What is Aboriginal heritage?
Aboriginal heritage holds significant value to Aboriginal people for their social, spiritual, historical, scientific, or aesthetic importance within Aboriginal traditions.
This could include rock art, ancient caves or burial sites, waterways, ceremonial sites or scar trees.
Laws are in place in Western Australia to protect and manage Aboriginal heritage. Before undertaking any activities on your land, check for Aboriginal heritage.
The State Government will commence a long-term plan over the next 10 years to undertake heritage surveys of unsurveyed areas in high priority areas of the State, with the consent of landowners. Surveys will be centrally held and published by Government, and available to view by all land users.
There will be no requirement on everyday landowners to conduct their own heritage survey, Surveys required for the purposes of mining, extractive industries and major land subdivisions will continue to be the responsibility of industry, however the State Government’s long term survey plan will be of assistance to all Western Australians, including these industries.
Search for Aboriginal heritage on the ACHIS map viewer
The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Inquiry System (ACHIS) provides locations and information about Aboriginal heritage in Western Australia.
Quick Search Tips
- Click ‘What do you want to do’ at the top of the page.
- Select ‘Search for ACH Directory’ as a filter.
- Enter the street address in the search box.
- Select Continue once you have read the disclaimer.
- If Aboriginal heritage is present, it will appear on the left-hand side.
Use our Quick User Guide to support your search.
The results will include past survey reports, places, cultural landscapes, protected areas, local Aboriginal cultural heritage services and Native Title Parties.
For more information and support, call the Department on (08) 6551 8002 to speak to one of our staff or complete the form below.
Need help?
You can download the full user guide or our team will be happy to help you complete your property search. Lodge your request below.
Downloading search results
Show moreSearch results can be displayed in a list or table format, downloaded as a PDF report, or exported as a Microsoft Excel or .csv file.
Refer to the User Guide for instructions.
Request site files
Show moreThe Department can arrange access to the contents of specific Aboriginal cultural heritage information and reports upon request, provided they do not contain culturally sensitive information, or where appropriate permissions have been provided. To access files and heritage survey reports electronically, or to provide information about Aboriginal heritage, please contact us through the Aboriginal Heritage Enquiry Form.
About the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Inquiry System
Show moreRegistered Aboriginal Sites are shown in the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) Register layer.
Places with information being verified are shown in the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) Lodged layer.
Historic records are shown in the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) Historic layer.
Base maps updated: Topographic is now the default base map, Aerial Photos moved from layer list to base maps, Geoscience Australia Topographic maps turned off by default and labelled ‘historic’.
Please note
Information relating to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, Survey Reports and Protected Areas is visible in this map viewer.
When searching based on shapefiles or coordinates, GDA2020 projection is not currently supported. If your dataset uses this projection please first convert it to GDA94 projection.
Terms of use
Show moreYour use of the department’s website is subject to the terms of use.
The following copyright applies to maps and images on ACHIS:
- Geoscience Australia Copyright for topographic map information shall at all times remain the property of the Commonwealth of Australia, Geoscience Australia, National Mapping Division. All rights reserved. (2005).
- State of Western Australia:
- Aerial Photography, Cadastre, Local Government Authority, and Native Title boundary data copyright © Western Australian Land Information Authority trading as Landgate.
- Copyright for Geothermal Application, Geothermal Title, Mining Tenement, Petroleum Application, and Petroleum Title boundaries shall at all times remain the property of the State of Western Australia, Department of Mines and Petroleum. All rights reserved.
The information provided is made available in good faith and is predominately based on the information provided to the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage (DPLH) by third parties. The information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment as to the accuracy of the information. If you find any errors or omissions in our records, including our maps, it would be appreciated if you contact us through the Aboriginal Heritage Enquiry Form and we will make every effort to rectify it as soon as possible.
Scheduled outages
Show morePlease note that the ACHIS is unavailable during the following times (Western Australian time):
- Monday – Sunday: 10:00PM – 11:00PM
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 02:00AM – 03:30AM
- Wednesday: 00:30AM – 04:30AM
