The World Heritage-listed Burragorang Valley is a living museum that the NSW Government is poised to drown beneath silt-laden dam water - without the permission of the traditional owners, the Gundungurra people, and without properly surveying the cultural heritage that would be destroyed.  

Last September, the Federal Government told the NSW Government to re-do months of work mapping the indigenous heritage in the Blue Mountains. This came after the Berejiklian Government lodged a heritage assessment that was found to be ‘flawed, inaccurate, and insensitive’ because:  

• over 860 archaeological deposits affected by the plan to raise the Warragamba Dam wall have not been surveyed in the NSW Government’s impact assessment. 
• the traditional owners of the land, the Gundungurra people, have not been properly consulted to compile the heritage assessment.      

A heritage assessment is supposed to protect a significant Aboriginal area from heritage desecration – the kind exemplified last year by Rio Tinto’s shameful decision to blow up ancient aboriginal heritage in Juukan Gorge. 

Yet, the NSW Government is proceeding with the plan to raise the dam wall without re-doing this work.  

Indigenous leaders like Kazan Brown are rightly outraged, saying they were “locked out by the Government’s disrespectful consultancy firms” and “have been told no matter what we say the project will go ahead.”  

We are running out of time to stop another cultural disaster from occurring within one of Australia’s premier World Heritage Areas by raising the Warragamba Dam wall. We must as a first step commit to getting the impact assessment right. 

Niche Environment and Heritage is the private consulting firm that developed the ‘flawed, inaccurate, and insensitive’ cultural impact assessment for the Berejiklian government. Their assessment proves that the State Government – and their hired help - are unwilling to treat indigenous culture and Australia’s heritage with the respect it deserves. 

Please ask Heritage NSW’s Executive Director, Sam Kidman, to replace Niche with a competent, impartial and culturally sensitive contractor to complete the heritage assessment for this critically important part of Australia. 

By signing this petition, you’re joining thousands of Australians demanding that the NSW State Government take seriously its responsibility to protect Australia’s heritage.

Make your voice heard. Sign now.

Laziness, dishonesty and racism - that's the best way to describe SMEC Engineering's cultural report on Warragamba Dam.

SMEC Engineering have secretly released an Indigenous Cultural Assessment that has attempted to excuse the mass-destruction of Gundungurra heritage. Traditional Owners have been given only 40 days by SMEC to review a 2000 page Draft Cultural Assessment, and have been told they are not allowed to share it with anyone - even experts.

SMEC Engineering is a company that was banned from working in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for allegations of bribery and have an extremely poor record of working with First Nations people.

SMEC Engineering is clearly in the business of white washing cultural destruction. The history and survival of a culture should not be treated as a box-ticking operation.

Any assessment by SMEC Engineering is not worth the paper it’s written on. If the NSW and Federal Governments are serious about their commitments to the World Heritage Committee, they must find a new consultancy firm.

The NSW Government want to raise the Warragamba Dam wall by 17 metres and flood the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area - risking its UNESCO listing.

Raising the Warragamba Dam wall by 17 metres would drown 4,700 hectares of Blue Mountains National Parks and 65kms of wild streams upstream from the raised dam wall.

If you don’t want magnificent wild places drowned in silt-laden dam water, take action today.

Sign here now, and tell the Federal Environment Minister to step-up save one of Australia's unique UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Blue areas that would be inundated are home to at least 48 threatened species. The nationally threatened Camden White Gum and critically endangered Regent honeyeater would likely become extinct if the dam goes ahead.

The raising of the dam wall is a developer-driven move that will make it easier to build on flood-prone areas in Western Sydney – against the wishes of local communities.

So please, add your name to the petition today. Tell Sussan Ley to do her job to protect Sydney's wilderness backyard.

The NSW Government want to raise the Warragamba Dam wall by 17 metres and flood the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area - risking its UNESCO listing.

Raising the Warragamba Dam wall by 17 metres would drown 4,700 hectares of Blue Mountains National Parks and 65kms of wild streams upstream from the raised dam wall.

If you don’t want magnificent wild places drowned in silt-laden dam water, take action today.

Sign here now, and tell your local member and the Federal Environment Minister to step-up and save one of Australia's unique UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The areas that would be inundated are home to at least 48 threatened species. The nationally threatened Camden White Gum and critically endangered Regent honeyeater would likely become extinct if the dam goes ahead.

The raising of the dam wall is a developer-driven move that will make it easier to build on flood-prone areas in Western Sydney – against the wishes of local communities.

So please, add your name to the petition today. Tell Sussan Ley to do her job to protect Sydney's wilderness backyard.

The NSW Government wants to raise Warragamba Dam wall to open the flood gate to developers.

Raising the dam wall will encourage massive over development on flood-prone areas in Penrith, Londonderry, Riverstone and Windsor - costing taxpayers $1 billion. The NSW Government plans to house an additional 134,000 people on western Sydney floodplains after the dam wall is raised.

If you don’t want high-density housing, traffic congestion, or overcrowded schools and hospitals, take action today.

Sign the petition, and tell the Government to drop its developers' dam plan.

We could not run this historic campaign without committed volunteers.

From holding stalls at community events, door knocking, letter boxing and chanting at protests - having people on the ground who GIVE A DAM is vital to the campaign's success.

Please, if you care about the natural and cultural heritage of Australia get in touch with us today!

Download posters, pamphlets, petitions, logos and banners to use at your local community event to spread the word about the campaign. All material is in the correct format to be printed at your home computer or at Officeworks.

If you have any questions or issues with this material, get in contact with us here.