Murrawarri Nation's Cultural Flows Planning Story

Visual - On a green background, text reads: "We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present."

(Soft music and bird sounds)

Visual - Aerial footage of May's Bend, trees on either side of the water, Fred Hooper walks along a dirt track towards the water.

Fred Hooper- My name is Fred Hooper. I'm the chairperson of the Murrawarri People's Council of the Murrawarri Nation. And we're at a place called May's Bend, which is just north of Bourke in Northwest New South Wales, on the eastern boundary, or the southeastern boundary of our Country.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera, text on screen reads Fred Hooper, Chairperson Murrawarri People's Council

We're on the Culliwatta, which is the Barwon-Darling River in English. The Murrawarri people call it the Culliwatta. Further down, it's called the Barka by the Barkindji.

Visual - Fred Hooper walks up to a large tree, the sun beams through smaller trees in the background, he reaches up and touches the tree

And this place is rather special because of the river red gums that are situated here and the stories that are connected to the river red gum and our old people, and the sky camp, and the cycle of our spirits through,

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera,

you know, throughout time. It's, yeah,

Visual - Fred Hooper walks towards the river, which is surrounded by more large trees

the rebirth and reborning of our people and our people's spirits as well.

Visual -A landscape of a pool of water, with trees in the background

Water is the most sacred thing. Water provides for us, it sustains us.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera,

Without water we won't live.

Visual - Fred Hooper stands in front of a large old tree, reaching out he places his palm against it, closing his eyes.

Without our connections to the sky camp, and the spirits, and our old people, and without water, there's no regeneration of the land, and no regeneration of our Country. And when Country's healthy, people are healthy, when Country is dying, people are dying, and that's evident.

Visual - Fred Hooper walks along another part of the river, which we see first from the ground, then the air. He walks to the bank, moving a piece of bark from the surface, before washing his hands and face with the river water.

If we are to stand up as First Nations, we've got to take responsibility for our own nations, our own nation planning, our own planning around water, the environment and all of that stuff. And that was the basis of a lot of this water fight in the Murray-Darling basin for us.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera, holding a printed booklet

So this document is our Country and our home plan. And within that we also developed a four page booklet so people could simply understand what we were about.

Visual - Fred Hooper stands, looking at another old tree

We had the five different areas, the governmental goals, the cultural goals, the spiritual goals, the social goals, the economic goals.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

It's a way forward within our nation.

Visual - Aerial footage of the river, we then see Fred walking along the bank before stopping to take a photo of the river

So it's not only that we did a plan for water, we did a plan for our nation, and we did a plan around our nation's governance as well, and how our nation would manage our Country into the future as well. And we felt that governance is one of the most important aspects of any plan because you can have the best plan in the world, but if you haven't got the governance in place, you're not going to get anything achieved.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

There was some challenges around involvement as well. We had limited funding, so we could only involve a certain amount of people in the planning process. We didn't have money there to get a big mob together. So the way that we did it, we looked at, you know, a core group of people that we worked with -

Visual - Aerial footage of another section of the river

-and we visited the five different sites within our nation as well. We went out into the field and we actually did the field work as well.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

But that was probably the biggest challenge, was including a lot of people in the development of the nation plan. But once we developed the nation plan and we've got it out to people and we present it to people, they understood that as well.

Visual - Aeiral footage of the river, the water level is high, and some trees are partially submerged

So, you know, there could be a process in the future where we can get people back together. The other part of nation planning also is working with your neighbours.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

Where there's boundaries, and in this part of the Country, the rivers are our boundaries. So behind me, over the other side is the Ngyiyambaa, Ngiyampaa Nation. This side is the Murrawarri Nation. And it's working on tributaries like this.

Visual - Aerial footage of another section of the river

It's working on rivers that we all rely on.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

We think that by working with the neighbours on our boundaries, we can do something together. So, you know, working with other nations while you're developing your nation plan, understanding what their requirements are as well. 'Cause we have to remember that traditionally we used to have a lot of interaction with our neighbours. Where we had places like Narran Lakes where we would all come together for big ceremonies and Brewarrina Fish Traps where we used to do that as well.

Visual - Aerial footage of another section of the river, large trees grow densely on either side

And I suppose that was one of the things that we kind of missed out on when we did our plan, was to have the opportunity to work with our neighbours in the development of our plan. Especially on the fringes of our Country, and work together with them to develop positive projects that we can, you know, undertake and achieve positive outcomes with.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

For us, it's about putting together something that we can, you know, provide in a system that requires you to put things on paper, or now put 'em on that computer, and then, you know, work with government to achieve those. And that'll, it's the, you know, the saying that you need to have objectives, outcomes, you need to have vision and you need to have all that type of stuff. And we need to put it down on paper. Unfortunately, you know, that's the way we have to do things today. And to get assistance to help those little, you know, endangered species and our totemic species, and our, you know, our landscape and our Country.

Visual - Aerial footage of another section of the river, large trees grow more sparsely on either side

The advice that I would give is don't try and do it yourself.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

Try and engage somebody that has expertise in that area, like we did with the Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations. We employed somebody to work with the nations.

Visual - Fred Hooper takes a photo of the river

So that was probably the one bit of advice I'd give people is don't try to do it yourself.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

There's a myriad of organisations out there. There's government departments, there's experts in the field.

Visual - Fred Hooper stands in between trees next to the river, he reaches out and places his hand on one

So look for the experts, look for the people that can give you the hydrology, because a lot of this stuff, if we're looking at stages one, two, and three of the cultural flows plan,

Visual - Aerial footage of another section of the river, large trees grow partially submerged in the water

you have to have to look at what your watering requirements are, what are the legislative processes within the state that you live in. And look at what they're doing around water as well.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river reading the printed plan

It's good to have a physical plan that you can show people when you go to places and you want to achieve something as well.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

So yeah, it needs to be a very living document. It needs to have somebody to drive it as well. So no use writing it and then saying, oh, you know, don't pass the buck to anybody. There has to be somebody there driving it as well. So yeah, involve as many old people as you can, even though they might not understand, involve many young people as you can because the old people are the people with the wisdom and the knowledge, the younger people are the ones that can translate that wisdom and knowledge and put it into a document like this, right? With assistance. So that's probably the best advice I can give in developing your nation plan as well. And make sure that you know what you want to do before you put that application in as well.

Visual - Fred Hooper walks to a tree next to the river

Abraham Lincoln said that, "The best way to predict our future is to create it." And that's what this is about. It's about creating our future. It's not about people creating our future for us.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

So I urge people within the nations and I urge nations, and the nation leaders, to look at applying for funds to develop these nation plans so that we can have -

Visual - Aerial footage of another section of the river, large trees grow partially submerged in the water. A dirt road is cut off by flooded water

-a consolidated approach across the Murray-Darling basin from a First Nations perspective based on the evidence and based on a planning system that we've developed ourselves.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

And I remind people that they need to go back to the Echuca Declaration to understand what cultural flows are.

Visual - Aerial footage of another section of the river

'Cause it's water owned by us, managed by us, and used for the purposes that we see fit.

Visual - Fred Hooper sits in front of the river talking to an interviewer off camera

We can have all the aspirations in the world, we can have all the visions and the, you know, the goals, and the opportunities and that, but without your governance in place, you're not going to achieve it. And I feel that that's what's happening in the Northern Basin with our nation planning is that there are a lot of the nations here that don't have that proper governance in place. We get the plan written, like always, and the plan sits in a drawer. And it's, I suppose, it doesn't see the light of day in some places and it just, they don't move forward as well.

Visual - Aerial footage of another section of the river with buildings on one side

So I think if we can then look at moving that forward and the government support to move forward, or philanthropic support to move forward as well.

Visual - Aerial footage of another section of the river

It's a good opportunity for us to really do some good and, you know, make some changes within this part of the Country.