Learning from Country for a water-resilient future

With a growing population and a changing climate, we have a real opportunity to learn from Traditional Owners in managing our water resources for a sustainable and resilient future. 

Russell Reid, Senior Aboriginal Affairs and Participation Consultant and Gamilaraay man, puts it in stark and simple terms: “If there’s no water, there’s no life.” 

“Indigenous values and perspectives about water have been significant for many, many thousands of years,” he says.  

“It’s about how to care for and restore our water resources and manage the flow of water through our streams and rivers and creeks, taking only what you need. It’s also about how to manage water resources and how those resources can be kept healthy and managed sustainably to help the community now and into the future. 

“Aboriginal people were Australia’s first engineers and scientists – and were, by necessity, resourceful, innovative, forward-thinking and sustainable. Aboriginal knowledge and ways of thinking can complement modern science and engineering and create a more holistic way of viewing any water project.” 

Connecting with country  

Russell says: “The goal of our work is to create legacy projects that Traditional Owners are proud of. To do that, we need to include Indigenous people in culturally safe, genuine co-design processes”. 

“Our focus should be on deeply understanding the community’s goals, values and concerns. To do that, we need to sit down with Traditional Owners, take time and listen to understand and respect the knowledge that’s being passed on.” 

He emphasises the importance of moving beyond written and verbal forms of learning by getting out on Country and walking through the sites, allowing for hands-on and visual/spatial learning. 

With at least 270 different tribes and clans across Australia, every community is different – so every engagement process with First Nations communities and Traditional Owners must be bespoke and every solution must be location-specific. Indigenous and Community engagement go hand in hand. 

Building lasting social value  

Jennifer McDonnell, Principal, Communications & Engagement at WSP works closely with community groups including traditional owners to ensure that projects are considering their perspectives and addressing their needs.  

“Deep early listening is very important to build a clear picture of how a particular community functions, who the key stakeholders are, and whether there may be multiple groups we need to work with who have different cultural ties and different knowledges,” Jennifer said.  

Jennifer and Russell have seen examples of water projects where investing time and energy in getting the engagement process right has led to great outcomes for local communities. 

Russell describes a project in which WSP’s team worked with Traditional Owners to design a cultural overlay and a way to increase the appreciation of local wetlands. A trail was created through the wetlands with storyboards and QR codes to share traditional knowledge. School visits were planned to further educate the next generation about the value of these water bodies. An entry point statement reminds visitors that they are on traditional land, and the exit includes a representation of the fire and smoking ceremony to cleanse people on their way back into the community. 

Regardless of the type of project, there are often opportunities to add cultural elements into landscaping, façades, shared pathways or building designs. Some projects may commission Aboriginal artworks, incorporate Aboriginal naming, or include walks on Country or special public spaces for yarning circles or other cultural gatherings. All of these can serve to increase cultural understanding. With the right consultation these acknowledgements can bring industries and communities together to celebrate the history of an area and its first peoples. 

Infrastructure projects are also increasingly exploring opportunities for delivering lasting social value through economic opportunities and employment. 

“In the renewable energy space, we’re seeing more Traditional Owners being included in governance and as co-investors and co-owners of projects, and this could also be adopted in water projects,” says Jennifer. “Another powerful mechanism open to governments, utilities and project developers across all sectors is to engage Indigenous personnel and Indigenous small businesses to co-deliver the project and to continue to operate it. This creates a ripple effect that helps the project’s local community in the longer term.” 

Healing Country and healing culture 

Some water projects may be able to repair past damage or go some way towards righting historical wrongs, such as prior over-extraction or pollution of water sources. If designed in partnership with Traditional Owners, remediation can potentially be a form of ‘healing of Country’. 

Russell says that while the outcome of a project can bring a level of healing, so too can the process of engagement and co-design. 

“We’ve heard from some Traditional Owners and groups we’ve worked with that the atmosphere of deep listening, respect and trust has created a place where cultural healing is possible. 

“The healing comes from feeling culturally safe and confident to share knowledge they’ve held for a long time, and to see that their input is respected, valued and acted on.” 

“The space we create allows them to articulate and share their stories,” he says, “and in some cases, they might not have told them to anyone else before.” 

Learning across industries  

Jennifer and Russell see an opportunity for Water Authorities and project developers to harness lessons learnt from other sectors in which First Nations engagement and cultural co-design have been successful. 

On a large project in the rail sector, they worked with the client to develop a framework that could be adaptable to any infrastructure project, such as desalination plants, water pipelines, sewage infrastructure or dams. The framework highlights the critical points and ‘gates’ at the start of a project and between certain key packages of works when teams need to reach out to Traditional Owners to start conversations, to gather feedback on concept designs, or to get endorsement and approval. 

“Co-design with First Nations communities is not necessarily difficult nor expensive if the engagement process starts early enough and is built on strong foundations of respect, authenticity and genuine purpose,” says Russell. 

“Australia’s First Peoples have respected, protected and sustainably managed water for tens of thousands of years. To get the best outcomes for them as well as for the project and our future as a nation, it’s time to listen and learn.” 

Above image: A bend in the Yarra River, a vital source of water and lore for all Melbourne tribes by Michael Hromek, Technical Executive - Indigenous (Architecture), Design and Knowledge (Yuin) 2022.   

This article was first published by WSP. You can read the original here.