Aboriginal Waterways Assessment program

Aboriginal Waterways Assessment — Part B The program 37
PART B
The Werai Aboriginal negotiating
team invited the Werai Forest works
team (which works under a contract
with NSW National Parks and Wildlife
Service) into the assessment team.
Yarkuwa wanted the young men in
this team to learn more about the
forest, by assessing places using the
assessment form and by listening to
older community members as the
assessments were underway.
The presence of three generations,
and of people knowledgeable about
different parts of the river system,
made the assessment team aware of
the extent of change in the health of
river-dependent Country.
This awareness reinforced their
concern, and provided an opportunity
for sharing knowledge of how water
moves in flood conditions. This is
knowledge that younger people have
had little exposure to. There was also
knowledge that could be used to guide
water releases:
‘That first section of Werai, before
you cross that junction, I wouldn’t
mind something done there on that
first section, so at least we can give
that a decent flooding. The only way
with that little bit of flooding they’re
getting there now, that’s coming out
the end of the Tumudgery, and it
goes across to the Edward, through
that Rookery we had a look at,
and then it goes down a gully into
the Collagen. There’s a hell of a lot
of water going straight back into
the rivers and it’s not covering the
forest floor… it’s there one minute
and gone the next. It’s not sitting
there long enough.’
Stevens Weir on the Edward
River near Deniliquin,
New South Wales (photo by
Brayden Dykes, MDBA)