“Water issues are
important issues for us. We are interested in how water allocation
and water markets are going to roll out over our
country.
|
Ron Archer ,beside the Walsh river, Dimbulah
north Queensland
|
"But before we talk about
water planning we are interested to look at the process of
engagement of Indigenous people.
"When we hear different processes from the
State Government, the Federal Government, and NAILSMA, Traditional
Owners get confused - it divides us. We want Traditional Owners to
stand together so they can make decisions on how water reform
affects them on country - so Traditional Owners can agree on a
document or report that will benefit all landowners.
“We have our own way of engaging with
each other. We need government people who understand indigenous
processes. They need to come in and learn from our process. Once
they have learnt and tapped into that, then they can do things the
right way: going out on country, listening to old people’s
stories.
“The old people are the ones
who’ve got the history of that water flow on country, they
have been there the longest!
“When a
young fella comes out of an office and says to do things this way,
them old fellas get really discouraged. They say that
young fella he knows nothing about this country – he just
come from a big flash office in down there somewhere in
Canberra.
“They want people to listen to old
fellas talk about the river. Some of those old fellas are getting
old now, but they know, they’ve seen the changes, they
remember clear water, remember what happened when dams were put in,
remember dirty water after bulldozers worked near the river, when
fish had to swim in all that muddy water.
“These are some of the frustrations
we have, that people aren’t listening; they are only
listening to what they want to hear - to tick the little square box
for their reports. We want to know what the process for water
planning is for the Mitchell, and we’ll follow it. But it
must use Aboriginal processes and include the knowledge of our
elders.” 17 March 2011
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To read more about water issues and activities in the Mitchell
River, click
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