Madison Eastmond, Murray Pioneer
The Department for Environment and Water (DEW) have collaborated with First Peoples of the River Murray and Mallee Region (FPRMMR) to develop a field guide on the plants and cultural significance of Riverland floodplains.
A combination of cultural knowledge and ecological information on the plant species found in the upper South Australian River Murray floodplains, The Floodplain Plants and Cultural Uses Field Guide will be used as a tool to educate the Riverland community, and assist in the management and monitoring of sites.
“The project was established through the Indigenous Partnership Program, which supports collaborative work with First Nations groups,” DEW Environmental Water Team senior project officer Alison Stokes said.
“It helps them, help us, to understand and make decisions about the best places and priorities delivering environmental water.
“Part of this program is also undertaking Aboriginal Waterways Assessments, which is where First Nations people work with (DEW) ecologists on Country, providing cultural assessments and cultural value to the sites.
“Through this process, we realised there wasn’t an established field guide that held all this information or cultural knowledge on floodplain plants.”
Working closely together, site managers, DEW, and FPRMMR elders and rangers began to piece together the guide.
While initially created with the goal of enabling cultural values to be considered alongside the ecology, the guide has also become a resource to help teach younger generations about floodplain plants and how they are culturally significant, including how they were used by their Elders and how many of those practises are continuing today.
“Schools have access to these guides, as well as community groups, and individuals with (a passion for the local environment,” River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation community representative Aunty Sheryl Giles said.
“Anyone with an interest would get something from our guide.
“The possibilities for this guide to be used and learned from is endless.”
As a collaborative effort, Ms Stokes and Ms Giles said the process was a “great learning experience” for both DEW and FPRMMR.
“The sharing of information was really important,” Ms Giles said.
“It was an example of cross-culture knowledge and how (both) complement each other.
“Work (like the field guide) also cements our connection to country.”
Ms Stokes said the Indigenous Partnership Program “was a value process that is building an understanding of First Nation knowledge on (the local) environment”.
“(First Nation knowledge) is an important part of our program,” she said.
“We want to keep learning how to deliver environmental water in the best ways, and the more we understand about these important cultural specie and sites, the more we can do to protect them.”
The Floodplain Plants and Cultural Uses Field Guide is available at the Berri River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation Office.
This article appeared in Murray Pioneer, 12 February 2025.
