The elders have cited three separate reports containing material questioning the suitability of constructing a go kart track in McPhillamy Park at the top of Mount Panorama, on a site considered sacred by Wiradyuri women.

One of the reports, prepared by Associate Professor Neale Draper, contains a photograph of a stone axe head observed near the stone house compound, which the elders have used as evidence in an Aboriginal site card submission to the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.

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Wiradyuri elder Mallyan [Uncle Brian Grant] said it's about time the community was made aware of the truth.

"This is not purely about a sacred women's place anymore, this is about a place many members of the Bathurst community frequent for recreational purposes," Mallyan said.

"The project guarantees cultural and environmental vandalism for the sake of 200 members of a go kart club, and the artefacts we've recently received are contrary to the Bathurst Local Aboriginal Land Council's [LALC] claim there's none there."

The Draper report, prepared in January 2019, assessed there was an "urgent need for reconciliation and a better understanding of local Aboriginal cultural heritage values around Bathurst."

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"While I cannot comment in any more detail with regard to the nature of the women's site identified here, I have no doubt of the veracity and cultural knowledge and authority of the Wiradjuri women concerned," the report said.

"I strongly recommend that this matter requires a detailed and appropriate anthropological examination [by a suitably qualified female anthropologist acceptable to those custodians]."

"On the face of it, it seems to me to be wholly inappropriate to build a go-kart track on top of a women's sacred site, particularly considering all of the damage that has occurred previously to cultural heritage sites and values in relation to Wahluu and the nearby Charles Sturt University campus."

The second, prepared by Professor David Trigger and Doctor Gaynor McDonald in 2017, accepts the sacred significance of Wahluu-Mount Panorama in the shaping of Wiradyuri country.

"Whether or not there are archaeological traces of Aboriginal use and occupation is not relevant to the significance of these hills in Wiradjuri cosmology in the past, nor to their continued significance to Wiradjuri people," the report said.

"Wiradjuri have long been concerned to have their cultural traditions and places valued, not necessarily to prevent their development but so that development can proceed respectfully."

The third, completed by Extent Heritage Advisors to Australia and the Asia Pacific for council in June 2018, suggests the need to find an alternative location for the go kart track to satisfy all parties.

"Council should consider whether or not it is feasible to re-locate the proposed go kart track to an area that is less likely to result in harm to intangible cultural values," the report said.

"We would recommend council consider negotiation with the local Aboriginal community to attempt to seek agreement on a suitable alternative location for the go kart track."

"It will be important that any agreement reached is in a form that ensures certainty for Council, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage [OEH] and the Aboriginal community stakeholders."

The Western Advocate received copies of all three reports from a Registered Aboriginal Party [RAP] involved in the ACHA process as part of the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corproation.

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In response, council's general manager David Sherley has reaffirmed extensive research was carried on the go kart track development, with cultural heritage issues and a Statement of Environmental Effects among key factors assessed.

"In details included in a December 2018 report to council, the study found the area contains five registered Aboriginal sites," Mr Sherley said.

"None of the five registered sites were found to contain Aboriginal Objects as defined by the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974."

"The study concluded that the study area has a nil-low potential to contain buried sub-surface archaeological deposits."

Mr Sherley said council took the differing opinions of all RAP's into account regarding the impact of the project on "intangible cultural heritage values" before moving forward.

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"The ACHA did not include archaeological test excavation work, at the request of the RAP's," Mr Sherley said.

Mr Sherley said a number of locations, such as Alec Lamberton Park, were considered for the go kart track "some time before the current location."

"Council has an approved DA for the track and has undertaken works on site that show substantive commencement on the project," he said.

"These works include site clearing and infrastructure removal including the former private residence."