Ngootyoong Gunditj Ngootyoong Mara South West Management Plan offers an innovative, landscape-scale approach to the integrated management of ecological, cultural and community values across the public land and Aboriginal estates of Victoria’s south-western region. This Plan is a first. Created through a unique partnership between Parks Victoria and Gunditjmara Traditional Owners, it integrates Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives in new and exciting ways, creating a Plan that incorporates multiple parks, reserves and Aboriginal community-owned freehold properties in a single, strategic Plan. In concept it is a whole-of-Country plan.

Many of the elements needed for the Plan needed to be created through open and exploratory studies – there were few existing models. Context was one of the expert consultants engaged by the planning team. Context’s brief was to document cultural heritage and social values to build an understanding of the historic and contemporary connections between Gunditjmara and the wider community with the south-west landscape. Key elements included a land use history and an archaeological synthesis for the entire study area; collation of data on known places of Indigenous and ‘shared values’ significance in a geographic information system (GIS); and community values mapping through Community Open House sessions across the study area and workshops with Gunditjmara people. One outcome is that the overall Plan offers a series of key stories and themes that express important traditional and contemporary community connections and stories that give meaning to this landscape and can be used to help frame visitor experiences. [Source: Context Pty Ltd]

In 2015, the project received a Commendation for Planning Excellence from the Planning Institute of Australia (Victoria) in the category ‘Best Large Project’.