To view the breadth of our services, please search our projects via the map below. You can search by type of project or location (LGA).
Location marks on the map are approximate. Projects involving Aboriginal archaeology and Aboriginal cultural heritage are not included in this map for cultural sensitivity reasons, but we have listed some of the Local Aboriginal Land Councils we have worked in.
Our interactive map allows you to search the type of project or locations where Artefact have worked.
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When you partner with Artefact, you’ll receive timely and accurate advice on how to integrate archaeology, heritage and environmental considerations into your project plans.
Artefact includes specialists across key fields of archaeology, heritage, environment, interpretation, architecture and history. More importantly, with 50 staff we can assemble a skilled in-house team targeted to your specific requirements.
HISTORICAL HERITAGE
As highly experienced project leaders, Artefact has been lead consultant on many major projects. Our planning and management systems ensure that projects are completed in a timely, professional manner, working in partnership with our clients.
Since 2010 Artefact is proud to have worked on a diverse range of large and small-scale infrastructure and development projects.
During this time we have built-up extensive experience in a variety of sectors including rail, roads, power and renewables, health, greenfields development and urban renewal.
Some of the more well-known projects we've been involved with include: Central Station Metro; Parramatta Light Rail; Sydney Metro City & Southwest; Wickham Transport Interchange; Northern Beaches Hospital; St Vincent’s Private Hospital; Concord Forensic Mental Health Unit; Sydney Harbour Bridge; The Northern Road Stages 1 & 2; Berry to Bomaderry Upgrade (Princes Highway); West Wyalong Solar Farm; and Wind Farm and Transmission Line projects in the Pilbara and Western NSW.
With almost 50 staff, and offices in Sydney and Newcastle, we can assemble a skilled in-house team targeted to your specific requirements.
For a personal response to your heritage and environment needs, please ask how we can tailor an integrated solution to suit your plans, your timeline and your budget.
Artefact have worked on almost all major rail infrastructure developments in NSW over the past decade.
Our proudest achievement is our team. We value their skills and talents, and we trust that you will too.
At Artefact we recruit staff who are passionate about the past, skilled in their disciplines and professional in their approach. We all understand the need to balance our rich local heritage with plans that shape the State’s future. These attributes contribute to a great team culture internally – and to exceptional advice and service for you. We support each other to make sure that our clients come first, which is why we have an industry-wide reputation for being responsive, innovative and authoritative.
SANDRA WALLACE, MANAGING DIRECTOR
Artefact was established in 2010 by Dr Sandra Wallace, who remains the company’s Managing Director.
What ever your heritage project we are here to assist.
Country or city, desktop or fieldwork, we’ve covered most of New South Wales and ACT.
Our advice and services are customised to offer the best guidance on how you can proceed, whatever your project type.
We consult right across the scale from neighbourhood architectural practices to multinational developers. But don't take our word for it! Check out our testimonials from our clients.
Aboriginal people should have control over their own culture
I have been feeling increasingly uneasy about my role as a non-Aboriginal business owner who profits from the management and destruction of Aboriginal cultural heritage. This uneasiness is not a simple thing, it is nuanced and reflects and refracts through the different lenses of who I am and what I do. Cultural heritage management is not all compromised, we do a lot of great work, and often in partnership with Aboriginal people. But the foundations of what we do sit on poisoned ground.
So where does that leave me as the owner of Artefact? Where should we be as an industry, and what can I do to advocate for that in my position?
My firm belief is that Aboriginal people should have control over their own culture. That doesn’t mean non-Aboriginal people shouldn’t work in the field, they absolutely should. But Aboriginal people must manage and control the process. That means companies like Artefact need to hand back that aspect of what we do to Aboriginal owned firms or at the very least employ Aboriginal people internally to manage the process. Although this won’t happen overnight, moving in this direction is an ethical imperative and should not be baulked at because of commercial considerations.
It's time to campaign and support positive change to the legislation
The current Aboriginal heritage legislation is outdated and inherently racist. Aboriginal heritage protection still sits under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 which is a huge embarrassment to NSW.
Recent pushes to bring in new legislation have failed and although an ongoing process is underway there is no clear indication of how and when the law will change to codify the role of Aboriginal people in the determination of their own culture. This change is critical and must happen soon. Consultants like me must campaign for, and support, any positive change to the legislation.
In my view the most important consideration in my position is that only a very small part of this question is mine to ask. The way Aboriginal heritage is managed and how this is done; whether there is a focus on archaeology or other cultural values, where the money goes, all these are questions for Aboriginal people.
So, the most important thing I can do is to throw the mic back to the Aboriginal community and not co-opt a discussion that’s not mine to enter. My role is to work towards a better way for Aboriginal cultural heritage management as an informed and outraged ally.
Image: Aboriginal artefacts from a greenfield development site in north-west of Sydney.
What others are saying?
"What do Aboriginal people get out of all these development projects? A bagful of rocks - that’s it!"
Laurie Perry - Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation
"Archaeology in settler societies around the world has become characterised by specialists whose function is the clearance of Indigenous sites from the landscape, making way for economic development."
Rich Hutchings and Marina La Salle - Anthropologists
"Heritage consultants engaged in development driven archaeology are typically less able than their academic counterparts to negotiate the terms of collaborative consultation with Aboriginal people."
Andrew Costello - Consulting Archaeologist
Footnotes
Richards, M., ‘So far in the wrong direction: What hope is there for New South Wales’ stand-alone Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation?’, Historic Environment, Volume 34, Number 1-3, ICOMOS Australia, 2022 (2023), 76-89
Hutchings, R., and M. La Salle. 2015. “Archaeology as Disaster Capitalism.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 19: 699–720. doi:10.1007/s10761-015-0308-3
Andrew Costello, 2021. ‘Beyond the shovel and the sieve: achieving better outcomes for Aboriginal people in commercial archaeology’, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 28:1, 45-58, https://doi.org/10.1080/14486563.2021.1894251
Image: Artefact Team Leader of Aboriginal Heritage Ryan Taddeucci with Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Officer Kelly Barton.
What do you think?
It may seem like I’m shooting my own business in the foot. But I would rather be involved in this conversation about how we might change this system for the better, than go on ticking boxes.
Not everyone may agree with what I’ve said here, and there is certainly a huge amount of excellent and well-intentioned work going on in the heritage field.
The calls for change in this area have been steadily growing and I’d really like to hear what others think.
Send your thoughts to office@artefact.net.au
"The failure of two recent Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bills in New South Wales is likely to be due to the development-driven New South Wales Government’s priorities and lack of political will’ more than anything to do with the proposed bills."
Michelle Richards
Footnote
Richards, M., ‘So far in the wrong direction: What hope is there for New South Wales’ stand-alone Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation?’, Historic Environment, Volume 34, Number 1-3, ICOMOS Australia, 2022 (2023), 76-89
Image: Sandra Wallace - Founder and Managing Director of Artefact Heritage and Environment.
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