Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural centre 

A lot of people know Tiagarra and connect with that as a sacred place.

“We moved mapali down to the beach because while we have our registered heritage sites here, we have sacred locations all over country and the beach is just as sacred. mapali was a way of engaging with everyone, and that’s what we love to do up at Tiagarra. It has been positive to work with the schools and Aboriginal education to bring more groups through” – David Gough 2019

The Bluff holds many Aboriginal sites, including middens, tea tree living grounds, and (potential) petroglyphs across this peninsula of great natural beauty and undeniable Aboriginal cultural significance. This coastal site is rich in bird life, Indigenous plant foods and weaving materials. Two beaches provide salt water resources with the Mersey river bounding the bluff on the east.

Fresh investigation with contemporary technology is required as a priority to carefully distinguish the multitude of naturally incised rock surfaces from any that were humanly modified hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago.

One means of concretely showing Aboriginal occupation and cultural activities maintained over thousands of generations on the Bluff includes stone artefacts.

These were routinely removed by collectors before disturbing Aboriginal sites became illegal in 1976. Many removed artefacts reside today in museum collections, including in Tiagarra.

Research is ongoing into the whereabouts of Aboriginal stone artefacts removed from the Bluff.