consultation submitted to the State Government have recorded the Blackwood River, its tributaries, and the Yarragadee aquifer as part of an integrated cultural landscape of mythological, customary, historical and environmental significance.

WA Government 'disregarded the cultural evidence in its own records'

By cutting tributaries and associated water places out of the registered boundary, DPLH has, Karri Karrak said, "disregarded the cultural evidence in its own records and has imposed an artificial mapping logic over a living Noongar riparian system".

Karri Karrak said it is "deeply concerned" that the Department has "relied on internal ACMC action items to 'review and remap' the Blackwood River boundary, despite those action items not expressly authorising the removal of tributaries from the registered place".

The ACMC - Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee - was superseded by the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Committee in November 2023.

Karri Karrak said there are "serious questions" about the accuracy of DPLH's consultation record.

The Corporation noted the Department had stated it relied on correspondence from the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) as evidence of consultation in relation to the Blackwood River site, but Karri Karrak's enquiries indicate that "this correspondence did not concern any proposal to amend the registered boundary, or to remove tributaries from it" and instead concerned "an unrelated Section 18 notification about bridge works", leading to DPLH later confirming that "its earlier advice about receiving a SWALSC response in relation to the Blackwood River site had been given in error".

Boundary change has already had 'real consequences'

Karri Karrak said the boundary change has already had "real consequences", noting that a proposed archaeological and anthropological survey near Nannup, being progressed under DPLH's own Aboriginal Heritage Survey Program, was withdrawn after the proponent was advised by the Department that the survey was no longer required following its remapping.

In practical terms, DPLH's boundary change undermined its own heritage survey program.

"This decision has reduced heritage protection and wasted significant Corporation time and resources," Karri Karrak said.

The Traditional Owner Corporation said it submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA) to DPLH on April 13 this year seeking documents relating to the amendment of the Blackwood River boundary, and the Department did not meet the 45-day statutory timeframe for dealing with the FOI application and requested a further three-week extension.

"That extended deadline has since passed, with no documents provided, no further explanation, and no update from the State," Karri Karrak said on June 24.

‍Karri Karrak urged the Department to immediately release the updated spatial data, methodology, consultation records and legal basis relied upon for the remapping; reinstate the tributaries and associated water places already removed from the registered boundary; and suspend any further amendments to the Blackwood River Aboriginal Place, or any comparable amendments to other Noongar waterways, until properly resourced consultation with the affected Traditional Custodians has occurred.

'Noongar people should not be left to investigate, long after the fact, how protection for Boodja has been stripped away'

The Corporation said transparency should not have to be forced out of the State through the Freedom of Information Act.

"If the Department intends to alter the registered extent of protected rivers, Traditional Custodians must be appropriately notified, resourced and consulted, long before any change is made," Karri Karrak said.

"Noongar people should not be left to investigate, long after the fact, how protection for Boodja has been stripped away by the State heritage regulator after its own unilateral decision-making has exposed those places to irreparable harm."

Freedom of Information request 'is progressing'

Late on June 26, a spokesperson from WA's Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage told National Indigenous Times "all activities relating to the remapping of the Blackwood River have been undertaken lawfully and in alignment with the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972".

"The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Committee determines what sites are included on the Register, with the Registrar of Aboriginal Sites responsible for maintaining it and ensuring it remains accurate and up to date," they said.

The spokesperson claimed protection of the Blackwood River "has not changed".

"The boundary was updated in line with decisions of the Committee to remap the site to the high-water mark. The revised boundary was informed by new Government data with some tributaries removed and others now included," they said.

"The Department advised Karri Karrak Aboriginal Corporation about the change in January 2026 and invited any further information on cultural significance of tributaries that were removed."

The Department said the Freedom of Information request from April 13 - 77 days ago - "is progressing" and that the Department "expects to provide a response next week".