Aboriginal People and Groundwater

Abstract

Aboriginal people have been part of the Australian landscape for 65,000 years or more, and in many areas, including the Great Artesian Basin, they have relied on groundwater for survival. Aboriginal people believe their story originated in the Dreamtime -the beginning, when Aboriginal cultural heroes created groundwater sites along with all other sacred sites. Their survival, particularly in a desert environment, has intrigued non-Aboriginal people for many years. While many studies have been conducted on how Aboriginal people survived at a local or regional level by accessing groundwater, no research has collated and reviewed the entire subject matter of 'Aboriginal People and Groundwater'. This paper, based on my 2005 Masters Thesis, endeavours to collate and review available research and provide an insight into the cultural relationships and dependence of Aboriginal people on groundwater. Since colonisation, the Australian continent, its landscape and the complex nature of Aboriginal society have changed. So too have human uses and reliance on groundwater, for it has become a favoured water supply for many communities and types of industry. In some cases, these uses have led to over-allocation and groundwater depletion or degradation. The future of groundwater use has to be managed sustainably, as Aboriginal people have done for thousands of years.

Water Futures in Australia: Materialities, Temporalities, Imaginaries

“…Coal and gas extraction uses prodigious amounts of groundwater (Shearman 2021). Damage to groundwater and springs, rivers and creeks as places in themselves or as vehicles for other beings, poses an existential threat to Country and ecologies, as Dixon and Morgan (this issue) write and sing about in relation to the threat of gas extraction and ‘fracking’ to Mudburra Country in the Northern Territory (see also Moggridge 2020). Also threatened are non‐Indigenous agricultural producers who compete for allocations of commodified water, and at times are vociferous challengers to development that can destroy the ecological connectivity of the regional water sources on which their livelihoods depend.…”

Hydrogeological Overview of Springs in the Great Artesian Basin

“…who have a strong connection with their land and the associated resources, especially spring watering points in desert areas (Badman, 2000;Hercus & Sutton, 1985;Moggridge, 2020;Silcock et al, 2020). Many GAB springs, essentially natural surface discharge points of the basin's aquifers, have developed associated groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and support populations of unique and threatened fauna and flora Fensham et al, 2010Fensham et al, , 2016Gotch, 2006Gotch, , 2013Noble et al, 1998;Ponder, 1986;Rossini et al, 2018).…”

“…Detailed descriptions of the geology, hydrogeology and aspects of the occurrence of artesian Springs are given in , Fensham et al (2016), Flook (2020, GABWRA (2012), Green et al (2013), Habermehl (1980, 1982, 2001a,b, 2020), National Water Commission (2013, Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) (2016) and Radke et al (2000). 2001aHabermehl and Lau, 1997; with permission from Geoscience Australia).…”