ASSESSMENT OF THE SIX FOOT TRACK
A Report for the Six Foot Track Heritage Trust
PROJECT TEAM
Shaun Boree Hooper and Teekee Marloo.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute was asked to survey the Six Foot Track and produce a Geographic Information System (GIS) layer of Aboriginal sites along the track. Also, to produce a predictive model of potential sites along the Six Foot Track that can be used to guide management.
As part of this work a separate GIS layer was produced showing zoning of the Six Foot Track and an associated risk assessment made for each zone along the track to guide planning and maintenance work.
The Six Foot Track runs from Katoomba at the Explorers Tree on the Great Western Highway to the Jenolan Caves west of the Cox’s River. It passes through the Country of Darug, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri people.
To complete this survey the Six Foot Track was divided into zones based on the outcome of the predictive model, and the track was surveyed to check the accuracy of the predictive model. A large percentage of the track was heavily disturbed with parts cut over a metre into the soil profile. This should have aided the discovery of artefacts, but can also disguise artefact location through erosion and soil movement. Where possible the full width of the track was surveyed to attempt to pick up artefact scatters that were not visible on the track. This was hampered in part by farm-based disturbance and natural vegetation.
The Jenolan Caves end of the track presented an interesting problem as few or no sites were found in this section. A GIS based analysis of possible movement patterns was used to try and identify why this area had little evidence of use, despite availability of raw material for artefacts and suitability of the area for camp sites. The findings from this analysis indicate that the site was probably visited rarely due to there being alternative tracks for movement through the area.