PROJECTS

River Murray Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (RMMAC) community members are undertaking cultural heritage monitoring at two significant infrastructure projects in the Riverland.Trained cultural heritage officers have been involved with the Riverine Recovery Project (RRP) and the South Australian Riverland Floodplains Integrated Infrastructure Program (SARFIIP).

RMMAC heritage officers are working side by side with construction workers to manage and protect cultural heritage. Monitors provide direct advice to contractors to avoid impacts on cultural heritage drawing on the knowledge of community members to protect heritage. “The Project has been really significant for our community” said RMMAC Chairperson Sheryl Johnson. “Being involved in the projects has allowed Aboriginal community members in the Riverland region to gain valuable training and work experience, while looking out for our country and culture” she said.The projects involve construction of environmental regulators, blocking banks and other infrastructure to manage water flows and restore the health of the floodplains of the River Murray within South Australia.

The SARFIIP aims to improve the watering and management of key River Murray floodplains in South Australia’s Riverland. Specifically, more efficient watering of the Pike and Katarapko floodplains will help protect and restore key environmental and cultural assets.Private construction corporation Fulton Hogan is contracted to undertake much of the infrastructure work for these projects. The projects are funded by the Commonwealth Government and managed by the Department for Environment and Water in partnership with SA Water.

SA Native Title Services has been supporting RMMAC’s involvement in the project in several ways including through providing human resources, employment and payroll services.

About the South Olary Plain

The South Olary Plain is a vast landscape stretching from the South Australian Riverland north and across into New South Wales, bordering the Murray River to the south. While little more than 20% of the total South Olary Plain, the South Australian section includes a complex of conservation reserves totaling more than 721,000 hectares of land featuring mallee woodlands, semi-arid non-eucalypt woodlands, ephemeral wetlands, acacia shrublands and chenopod shrublands.

The area is ecologically rich with a diverse and unique collection native flora and fauna, including many endangered and threatened species and ecological communities. The red-lored whistler, black-eared miner, regent parrot, striated grasswren and the malleefowl characterise the local fauna along with the southern ningaui and the knob-tailed gecko.

Conservation reserves in the area are managed by several organisations, each with an interest in conserving the ecological value of the region. The area also holds important cultural value for First Nation’s communities.

The Impact of Grazing

All of these properties are former pastoral stations which bear the ecological impacts of livestock grazing, with varying levels of damage reflective of the intensity and duration of historical grazing practices. While some zones were retired from grazing half a century ago, the ecological function has not recovered sufficiently to sustain the natural character of the South Olary Plain and the area exhibits a number of persistent ecological problems:

• Overgrazing of native vegetation by kangaroos, goats and rabbits.
• A weakened ability to recover from bush fires
• Continued decline of threatened species including ecosystem engineers
• Poor emergence of many plant species including critical habitat forming species.

The construction of dams and drains has also drastically altered the way water moves across the landscape and its availability to plants and animals. The drains intercept run-off from rainfall events, funneling it into dams which retain it as standing water far longer than is natural in this landscape. By exploiting this water, native and introduced herbivores exert far greater grazing pressure than the surrounding vegetation can sustain. Meanwhile trampling of soils and simplification of the vegetation structures by the herbivores further accelerates water run-off, robbing plant root zones of water they need to grow and regenerate naturally. Despite standing water being present for longer, most of its volume is lost to the ecosystem through evaporation. Plants are less productive and support less invertebrate life for insectivorous fauna and these low-lying areas no longer function as refuges in a dry landscape.

Restoring the Ecology of the South Olary Plain

With the aim of giving this landscape the best chance to prosper, property managers, conservation groups, First Nations people and the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board came together to lead a comprehensive project to address some of the key issues.

• Reducing grazing pressures through animal control and the removal of redundant pastoral dams
• Revegetation projects including seed production, collection and propagation
• Strategic restoration activities undertaken in high priority areas
• Development of knowledge about the interaction between fire, flora and fauna
• Research to understand the feasibility of reintroducing missing fauna.

Restoring Functionality to the South Olary Plain is funded through the Landscape Priorities Fund with an emphasis on ensuring that investment stay within the region as a means of economic stimulus. Actions within the project are undertaken by the various project proponents using a collaborative and coordinated approach to ensure the best possible outcomes for the region.

The Chowilla Floodplain is the traditional homeland of the First Peoples of the River Murray and Mallee and contains the culturally and environmentally significant Coombool Swamp, which sits high in the floodplain and requires high natural flows to fill.

Prior to river regulation, Chowilla Floodplain and Coombool Swamp would fill every 2 to 3 years but now these natural flows are occurring far less frequently. While water has previously been pumped into these wetlands as required to maintain their health, predicted drier and hotter conditions will further exacerbate drying in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin as the climate continues to change.

The River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (RMMAC), in partnership with the Department for Environment and Water, and the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board, undertook an Aboriginal Waterways Assessment in 2020 to evaluate the cultural health of the waterways in the Chowilla Floodplain. This included identifying cultural objectives to inform delivery of water for the environment.

The yarning circle provided an opportunity for community members to learn more about climate change, identify its potential impacts on First Peoples’ culture, and discuss a range of strategies for the future.

The yarning circle was delivered by RMMAC with support from the South Australian Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board, and the Department for Environment and Water.