Construction materials giant Boral to hand back 36,000sq m of land to Wadawurrung traditional owners

A multi-billion dollar construction materials company is preparing to hand back a large tract of Geelong land to Wadawurrung traditional owners, in a gesture of reconciliation.

A MULTI-BILLION dollar construction materials company is preparing to hand back a large tract of Geelong land to Wadawurrung traditional owners, in a gesture of reconciliation.

Boral on Tuesday announced it had moved into the final stages of transferring a 36,000sq m section of its Waurn Ponds Cement Works site to the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation.

The Ghazeepore Rd land, known as Duneed Reserve, holds cultural significance for traditional owners as it was the site of a one-acre reserve set aside for Aboriginal people in 1861 when they were prohibited from remaining in the Geelong township after dark.

Former Geelong mayor John Garratt in 1866 reported to Parliament just four Indigenous men remained in the area, just a decade after the number of Aboriginal people was “considerable”.

The land’s reserve status was revoked in 1907.

Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Paul Davis welcomed Boral’s move to hand back the land.

“The value of this gesture by Boral in returning this site, which holds great significance to the Wadawurrung People, cannot be understated,” Mr Davis said.

“I think it’s important for traditional owners to maintain as much connection to the past as they can, and this site is obviously a significant, albeit sad, connection to the past.”

Mr Davis said the site would be used as a space for education, to “tell the story of the past”.

“People are generally quite taken aback when they hear that, but that’s all about the truth telling which is important for all Australians. And it helps us move forward, really,” he said.

“It’s not about people of today feeling bad. I think it’s about helping towards healing for Aboriginal people in general, and particularly traditional owners who suffer displacement and all sorts of pretty atrocious things.

“If people don’t recognise it, it’s very hard for those people to heal, whereas I think if people do recognise it, it’s a step in the right direction.”

Boral chief executive Zlatko Todorcevski said the company wanted to acknowledge traditional owners of the lands on which the company operates across Australia.

Boral CEO Zlatko Todorcevski. Jane Dempster/The Australian.

“Returning of Country to the Wadawurrung People is an incredibly important step for Boral that demonstrates our deep commitment to reconciliation, key to shaping our future and also healing our past,” Mr Todorcevski said.

Boral hopes to transfer the legal title for the 36,000sq m patch of land to traditional owners early next year, with the Boral having already provided access to the site for educational and cultural activities.

In March the City of Greater Geelong revealed it would move to formally recognise the future urban growth potential of 10.2sq km of Boral land in Waurn Ponds and Mount Duneed, despite opposing the rezoning of the land for residential purposes.

Boral expects to move local cement production to its new $130m facility at the Port of Geelong next year, allowing it to fully decommission the Waurn Ponds site.

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Originally published as Construction materials giant Boral to hand back 36,000sq m of land to Wadawurrung traditional owners