Aboriginal Waterways Assessment program

Explanation of the terms and language used
Aboriginal Waterways Assessment — Part A Introduction 5
PART A
Aboriginal
Refers to people identifying with
Aboriginal cultures in Australia and
who are accepted as such by their
Aboriginal Nation.
Aboriginal Waterways Assessment
(AWA)
The name of the activity of Aboriginal
peoples assessing the values of their
waterways by using the tools and
processes adopted from New Zealand
Māori practices (Cultural Health Index)
and modified in this study.
Assessment form
The series of AWA questions regarding
the cultural, biodiversity and riverine
health ratings of a specific place.
There are three such assessment
forms: for river assessments, wetland
assessments and training.
Assessment process
The practices used to identify
places within a Country, select the
assessment team, learn about the
Aboriginal Waterways Assessment,
visit places, make assessments,
synthesise and receive final results.
Assessment team
A group of (8 to 15) Traditional
Owners who visit the places
within their Country and carry out the
cultural assessment of rivers
and wetlands.
Research team
A multi-cultural team of Aboriginal,
Māori and non-Aboriginal members
with expertise in environmental
and social sciences working in
co-researcher partnerships with
participating Aboriginal
community members.
Traditional Owner(s)
Refers to Aboriginal people who
identify and are recognised as
speaking for Country.
The Aboriginal Waterways Assessment is
made up of several elements:
Indicator
A question (in the assessment
form) that measures an aspect
of cultural use, biodiversity or
riverine health.
Nation name
Used when information is specific
to a particular Aboriginal Nation.
Place(s)
This term is used to describe
the locations where assessments
were made and is distinctive
from the term ‘sites’, which often
has particular archaeological/
heritage/cultural meaning.
Matrix
A graph that integrates river health
with cultural uses and values, as
measured on the assessment forms,
and compiled on the results table to
provide an overall rating.
Results table
A table that compiles the scores
from all the assessment forms,
for each assessed place within a
Nation’s Country, to generate totals
using the metrics of the assessment
form, for cultural significance,
cultural uses and river health.