‘A river is our life force’: why Indigenous cultural values must be visible in conservation

By Teagan Shields, Senior research fellow, Curtin University
Anna-Sheree Krige, Senior Research Communications, The University of Western Australia
Anne Poelina, Chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council & Professor and Chair Indigenous Knowledges & Senior Research Fellow, Nulungu Institute of Research, University of Notre Dame Australia
Stephen van Leeuwen, Indigenous Chair of Biodiversity & Environmental Science, Curtin University

In the Kimberley, Martuwarra – also called the Fitzroy River – is far more than a waterway.

It is one of Australia’s largest and most intact river systems. It flows about 730 kilometres from the central Kimberley to King Sound in the north of Western Australia.

Martuwarra supports plants, animals, wetlands, floodplains and communities across a catchment of about 94,000 square kilometres. For Traditional Custodians, Martuwarra is living water. It is Cultural identity connected by Country, kin, knowledge and…

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