History and Management
On 15 September 2001, an agreement was reached between the Government of New South Wales, Baulkham Hills Shire Council and descendants of the Darug to settle an outstanding native title claim (N94/6)which dated back to 1994.
The Darling Mills State Forest and Excelsior Park (with the exception of the Ted Horwood Reserve and the Eric Mobbs Reserve) were combined and made into the Bidjigal Reserve by a deed of agreement signed on 4 December 2003 on behalf of the Minister for Lands. Signatories to that deed were the Crown, Baulkham Hills Shire Council and Bundeluk of the Darug tribe. Other signatories were Telstra and Integral Energy (due to the presence of their infrastructure in the reserve). The Forestry (Darling Mills State Forest Revocation) Bill, which was passed by NSW state government on 2 March 2005 allowed that land to be included in the reserve, as required by the deed.
Bidjigal reserve was dedicated for the purposes of preservation of aboriginal cultural heritage, flora and fauna and public recreation on 22 October 2004.
Ownership of the reserve is vested in the Bidjigal Reserve Trust.
The reserve is managed by the Bidjigal Reserve Trust Board. The first Bidjigal Reserve Trust Board meeting was held on 4 March 2005. The first Board consisted of 4 individual trustees. They were appointed by the Crown Lands minister, for a 5 year term. Those individuals consisted of both Darug descendants, and also local residents. In addition, The secretaries of the Darug Custodians Aboriginal Corporation and the Darug Tribal Aboriginal Corporation, the general manager of Baulkham Hills Shire Council (BHSC), the secretary of the Bushland Conservation Committee (BCC) (of BHSC) and the secretary of the Upper Parramatta River Catchment Trust (now the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority), or their delegates were also members of the Board. A representative of the Excelsior Park Bushland Society was later added to the Board Members. That structure still remains, excepting that the trustees now have been increased in number to 6. The first chair of the board was Graeme Postlethwaite, and the second, Carol Isaacs (also chair of the BCC). David Wilmshurst (also BCC member, and Ms Isaac's proxy) was elected the third chair, with Carol Isaacs as deputy chair on 3 April 2008. The second Trust Board met for the first time on 12 February 2010. At that meeting, David Wilmshurst was again elected chair, with Carol Isaacs as deputy. At the AGM on the 9th of February 2011, Steven Brett was elected the fourth chair, unopposed. Michael Cameron was elected deputy chair.
On 1 December 2007, BHSC resigned its membership of the Board, citing issues related to the funding of crown land.
Read more about this topic: Bidjigal Reserve
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