Comments by indigenous owners
South East Queensland and its waterways have nourished humans for thousands of years, providing fresh water, food and shelter.
My name is Auntie Mulanjarlie. I am Mulanjarlie woman from the Yugembeh group of peoples. I take my name from my ancestral homeland estate. I am that estate – the land and the animals and the rocks and the water and the air – all of it is me.
My grandfather made it clear to me that the water of our river – the Logan River – is our source of power and sustenance. As children, we went to the river after floods and cleaned the water of branches and other objects so it would remain a safe and clean source of food and life.
For us, [looking after our waterways] is just like cleaning our shop – the place we went for food – and our church. Asking me to be involved in the Healthy Waterways Partnership is simply asking me to do what I have always done and always will do – to look after my country.
This is why I ask for effective involvement of our young people in Healthy Waterways. How many Indigenous positions are there in the catchment groups, Waterwatch, Landcare and so on? Are there resources for me to go around my people and perform my duties to ensure they are active in the joint effort we must make to clean the water? It has long been recognised that the health of our living culture and each of us as Aboriginal people, depends on our ability to look after our country – especially our water country. As Uncle Bob Anderson said ‘Healthy water means healthy people’.
Aboriginal Traditional Owner involvement in waterways means the continuance of our living culture and all it has to offer and teach. Processes that exclude us from our country kill us. I am pleased to support the program to keep our water living – our water is me.
We have survived – perhaps a little in need of reclamation like the river – but we are still here. Recognising our rivers and making sure we have an active role in ensuring its continual health is, as it always has been since the beginning of time – the continuance of our living culture.
– Auntie Mulanjarlie, Traditional Owner and elder of Mulanjarlie
Taken from "Discover the Waterways", 2001.