Almost five hectares of Hobart’s Queens Domain could soon pass into Aboriginal ownership under a plan before the Hobart City Council.
Councillors will vote next week on whether to explore transferring the land to the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania for an Aboriginal-owned and operated cultural centre.
The vote is for in-principle support only, meaning no land would change hands yet.
Council chief executive Michael Stretton would then be authorised to carry out the legal, planning, heritage and environmental work required before any transfer could proceed.
The 4.9-hectare parcel sits off Domain Road, on land the council has held as a public reserve for more than a century.
In a report to councillors, Stretton said the proposal came from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC), which wrote to the council last year seeking support for a place to share what it called the state’s “true history”.
“It could also host cultural items, offer a performance space for cultural expression and support Aboriginal food enterprises and other tourism activities, among other initiatives,” the TAC wrote.
The Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania (ALCT) later selected the Domain site and asked for the land to be returned.
“It is our view that the very best way to protect the land upon which the Queens Domain now sits is through its return to the ownership of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community,” the ALCT wrote.
“Our vision is to establish a cultural centre that would respectfully house sacred cultural items for the first time in Lutruwita/Tasmania, while also creating spaces for interpretation, exhibition and the sharing of stories by Aboriginal artists and cultural practitioners.”
Stretton said council staff had worked with the land council to choose a site that included already-cleared ground, limiting the amount of bushland disturbed by construction.
The parcel includes the top of Upper Domain Road and part of the summit car park.
Both were earmarked for closure under a 2018 council plan for the summit, which was shelved during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The council’s 2013-2033 master plan for the Domain says it prefers to lease public land rather than sell it, on the grounds the reserve should stay in public ownership.
The plan also describes the Domain as an Aboriginal cultural landscape and says limited engagement with the Aboriginal community has left a gap in how its story is told.
It states the Domain is the traditional country of the Mouheneenner people, who managed the land for at least 8,000 years before Hobart was settled in 1803.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bridget Archer has told the council the proposal is an important opportunity for cultural expression and truth-telling.
She said the Domain remained a valued public landscape and the proposal was not intended to restrict access.
Any cultural centre would still require its own development application.
Councillors will vote on whether to give the transfer in-principle support on Monday.
