Durumbura Dhurabung (Lane Cove River) Alliance
The alliance is centred in Dharug values, and involves traditional custodial rights, obligations and practices to care for Ngurra (Country), particularly by recognising the significance of the river as a Living Being.
We live within the context of global climate crises.
Global climate change poses a threat to all humans and other-than-humans. Given around 85 per cent of the Australian population lives along the coastlines in urban areas, and more than 5 million humans live on Dharug Ngurra/Country (majority of Sydney, Australia), then caring for Country needs to be from the mountains to the Sea.
About the project
The Durumbura Dhurabung Alliance is the outcome of bringing together the communities, human and more-than-human, who live within, across, and are neighbors of the river. At the heart of this alliance is dedication to supporting the wellbeing for these communities for sustainable futures.
The alliance involves:
- six local Councils
- bush care groups
- National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS)
- local Fire and Rescue services
- Macquarie University
- global-reaching corporations at the Macquarie Business and Innovation Parks.
Indigenous cultural continuity is the very definition of sustainable practice – 65,000+ years on this continent makes it the longest continuous culture on the planet. We must consider: what are the consequences if we continue the unsustainable practices of the last 236 years of colonisation? These unsustainable practices involve a disconnected strategy; landscape and waters have only been seen as something to be used for the benefit of human beings, rather than for sustainable belonging, nurturing and caring as a biocultural sphere.
Such caring therefore requires significant systemic change for sustainable futures. That involves the practice of local activation – a return to localised caring for our biocultural sphere – which is how Aboriginal peoples have cared for Ngurra for thousands of years. Ancestors looked after the Country to which they belonged – nothing global, nothing regional, simply looking after the area that sustained them.
Right across the continent, local communities looked after local areas: the lands, the waters, and all the other-than-humans within their particular part of Ngurra. Country involves mutual reciprocity, and by doing so, creates a more-than-human biocultural relationality.
Project goals
The Durumbura Dhurabung Alliance aims to achieve and have recognised the Durumbura Dhurabang as a Living Being – a biocultural ecosystem involving other humans and other-than-humans centred in the river and its neighbourhood for sustainable, mutually-beneficial futures.
The project has three core aims:
We aim to return Dharug presence, practices and values to the process of caring for the Durumbura Durabung. This includes:
- recognising the river and catchment area as a Living Being
- reconnecting and educating Dharug people with and about the river, concerning the past and what happened to our people
- restoring cultural fire within the catchment areas as a biocultural caring practice
- conducting cultural mapping of the river and catchment
- educating others about Dharug history and colonisation
- highlighting the importance of caring for Ngurra/Country and preserving our waterways
- providing a safe place for those who may be disconnected and needing to reconnect with nature to heal
- allowing collaboration between groups who wish to help promote the Dharug people and culture.
Through the river and catchment system, we aim to activate ongoing education programs and research opportunities for the benefit of the river and its neighbourhood. This involves:
- the Australian Harmony Centre and Macquarie University researchers, educators, and students undertaking collaborative projects that are beneficial to the river and the stakeholders in the Durumbura Dhurabung Alliance
- the Australian Harmony Centre, in collaboration with the Waranara Library, developing the ‘Durumbura Dhurabung Knowledges and Research Collection’ to be contributed to, and accessed by, river stakeholders including Dharug community. The aim of this is to build a collection of knowledges showing and establishing:
- past research projects along with land and water caring initiatives
- present research and current land and water caring initiatives
- future research projects as well as land and water caring initiatives across the stakeholder group.
We aim to establish collaborative projects and events with other Sydney water carer associations and catchment groups for the purpose of broader community educational and mutually beneficial outcomes for Greater Sydney waterways.
For example, we will establish the annual Macquarie University Caring for Country Day on Wallumatta campus of Macquarie University, for the purpose of relationship building across broader segments of the community. This involves:
- inviting all disciplines, staff, students, alumni, Dharug community, and Durumbura Dhurabung stakeholders and other external community groups (eg community environmental groups, schools, TAFE)
- enable all disciplines to develop an answer to the question: “How does this field of knowledge foster a caring for Country attitude?”
- encourage all disciplines to promote their field of knowledge through the frame of Caring for Country.
Image credit: All images have been provided by Parryville Media.