Traditional Owner cultural values and uses
Spanning a broad geographic area, several Wimmera-Mallee wetlands show indications of the longstanding cultural heritage and importance of these sites to the Traditional Owners of the region, including but not limited to those represented by the Barengi Gadjin Land Council and the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation. Some sites have artefacts and scar trees recorded in or adjacent to them, and further cultural surveys could better inform management of water for the environment at those sites.
The Barengi Gadjin Land Council is the Registered Aboriginal Party for a significant land area of the Wimmera-Mallee wetlands. The Barengi Gadjin Land Council represents the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagalk. The Barengi Gadjin Land Council has discussed the significance of the wetlands and their aspiration to undertake work at these sites in future, and it provided the following statement to Mallee CMA when discussing environmental watering:
The Wimmera-Mallee is living cultural landscape and there is a lack of recorded data regarding the cultural values over many sections of the Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline. Several highly significant places are outlined through our Country Plan, but like all places across our Country, the rivers, creeks, lakes, wetlands and swamps, and all other landscape features in this area are of high cultural significance. We wish to care for Country again through our traditional land management practices and revive and share the ancient narrative of this area. Mapping the cultural values of places along the Wimmera-Mallee pipeline will be essential in contributing to integrated catchment management.
We are unable to identify places of particular cultural values and uses confidently until Aboriginal Water Assessment/Cultural Heritage Surveys are systematically undertaken across Wimmera-Mallee pipeline sites. All of the swamps, wetlands and soaks of this area are of high cultural significance as they are linked to Traditional trading routes that extend in all directions. It is essential that all of these places are managed correctly and water quality and biodiversity are improved.
Social, recreational and economic values and uses
In planning the potential watering actions in Table 1, the Mallee, North Central and Wimmera CMAs considered how environmental flows could support values and uses including:
- water-based recreation (such as fishing, kayaking, swimming and yabbying)
- riverside recreation and amenity (such as birdwatching, duck and quail hunting, photography, picnicking and walking)
- community events and tourism (such as citizen science including the collection of data about bird species and abundance, frog species and microbat recordings).