THE significance of local river systems to the Indigenous community will be
highlighted at the Tooleybuc premiere of two new documentary films this
weekend.
Produced by members of the Wadi Wadi and Mutthi Mutthi people and
activist organisation Friends of the Earth, the 25 minute Cultural Flows films
aim to explore the cultural connections between Aboriginal communities and local
waterways, and the importance of Indigenous knowledge in water
management.
Project co-ordinator Cain Chaplin said he hoped the films — set
on the banks of the Murray and Murrumbidgee — would serve as a tool for
awareness, and would ultimately help seek reforms to allow traditional owners to
care for their country, culture and communities.
“[The films] are a wonderful
accomplishment for the community and a powerful tool to use in our efforts to
share knowledge and restore our rights as custodians of country,” he said.
“We need Indigenous water entitlements as part of our cultural rights and
needs, but it can’t be done with the Water Act as it is at the
moment.”
According to Mr Chaplin, Indigenous water allocations would carry a
range of benefits for both the environment and the Aboriginal people, including
cultural preservation, the protection of significant sites and the promotion of
conditional plant growth.
“We want to keep the water in the river and the
flood plains… just to mimic the natural cycle of water before floods and
drought,” he said.
For more of this story, see Friday’s Guardian (April 26).
