Djab Wurrung Heritage Protection Embassy

[1][2] The Embassy's goal was to block the Victorian Government from destroying sacred birthing trees and advocate for Aboriginal sovereignty and land rights.

[3] VicRoads stated that over a seven-year period there had been more than 100 crashes on the highway between Ballarat and Stawell – 11 people had died and more than 50 were seriously injured.

In December 2019, the Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley was required to review the protection of the trees after a formal error in their last decision.

However, Ley decided that the trees, while culturally significant, were not at risk because there was a protection agreement between Eastern Maar and VicRoads.

[9] The camps that formed the Embassy were dismantled during arrests by Victoria Police directly after sustained lockdowns in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June 2022, the Victorian Government announced that a new Cultural Heritage Management Plan would be created that would address the trees.

Marjorie Thorpe, the lead applicant in several court cases, approved of the result and noted that the new plan would allow litigants to hold the government accountable if they failed to protect the trees.