‘It’s our lifeblood’: the Murray-Darling and the fight for Indigenous water rights

When the water levels of the Darling river fall, local elders in Wilcannia, New South Wales, say, the crime rate spikes, particularly juvenile crime. It seems like an odd correlation until the elders explain just how important the river is to their everyday lives. “It’s boring here when the river stops running,” says Michael Kennedy, chairman of the Wilcannia Local Aboriginal Land Council. “It becomes a lifeless place. We can’t find the tranquilities and therapies of the river.” The people of Wilcannia are Barkandji people. The Darling river is known in the local language as the Barka and the Barkandji are, literally, people of the river. The Darling has sustained them for thousands of years but now they say the river is in crisis.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/10/its-our-lifeblood-the-murray-darling-and-the-fight-for-indigenous-water-rights

Posted by admin on Apr 10 2018. Filed under News at Now. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry