Grants to add Indigenous values to Australia’s World and National Heritage-listed places

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian Business Number (ABN), unless you are not entitled to an ABN.

And are one of the following entities:

• an entity, incorporated in Australia (this includes Indigenous land management organisations registered with the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations)
• a registered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land council
• an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
• an incorporated Regional Development Australia Committee
• a publicly funded research organisation (PFRO) as defined in section 14 grant opportunity guidelines
• an individual
• a partnership
• an Australian local government agency or body as defined in section 14 grant opportunity guidelines
• an Australian state/territory Government agency or body.

You must also:

• be a First Nations individual, group or organisation that is also the owner/manager of a listed place described in Appendix A of the grant opportunity guidelines, or
• be a First Nations individual, group or organisation that is not the owner/manager of the listed place and have evidence of the support of the listed place owner/manager for your project described in Appendix A of the grant opportunity guidelines, or
• be a non-First Nations owner/manager of the listed place described in Appendix A of the grant opportunity guidelines, and have evidence of the involvement and support of relevant First Nations communities for the implementation of your project, or
• be a third party and:
  • have evidence of the involvement and support of relevant First Nations communities for the implementation of your project, and
  • have evidence of the support of the listed place owner/manager for your project described in Appendix A of the grant opportunity guidelines.

You can’t apply if you are:

• any organisation not included in section 4.1 of the grant opportunity guidelines
• an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s website on the list of ‘Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme’
• an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012).
• an unincorporated association
• a trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)
• a non-corporate Commonwealth entity.

Partner with other organisations

You can partner with one or more other organisations. But you must decide who will be the lead organisation, and they must be eligible to apply.

The lead organisation must fill out the application form.

If we give your group the grant, the lead organisation:

• signs the grant agreement
• is responsible for making sure your group follows the rules in the grant agreement.

You must complete your project by 30 April 2026.

Your project must:

• be located in Australia. Eligible project locations must be listed on Australia’s World and National Heritage places
• support First Nations people to identify, record and/or protect Indigenous heritage values that have not been previously identified, recorded and/or protected at listed places
• include eligible activities and eligible expenditure. Refer to grant opportunity guidelines for information on eligible activities and eligible expenditure.

You can apply for a grant between $25,000 and $250,000.

You can use this grant funding for:

• salaries for staff working on the project, and on-costs (up to 30%)
• contractor costs or expert advice
• research costs
• on-ground works where they directly protect newly identified Indigenous heritage values or those Indigenous heritage values that have not already been protected under previous works and/or a management plan
• communication and promotional costs
• costs related to planning, environmental or other regulatory approvals from non-Commonwealth government agencies
• materials and equipment hire/purchase
• domestic travel including meals, accommodation and transportation.
• catering required to conduct project activities such as workshops at the heritage site locality. These must be commensurate with the size and location of the project
• project contingency costs up to a maximum of 10% of the eligible project costs (note that payments are based on actual costs incurred)
• administrative costs related to the project at no more than 15% of the grant funding requested.