TRADITIONAL owners have called for a stop to the Mallee Rally, Australia’s longest-running off-road race.
The recommendation emerged following the release of a draft Cultural Landscape Conservation Management Plan for Direl (Lake Tyrrell).
Lake Tyrrell has been home to the Mallee Rally since the inception of the event in 1973.
However, traditional owners have labelled the Mallee Rally as “inappropriate and destructive”, noting it posed a significant threat to the conservation of Direl (Lake Tyrrell).
“Traditional owners from all represented groups have consistently expressed strong concerns about the threats to, and impacts on, cultural heritage values from the Mallee Rally, as well as impacts to environmental and aesthetic values,” the draft conservation management plan states.
“Would you run a race around Mungo, around Uluru, or Kakadu,” one traditional owner questioned as part of the report.
Management strategies identified in the draft management plan call for a systematic track survey to fully assess the extent of impacts caused by vehicles and the rehabilitation of unused or infrequently used tracks.
It recommends that the Mallee Rally is discontinued and the track is repurposed as a management access track, with restricted access, infrequent use and low speed limit.
“The CMP field assessments carried out on sections of the Mallee Rally track clearly found negative impacts on Aboriginal places including artefact scatters and hearths at several locations,” a Victorian Government spokesperson said.
“These objects and features are significant and part of the ancient occupation of the lake.
“Damage to these places will continue unless effective management is put in place to protect the lake’s Aboriginal heritage and reduce ongoing erosion.”
