Cultural Value of Water, International River Symposium 27Sept2011, Cultural Flows Panel

1. CULTURAL VALUE OF WATER
International River Symposium Brisbane – Cultural Flows Panel
Bradley Moggridge
Indigenous Water Research Specialist and
First Peoples’ Water Engagement Council
27 September 2011

2. Presentation Outline
1. Who I am
2. Water Knowledge
3. Planning Opportunities
4. Values of Water
5. Cultural Flow
6. Gaps

3. My Mob
Kamilaroi Nation
Culturally I am Lucky and Unlucky:
Lucky - as I have a huge proud Murri family and have a good education; and
Unlucky - as I have not grown up on Country and cannot speak my language
Currently “Living the Dream” in Canberra

4. Water Knowledge
• A question for all of you:
• When you think of water knowledge in the Australian context,
who/what and why do you think of them?

5. My Argument
Aboriginal Water Knowledge = Survival
• Aboriginal people are still here (climate change and all)
• Aboriginal people’s ability to survive in and understand the
Australian landscape is astounding this equates to:
Generations of Traditional Knowledge
• A precise classification system was developed for water sites
Aboriginal people know how to find and re-find water in a dry
landscape
• BUT, Aboriginal people are still not part of the “western
equation” in identifying how, when and where water flows in
Australia

6. Aboriginal Water Knowledge
A hypothetical addition:
D + TLC = 5000+/-
D = The “Dreaming”
TLC = Traditional Lore and Customs
5000+/-* generations of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and
survival on the driest inhabited continent on earth
*Based on 20years = 1 Generation (Wikipedia)
With the current state of Country, who should protect and nurture
our country back to health - Aboriginal people, why?
Deep seated understanding and long relationship
Customary obligation
Are happier and healthier (in spirit and wellbeing) when we have the
same opportunities and standards of living as all Australians

7. Opportunities - National Water Initiative
• Water Planning and Aboriginal People has not had a good history!
• The National Water Initiative of 2004 for the first time explicitly
recognised Indigenous rights and interests in national water policy
• (paragraph 25(ix)):“recognise Indigenous needs in relation to water
access and management”
and
• Paragraphs 52–54 - Indigenous Access
• 2011 Biennial Assessment - Indigenous Specific Findings
Finding 1.5
Most jurisdictions have improved consultations with Indigenous communities
in water planning and management, but have generally failed to incorporate
effective strategies for achieving Indigenous social, spiritual and customary
objectives in water plans, as envisaged under the NWI.

8. Value of Water to Aboriginal People
• Aboriginal peoples’ value to water is sacred, deep and
necessary for survival.
• It is protected by Lore, which provide a system of sustainable
management ensuring healthy people
• Aboriginal people’s connection with Country does not separate
the individual features of the landscape
• Non-Aboriginal laws and traditions tend to separate water from
the land and from the sky

9. Value of Water to Aboriginal People
• Aboriginal cultural and economic values associated with waters
are poorly understood by water resource managers including
the cultural economy (i.e. 1 echidna may equal 3 yellow bellies)
• The poor understanding leads to poor allocations/entitlements
• Aboriginal people are critical of water managers for the
exclusive focus given to satisfying ecological criteria in
environmental watering, and still not part of the water debate

10. Water Dependent Cultural Values
The water dependent cultural values will relate to the below cultural
assets in the form of:
• Creation sites;
• Cultural hero stories linking with spiritual significance along a song line/dreaming tracks - non-
tangible (“Dreaming Sites”);
• Language (connects culture to place);
• Resource sites for traditional bush foods and medicines;
• Resource sites for artefacts, tools, art and crafts;
• Gender specific sites – men’s and women’s business;
• Ceremonial sites;
• Burial places/sites;
• Teaching sites;
• Massacre sites where frontier battles occurred with traditional groups;
• Tribal boundary indicators, landscape features, or stone arrangements;
• Cultural specific environmental conditions to sustain totemic species; and
• Sites that contain physical/tangible evidence of occupation middens, campsites, artefact
scatters, scarred and carved trees, stone arrangements and fish traps

11. Word Break
Ngemba Mission Billabong
- Barwon River
A lake on Ngunnawal Country

12. Aboriginal Water Conceptual Model

13. Cultural Flow
• Aboriginal people rely heavily on rivers, groundwater and wetlands to
access their values both tangible and non-tangible,
• Many values require a flow, otherwise the story/connection is lost
• Water Plans generally assume that environmental water or flows will meet
cultural values, including Aboriginal social and economic values
• The problem here is that Aboriginal people are rarely engaged to determine
environmental flows
• Other challenges include for Aboriginal water entitlements:
Lack of data
No clear definitions
Lack of policy and guidance
Lack of understanding

14. Cultural Flow
• In a report to the NSW Healthy Rivers Commission by Behrendt and
Thompson 2003 state that:
Cultural flows should be an essential component of river
management. A ‘cultural flow’ can be set and monitored as
sufficient flow in a suitable pattern to ensure the maintenance of
Aboriginal cultural practices and connections with the rivers
• Murray Darling Basin Plan Guide Vol 1 (pg. 196, MDBA, 2010). Stating:
“MLDRIN and NBAN define Cultural Flows as:
Water entitlements that are legally and beneficially owned by the
Aboriginal nations and are of a sufficient and adequate quantity and
quality to improve the spiritual, cultural, environmental, social and
economic conditions of those Aboriginal nations; this is our inherent
right.

15. Cultural Flow
• Definitions and needs for cultural water by Aboriginal people
may differ at a local scale
• A representative definition of a Cultural Flow is yet to be agreed
upon by the 250+ Aboriginal Nations within Australia
AIATSIS (2005)

16. Country with NO Cultural Water

17. Country with Cultural Water

18. Mind the Gap in Knowledge
• No research is yet to quantify what is a cultural flow i.e. no credible
evidence
• No research has compared a cultural flow to an environmental flow
• There is a severe lack of quantitative real data on Aboriginal water uses
and values:
So a need for further primary data collection or case specific investigations
(Long Term)
• There are substantial gaps in science of identifying Aboriginal water
requirements – Culturally and Economically
• Aboriginal people do not have the big reports or glossy maps, all their
knowledge is obtained orally, in song, stories through TEK

19. CSIRO
• CSIRO investing in Aboriginal water management through the
Water for a Healthy Country Flagship:
Work to date in Northern Australia
CSIRO Indigenous Engagement Strategy
CSIRO Indigenous Employment Strategy, aiming to increase
Indigenous employment in CSIRO to 2.5%
CSIRO three National Indigenous Roundtables
Employment of Brad Moggridge
A research project with the Ngemba Nation
• CSIRO has a strong interest in developing long term research
activity to address Aboriginal water requirements including co-
investment and partnerships.

20. Wrap Up
• Aboriginal people have a long and deep relationship with water but are not
part of the water debate
• Aboriginal people have opportunities to engage in water through the NWI
and UN Declaration, but jurisdictions need to allow this to occur
• Aboriginal people want to protect Country as their relationship with Country
does not separate the individual features of the landscape such as water,
land and sky
• A growing body of interest in a Cultural Flow
• There are considerable gaps in knowledge in understanding how water is
used by Aboriginal people both economically and culturally and what
benefits TEK can provide “Western Science”
The Challenge
• How are you going to fill these gaps?

21. Thanks goes to
Any Questions???

22. CONTACT:
Brad Moggridge
Ph: 02 6246 5633
Mob: 0417 252 667
or
Email: bradley.moggridge@csiro.au
Thank you
Contact Us
Phone: 1300 363 400 or +61 3 9545 2176
Email: enquiries@csiro.au Web: www.csiro.au