Tati Tati 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 Margooya Lagoon, first top down of trees and water, then moving slowly forwards over the Lagoon with trees on either side and in the distance.

Melissa Kennedy - Cultural flows as a concept, but also as something that can be implemented is going to be really important for the future of the basin -

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera, text on screen reads Melissa Kennedy, Director - Tati Tati Kaiejin

- and also for the future of, you know, First Nations self-determination and water justice. So where cultural flows really differs -

Visual - the water of the lagoon ripples, a bare branch reaches over the water.

-from the way that we see water management in Australia and in the basin is that it holds more value than just environmental water. So currently environmental water can't be used for any economic purposes, for example.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

Where cultural flows is different is that it can both be used for the health of Country and for the health of people, but also in a way that can support cultural economies, and cultural economies, for Tati Tati at least, is about maintaining -

Visual - Melissa Kennedy, Thomas Kennedy and Janaya Kirby stand at the bank of the Lagoon, looking out over the water

-our connection to place, but also maintaining our practices and providing for our people.

Thomas Kennedy - We don't want to just flood a certain area and just let it -

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera, text on screen reads: "Thomas Kennedy, Landcare Manager - Tati Tati Kaiejin

-stagnate and not flow out. We want it to go through, give nature what it needs,

Visual - A flock of pelicans float on the water, before taking flight down the Lagoon

into the lagoon, out again, onto the, further downstream, the next mob, or the farmers downstream. The healthier each Nation's rivers are in the long run, everyone benefits.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

Melissa - So our cultural flows journey was kind of done over a number of years with a few processes before we got to cultural flows. So in 2018, we did a number of cultural biodiversity assessments.

Visual - Overhead shots of the river at dusk, trees line the bank on either side with some small buildings

That was really important for us in understanding what was going on on Country and specifically to the biodiversity side of it as well, so we could understand the health of the place. We knew that Country was struggling in certain areas,

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

but doing those assessments helped us to understand where and why.

Visual - Melissa and Thomas walk along a steep slope beside a stagnant pool of water

The next step after that was Aboriginal waterways assessments. This is with MLDRIN, and again,

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

was a really important part of cultural flows because that assessment,

Visual - Melissa and Thomas stand on a steep slope beside a stagnant pool of water

again, it helps to understand Country, but it's from a much more personal perspective and it's about traditional owner, knowledge of place.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

So then in 2019 with MLDRIN again, we were able to start our cultural flows with this kind of background knowledge of the last two years, doing those assessments in place. I think if we had have tried to start cultural flows without any of that,

Visual - Melissa Kennedy crouches in front of the pool of water, running it through her hands

it would've been a much longer journey. So throughout 2019, 2020,

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

we did a whole number of workshops. We got community on Country. We really wanted to make sure that this process was self-determined.

Visual - Janaya Kirby and Thomas Kennedy walk on a dirt track through trees, they stop to talk to each other and look at the trees together

We made sure that it was being led by our elders and our community.

Janaya Kirby - I'm one of the many participants for the cultural flow workshops. I've been doing it for a few years now.

Visual - Janaya Kirby sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

It's a great opportunity for all of our people to come and be a part of this program. It's given me the opportunity to come back to Country 'cause I live on Wiradjuri Country, but it gives me the opportunity to come back to my grandparents' Country and reconnect with my land, and my people,

Visual - Janaya Kirby walks towards the Lagoon, surrounded by trees, before stopping to look out over the water

and bringing my child back here, introducing her to Country and welcome her to her grandparents, her grandmother's Country. It's showing her who she is and where she belongs. I think that's a very good, important thing.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

Melissa Kennedy - There was a seven year research project that actually developed the cultural flows methodology and so it was really useful for us to have that in place already.

And the thing with that methodology, though, is that it was very high level, technical kind of, it was really, you know, it looked good on paper, but then to actually get out on Country and say to people, "Let's develop this," it's like, well what actually is it? What does that mean? What does cultural flows mean? What does a management approach for cultural flows mean?

And so we were kind of just learning by doing. We were just spending time with people, with Tati Tati people on Country, asking questions about priorities, past conditions, current conditions, you know, what happens throughout the season. So what are we seeing changing?

Visual - Melissa Kennedy and Thomas Kennedy walk through fallen leaves, they kneel and run the leaves through their hands.

Part of the process was doing a test flow event that wasn't cultural flows. I think we learned really quickly that the difference between when something is a cultural flow and when it's just a water delivery event, basically because we weren't the ones determining where and when -

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

-and how much water for that site, it was chosen for us. But we learned a lot from that process and it was really important that we got to do a number of different elements throughout our cultural flows journey, which helped us to get to the end product in 2021, when we published our cultural flows management plan.

Visual - A four wheel drive drives along a dirt track alongside the lagoon, Melissa and Thomas park, exit the car and walk to the edge of the Lagoon to look out over the water.

Throughout that journey as well, we realised that, for us, our plan was going to be about Margooya Lagoon. Doing a site specific plan made a lot more sense for us than doing all of Country because landscapes are so diverse. We wanted to be really specific as much as we could to try and understand some of these concepts.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

My advice to anyone, any nations that want to put together a cultural flows management plan and are looking at the Cultural Water for Cultural Economies program,

Visual - Thomas Kennedy starts a campfire, which he, Melissa and Janaya sit around and talk

is to make sure that you're really thinking in the long term. Don't think small, think big, and think big when it comes to the people involved. You know, the who and your why is really important. That's where you need to start the process. Who are the people who are involved in this program? Who is this going to benefit?

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

Who are we and who are we doing this for? And that could be the river, as a person,

Visual - from above we see trees growing out of the water in the river

it could be the trees that are living, it could be the animals that need the water. And your why.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy walks towards a large tree next to the Lagoon, she walks around it, placing her hand on the tree as she passes

Why do you want to do cultural flows for this place? Why does cultural water matter? Why do you want to be embarking on this journey? And I think if you can have those conversations with community and have those conversations with your organisations,

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

that's going to give you a better understanding of how you're going to go about this process.

Visual - Thomas Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

Thomas Kennedy - It may take time, not may, it will take time.

Visual - Thomas Kennedy washes his hands in the water of the lagoon

But learn off other nations. You know, we're not the only ones doing this. There's other nations doing similar things. Learn, compare stories, all the rest of that.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

Melissa Kennedy- The other bit of advice that I would have is to get as much data as you can. And that doesn't mean data from a Western scientific lens. I mean, think about how you understand place and how you can start recording that down and how you want to be capturing that data. Because the more information you have, the better that you can start understanding how your cultural flows management plan comes together. So think about if you want to be doing surveys, if you want to just be getting people on Country, taking photos, you know, those sorts of things really matter, and having a really good process in place to capture all of that data is going to help you in the long run.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon on a tree log, looking out over the water

So our cultural flows management plan isn't a one-off document that we published.

Visual - Aerial footage of the Lagoon

It's definitely a living document, it's a living concept,

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

and it's something that we will continue to learn about but also continue to adapt depending on what we have access to.

Visual - Aerial footage of the lagoon

So if I could do it again, I would have more staff, I would have a longer timeline, and more opportunity to spend time on Country. I think you can never be on Country too much -

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

- and get community out on Country too much. But the main sort of expenses for us were around paying for staff to do the actual work and collating data, doing our, all of the fun stuff of collecting all our surveys, and all of our workshops. So holding workshops costs money and that's fine, but making sure that you're putting into your budget enough money there to -

Visual - Melissa Kennedy, Thomas Kennedy and Janaya Kirby walk towards the lagoon

-support community to be involved will be a critical element.

Visual - Thomas Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

Thomas Kennedy - We're only at the start of this process, of this journey, but I suppose that's why we're here doing this, to share our story because we were making this up as we went, and we sort of, to a degree, we sort of are still.

Visual - Thomas Kennedy stands in front of the Lagoon looking over the water

So it's important to share your successes but you got to share your failures too. I suppose the biggest change for us is in ourselves.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy, Thomas Kennedy and Janaya Kirby walk towards the lagoon

We have learned a lot, we walk a lot taller. We are more sure of the system, more sure of ourselves, and we're a lot more assertive with our message.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

Melissa Kennedy - So the next steps I think for us and what I'm hoping for the future for Tati Tati and for Margooya Lagoon, we're definitely looking at these short term opportunities to get water, to get access to water through Victorian government commitments, but also through the Basin Wide Aboriginal Water Entitlements program and -

Visual - Aerial footage of the Lagoon

with access to those water entitlements, we are hoping to use Margooya Lagoon as, again, this test site to implement our cultural flows management plan.

Visual - Melissa Kennedy sits in front of the Lagoon talking to an interviewer off camera

And so the next step is implementation and understanding better how this system is working and then be able to apply those learnings to create cultural flows management-

Visual - Aerial footage of the Lagoon

- plans for other sites on Tati Tati Country as well. So there's definitely a staged process, but I see it all happening in the short to medium term, which is really exciting.