Caring for Country
Aboriginal people in Walgett describe the Namoi and Barwon rivers as the lifeblood of their community, waterways which generations have cared for and lived on for thousands of years. However, the poor state of the rivers in recent years has had a massive negative impact on community health and wellbeing.
Well the river is our life: it's like anywhere in the world, if you don't have water, you don't have life. The river when I was growing up was a good thing for everybody. Not to say we didn't take things for granted, but we respected the waters. It was our life through fishing, drinking, cooking — but today there's nothing there. It's really sad. I think to me, it's greed by people upstream that don't allow the water to come down.
— Community member, quoted in Yuwaya Ngarra-li Community Data Gathering Report, 2019
The degradation of local rivers is attributed by the Dharriwaa Elders Group (DEG) to climate change and poor management of rivers and water infrastructure by government, which has prioritised the interests of farmers and irrigators over Aboriginal people. The lack of respect and understanding for Aboriginal knowledge of river systems and the perspectives or interests of Aboriginal people is an ongoing legacy of decades of institutional racism and has had disproportionately negative impacts on Aboriginal people in Walgett in a number of ways.
Yuwaya Ngarra-li is linking Aboriginal culture and science with western science to renew the health of the river systems and groundwaters, with UNSW's contributions in this area led by Prof. Greg Leslie, Director of the Global Water Institute, and A/Prof. Martin Andersen of the Water Research Laboratory. As part of this work, Greg and Martin have supervised community-led student projects in this area.
Ngarrangarra-li Walaaybaa Rangers (Look after Home Country Rangers)
After many years of advocacy, the DEG secured funding for a ranger program—a long-held aim of the Elders for the local community to care for and restore health to the local rivers and Country. This funding from the National Indigenous Australians Agency has enabled the recruitment and training of local rangers, and is enhancing access to Country for the Aboriginal community and working towards longer-term goals of protecting cultural and environmental heritage.
The Ngarrangarra-li Walaaybaa Rangers regularly test the water at five key sites around Walgett, and post the results on the Dharriwaa Elders Group Facebook page. Follow the page to keep up to date with the results.
Publications
- Dharriwaa Elders Group (2024) Statuory Review of the Crown Land Management Act 2016, submission to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.
- Dharriwaa Elders Group (2024) Inquiry into the National Water Initiative, submission to the Productivity Commission.
- Dharriwaa Elders Group (2023) Inquiry into the Water Amendment (Restoring our Rivers) 2023, submission to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee.
- Dharriwaa Elders Group (2023) Review of the Gwydir Regulated River Water Sharing Plan, submission to the NSW Natural Resources Commission.
- Dharriwaa Elders Group (2023) Murray-Darling Basin Plan: Implementation Review 2023, submission to the Productivity Commission.
- Dharriwaa Elders Group, Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations & Environmental Defenders Office (2020) Manifestations of Aboriginal water dispossession in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment.
- Dharriwaa Elders Group (2019) A brief submission in response to the Draft Barwon-Darling Watercourse and Namoi Water Resource Plans ("WRPs"), submission to the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.
News
