Aboriginal access to water in Australia: opportunities and constraints

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511974304.031

28 - Aboriginal access to water in Australia: opportunities and constraints

from III. 6 - Rural and remote communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011

Sue Jackson

Edited by

R. Quentin Grafton and

Karen Hussey

Show author details

Sue Jackson: Affiliation:
Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre
R. Quentin Grafton: Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
Karen Hussey: Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Introduction

Water is vested with great cultural and symbolic significance as well as economic importance in Aboriginal societies. Aboriginal Australians hold distinct cultural perspectives on water relating to identity and religious attachment to place, environmental knowledge, and the exercise of custodial responsibilities to manage inter-related parts of customary estates. In Aboriginal belief systems, water is a sacred and elemental source and symbol of life, and aquatic resources constitute a vital part of the customary economy. The pursuit of livelihoods derived from water-based enterprises on Aboriginal lands, such as pastoralism, horticulture, and sport fishing, expand the range of interests Aboriginal people have in water to include a commercial element.

Over 200 years ago upon the British occupation of Australia, Aboriginal people were deprived of much of their lands and most were restricted to reserves set aside for their use. Non-Aboriginal occupation, settlement, and development has changed the quality, quantity and flow patterns of rivers in all but a small number of Australia's remote drainage basins. Substantial costs have been incurred by Aboriginal people during the development of Australia's water resources and negligible compensation awarded to those affected.

Following recognition provided by the Australian High Court's Mabo decision and the Native Title Act 1993, Aboriginal legal rights to inland waters exist in Australia and there are now in excess of 600 native title claims Australia-wide (McFarlane, 2004).

Type: Chapter
Information: Water Resources Planning and Management , pp. 601 - 628

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511974304.031 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Altman, J. (2004). Aboriginal interests and water property rights. Dialogue, 23, 29–43.Google Scholar

Altman, J. and Arthur, B. (2009). Commercial Water and Aboriginal Australians: A Scoping Study of Licence Allocations. CAEPR Discussion Paper, 58/2009. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.Google Scholar

Altman, J. and Branchut, V. (2008). Freshwater in the Maningrida Region's Hybrid Economy: Intercultural Contestation Over Values and Property Rights. CAEPR Working Paper, 46/2008. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.Google Scholar

Altman, J., Biddle, N. and Hunter, B. (2008). How Realistic are the Prospects for ‘Closing the Gaps’ in Socioeconomic Outcomes for Aboriginal Australians? CAEPR Discussion Paper, 287/2008. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.

,Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006) Census of Population and Housing, Northern Territory (State), Cat. No. 2068.0: 2006 Census Tables.

Bartlett, R. (1988). Aboriginal Water Rights in Canada: A Study of Aboriginal Title to Water and Indian Water Rights. Calgary, Alberta: The Canadian Institute of Resources Law, University of Calgary.Google Scholar

Bartlett, R. (1997). Native title to water. In Water Law in Western Australia: Comparative Studies and Options for Reform, eds. Bartlett, R., Gardner, A. and Mascher, S.. Perth: Centre of Commercial and Resources Law, University of Western Australia, pp. 125–60.Google Scholar

Behrendt, J. and Thompson, P. (2004). The recognition and protection of Aboriginal interests in New South Wales rivers. Journal of Aboriginal Policy, 3, 37–140.Google Scholar

Bond, M. and Comino, M. (1999). Environmental justice and the water market in Australia. In Environmental Justice and Market Mechanisms: Key Challenges for Environmental Law and Policy, eds. Richardson, B. J. and Bosselmann, K.. London : Kluwer Law, pp. 232–48.Google Scholar

Burton, L. and Cocklin, C. (1996). Water resource management and environmental policy reform in New Zealand: regionalism, allocation, and Aboriginal relations. Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy, 7, 75–106.Google Scholar

Clark, S. (1990). Tensions between water legislation and customary rights. Natural Resources Journal, 30, 503–20.Google Scholar

Clark, S. and Renard, I. (1972). The Framework of Australian Water Legislation and Private Rights. Research Project 69/16: The Law of Allocation of Water for Private Use. Melbourne: Australian Water Resources Council.Google Scholar

Connell, D. (2007). Water Politics in the Murray–Darling Basin. Sydney: The Federation Press.Google Scholar

Connell, D., Dovers, S. and Grafton, R. (2005). A critical analysis of the National Water Initiative. Australasian Journal of Natural Resources Law and Policy, 10, 81–107.Google Scholar

Crase, L. (2008). An Introduction to Australian Water Policy. In Water Policy in Australia: The Impact of Change and Uncertainty, ed. Crase, L.. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, pp. 1–16.Google Scholar

Crase, L. and Dollery, B. (2008). The institutional setting. In Water Policy in Australia: The Impact of Change and Uncertainty, ed. Crase, L.. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, pp. 74–89.Google Scholar

,CSIRO (2008). Water Availability in the Murray–Darling Basin: A Report from CSIRO to the Australian Government, Canberra: CSIRO. www.csiro.au.Google Scholar

Durette, M. (2008). Aboriginal Legal Rights to Freshwater: Australia in the International Context. CAEPR Working Paper, 42. Canberra: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University.Google Scholar

Fisher, D. (2006). Markets, water-rights and sustainable development. Environmental Planning and Law Journal, 23, 100–12.Google Scholar

Golder, B. (2004). Law, history, colonialism: an orientalist reading of Australian native title law. Deakin Law Review, 9 (1), 41–60.Google Scholar

Goodall, H. (1982). A history of Aboriginal communities in New South Wales: 1909–1939. Unpublished Ph.D,. thesis, University of Sydney.

Heaney, A., Dwyer, G., Beare, S., Peterson, D. and Pechey, L. (2006). Third-party effects of water trading and potential policy responses. The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 50 (3), 277–93.CrossRef Google Scholar

Horton, D. (ed.) (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History, Society and Culture. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.Google Scholar

Howitt, R. (2001). Rethinking Resource Management: Justice, Sustainability and Aboriginal Peoples. London: Routledge.CrossRef Google Scholar

Hughes, L. and Pitty, R. (1994). Australian colonialism after Mabo. Current Affairs Bulletin, 71, 13–22.Google Scholar

Humphries, P. (2007). Historical Aboriginal use of aquatic resources in Australia's Murray–Darling basin, and its implications for river management. Ecological Management & Restoration, 8 (2), 106–13.CrossRef Google Scholar

,Independent Audit Group (1996). Setting the Cap: Report of the Independent Audit Group. Canberra: Murray–Darling Basin Council.Google Scholar

Jackson, S. (2005). Aboriginal values and water resource management: a case study from the Northern Territory. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 12, 136–46.CrossRef Google Scholar

Jackson, S. (2006). Compartmentalising culture: the articulation and consideration of Aboriginal values in water resource management. Australian Geographer, 37 (1), 19–31.CrossRef Google Scholar

Jackson, S. (2008). Recognition of Aboriginal interests in Australian water resource management, with particular reference to environmental flow assessment. Geography Compass, 2 (3), 874–98.CrossRef Google Scholar

Jackson, S. (2009). National Aboriginal water planning forum: background paper on Aboriginal participation in water planning and access to water. Unpublished report prepared for the National Water Commission. Darwin: CSIRO.

Jackson, S. and Altman, J. (2009). Aboriginal rights and water policy: perspectives from tropical north Australia. Australian Aboriginal Law Review, 13(1), 27–48.Google Scholar

Jackson, S. and Morrison, J. (2007). Aboriginal perspectives on water management, reforms and implementation. In Managing Water for Australia: The Social and Institutional Challenges, eds. Hussey, K. and Dovers, S.. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, pp. 23–41.Google Scholar

Jackson, S., Tan, P. and Altman, J. (2009). Aboriginal Fresh Water Planning Forum: Proceedings, Outcomes and Recommendations. Unpublished report to the National Water Commission, Canberra.Google Scholar

Lane, M. (1997). Aboriginal participation in environmental planning. Australian Geographical Studies, 35, 308–23.CrossRef Google Scholar

Lane, M. and Corbett, T. (2005). The tyranny of localism: Aboriginal participation in community-based environmental management. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 7, 141–59.CrossRef Google Scholar

Langton, M. (2002). Freshwater. In Background Briefing Papers: Aboriginal Rights to Waters. Broome, Western Australia: Lingiari Foundation, pp. 43–64.Google Scholar

Langton, M. and Palmer, L. (2003). Modern agreement making and Aboriginal people in Australia: issues and trends. Australian Aboriginal Law Reporter, 8, 1–31.Google Scholar

Letcher, R. and Powell, S. (2008). The hydrological setting. In Water Policy in Australia: The Impact of Change and Uncertainty, ed. Crase, L.. Washington D.C.: Resources for the Future, pp. 17–27.Google Scholar

Lloyd, C. J. (1988). Either Drought or Plenty: Water Development and Management in New South Wales. Sydney: New South Wales Department of Water Resources.Google Scholar

McAvoy, T. (2002). Aboriginal rights and interests in water. In Water Law and Policy, 4th Australasian Natural Resources Law and Policy Conference. Armidale, NSW: Country Conferences Pty Ltd.Google Scholar

McAvoy, T. (2006). Water: fluid perceptions. Transforming Cultures E-Journal, 1(2), 97–103.Google Scholar

McFarlane, B. (2004). The National Water Initiative and acknowledging Aboriginal interests in planning. Paper presented to the National Water Conference, Sydney, 29 November 2004.

McKay, J. (2002). Onshore water project: briefing paper. In Background Briefing Papers: Aboriginal Rights to Waters. Broome, W.A.: Lingiari Foundation, pp. 65–70.Google Scholar

McKay, J. (2008). The legal frameworks of Australian water: progression from common law rights to sustainable shares. In Water Policy in Australia: The Impact of Change and Uncertainty, ed. Crase, L.. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, pp. 44–60.Google Scholar

Meehan, B. (1982). Shell Bed to Shell Midden. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar

Morgan, M. (2002). The Yorta Yorta experience. Paper Presented to The Native Title Conference 2002: Outcomes and Possibilities, Geraldton, Western Australia.

Morgan, M., Strelein, L. and Weir, J. (2004). Indigenous Rights to Water in the Murray Darling Basin. AIATSIS Discussion Paper, 14. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Islander Studies.Google Scholar

Musgrave, W. (2008). Historical development of water resources in Australia: irrigation policy in the Murray–Darling Basin. In Water Policy in Australia: The Impact of Change and Uncertainty, ed. Crase, L.. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future, pp. 29–43.Google Scholar

Myers, G. (1995). Implementing native title in Australia: the implications for living resource management. University of Tasmania Law Review, 14, 1–28.Google Scholar

,National Native Title Tribunal (2009). National Perspective http://www.nntt.gov.au/Native-Title-In-Australia/Pages/National-Perspective.aspx, accessed 29April 2009.

,National Water Commission (2008). Update of Progress in Water Reform: Input into the Water Sub Group Stocktake Report. Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar

Neate, G. (2002). Native title ten years on: getting on with the job or sitting on the fence. Paper delivered to Native Title Update Forum, National Farmer's Federation, Carnarvon, Western Australia, 21 May 2002.

Neate, G. (2004). The ‘tidal wave of justice’ and the ‘tide of history’: ebbs and flows in Aboriginal land rights in Australia. Paper delivered at the 5th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, Rome.

,New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council (NSW ALC) (2002). Annual Report 2001–2002. Sydney.Google Scholar

,New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council (NSW ALC) (2008). Annual Report 2007–2008. Sydney.Google Scholar

,New South Wales Department of Natural Resources (2006). Water Management Plans: Information for Aboriginal Water Users. http://www.dlwc.nsw.gov.au/water/info_aboriginal_water.shtm, accessed 20 July 2009.

,North Australian Aboriginal Land and Sea Management Alliance (2006). Living on Saltwater Country: Review of Literature about Aboriginal Rights, Use, Management and Interests in Northern Australia Marine Environments. Hobart: National Oceans Office.Google Scholar

O'Donnell, M. (2002). Briefing paper for the water rights project by the Lingiari Foundation and ATSIC. In Background Briefing Papers: Aboriginal Rights to Waters, Broome, W.A.: Lingiari Foundation, pp. 95–105.Google Scholar

Powell, J. M. (1997). Enterprise and dependency: water management in Australia. In Ecology and Empire: Environmental History of Settler Societies, eds. Griffiths, T. and Robin, L.. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, pp. 102–21.Google Scholar

Rangan, H. and Lane, M. (2001). Aboriginal peoples and forest management: comparative analysis of institutional approaches in Australia and India. Society and Natural Resources, 14, 145–60.Google Scholar

Reynolds, H. (1976). The other side of the frontier: early Aboriginal reactions to pastoral settlement in Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Historical Studies, 16 (66), 50–63.CrossRef Google Scholar

Reynolds, H. (1987). Frontier: Aborigines, Settlers and Land. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar

Solutions, Rural (2008). Aboriginal Access to Water Across Australia. Adelaide: Government of South Australia, Land and Biodiversity Conservation.Google Scholar

Sheehan, J. and Small, G. (2007). Aqua nullius. Paper presented to the 13th Pacific-Rim Real Estate Society Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia.

Smith, D. (1998). Water in Australia: Resources and Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Strang, V. (2004). Raising the dead: reflections on native title process. In Crossing Boundaries: Cultural, Legal, Historical and Practice Issues in Native Title, ed. Toussaint, S.. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, pp. 9–23.Google Scholar

Strelein, L. (2004). Symbolism and function: from native title to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-government. In Honour Among Nations? Treaties and Agreements with Aboriginal People, eds. Langton, M., Tehan, M., Palmer, L. and Shain, K.. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, pp. 189–202.Google Scholar

Sutton, P. (2003). Native Title in Australia: An Ethnographic Perspective. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRef Google Scholar

Tan, P. (1997). Native title and freshwater resources. In Commercial Implications of Native Title, eds. Horrigan, B. and Young, S.. Sydney: Federation Press, pp. 157–90.Google Scholar

Tan, P. (2009). National Aboriginal Water Planning Forum: A Review of the Legal Basis for Aboriginal Access to Water. Unpublished report prepared for the National Water Commission.

Tan, P. L. (2002). Legal issues relating to water use. In Property: Rights and Responsibilities Current Australian Thinking, eds. Mobbs, C. and Moore, K.. Canberra: Land and Water Australia, pp. 13–42.Google Scholar

Tan, P. L. (2003). Water law reform in NSW: 1995–1999. Environmental Planning and Law Journal, 20 (1), 1–29.Google Scholar

Toussaint, S., Sullivan, P., Yu, S. and Mulardy, M. (2005). Water ways in Aboriginal Australia: an interconnected analysis. Anthropological Forum, 15, 61–74.CrossRef Google Scholar

Venn, T. and Quiggan, J. (2007). Accommodating Aboriginal cultural heritage values in resource assessment: Cape York Peninsula and the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Ecological Economics, 61, 334–44.CrossRef Google Scholar

Weiner, J. (2006). Eliciting customary law. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 7 (1), 15–25.CrossRef Google Scholar

Weir, J. (2007). Murray River country: an ecological dialogue with traditional owners. Unpublished PhD thesis, Australian National University.