Environmental groups and traditional owners say hay drops to feral horses and native animals during floods in north-east Victoria have damaged culturally significant Yorta Yorta sites.
The decision to feed feral horses during the emergency was made by the multi-agency Incident Control Centre that was managing the response.
Feral horses and native animals fled to higher ground in Barmah National Park when the Murray and Goulburn rivers flooded October.
Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Monica Morgan said the area would flood seasonally before the Murray-Darling Basin Plan was enacted.
"There are areas of country that are higher and those areas were the areas that our people lived on for thousands of years," Ms Morgan said.
She said Yorta Yorta people canoed from "island to island" during seasonal floods and that the higher ground held significant midden sites and burials.
"They're very important to us," Ms Morgan said.
"And it was at one of these very important sites that the hay drop was made.
"It was a mile-long stretch of middens, potentially burials."
Ms Morgan said the sand ridge was "very sensitive" and was "being looked at as a cultural site".
She said the hay attracted feral horses to the area.
Culturally significant Yorta Yorta sites at Barmah are registered under the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Act.
Ms Morgan said the sand ridge was "well known" to Parks Victoria and other areas of government.
Location disputed
The Barmah Brumby Preservation Group disputes the allegation that the hay drops took place on cultural sites.
Group president Julie Pridmore, who took part in the activity, saidhay was taken by boats to feed about 150 feral horses that were trapped and "in dire straits".
"We called it an island, but what that area was is actually the road — it's the sand ridge track," Ms Pridmore said.
"That road is used by cars, trucks, motorbikes, boats, trailers, caravans.
"The designated areas to the sides of that … they are sacred sites but they had no horses trapped on them at all."
The supplementary feeding plan for native animals and feral horses was developed by the Incident Control Centre following veterinary advice and was designed to meet the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986.
A Parks Victoria spokesperson said the department was continuing to implement the joint management plan for Barmah National Park, along with the Yorta Yorta Nation, since it resumed management of the area.
Ms Pridmore said the preservation group worked with the Incident Control Centre on the welfare initiative and that some feral horses in very poor condition were euthanased.
'A very serious offence'
Environmental Justice Australia is calling for a joint government agency review of the emergency response and how it impacted Yorta Yorta cultural heritage.
The group, which is acting for the Yorta Yorta Nation, is also calling for alleged contraventions of Aboriginal heritage law to be investigated and prosecuted if appropriate.
Environment Victoria and the Victorian National Parks Association have backed the action.
A Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action spokesperson said they were aware of concerns about the impact of feral horses and potential harm on cultural heritage sites in the park, and were making further inquiries.
Ms Morgan said the alleged incident had damaged the joint management plan between Parks Victoria and the Yorta Yorta Nation.
"Damaging a site of this significance under the cultural heritage act is a very serious offence," she said.
"The good faith that Yorta Yorta people and my elders have shown in working with government needs to be reciprocated.
"It seems like it's alright to put in a plan to protect species, country, migratory birds, culture, but then, in the face of it, not uphold any of those preconditions that we had with them."
