ABSTRACT

The cultural importance of water to the Aboriginal people of the Snowy Mountains is significant. Water is integral to healthy waterways, resource availability, and cultural practices that form customs and belief systems. Although there was previously no comprehensive formal legal mechanism to specifically account for cultural water in the water governance arrangements, the authors document the initial restorative healing process for establishing cultural water management in the Snowy Mountains. We identify the four pillars of restorative healing in cultural water management as (1) respect, (2) recognition, (3) representation, and (4) responsibility and self-determination. The inclusion of cultural requirements in water management in the Snowy Mountains of NSW was undertaken by interviewing Aboriginal elders of five communities that have a direct connection to these waterways. Our discussions and management resulted in (1) the establishment of interim cultural water objectives, (2) the cultural naming of high flow releases to the waterways, (3) ceremonies on country associated with the high flow releases, (4) engagement and input to annual release strategies and (5) amendment of the legislative instrument to provide Aboriginal elders representation in future water management.

摘要

水对雪山原住民的文化重要性非常重要。水是形成习俗和信仰体系的健康水道，资源可用性和文化习俗的组成部分。尽管以前没有全面的正式法律机制专门在水管理安排中考虑文化水，但作者记录了在雪山建立文化水管理的最初恢复性修复过程。我们将文化水管理中恢复性治疗的四个支柱确定为：（1）尊重，（2）认可，（3）代表以及（4）责任与自决。在新南威尔士州雪山水管理中纳入文化要求是通过采访与这些水道有直接联系的五个社区的土著长老来进行的。我们的讨论和管理导致（1）确立临时文化水目标，（2）对水道高流量排放的文化命名，（3）与高流量排放相关的国家仪式，（4）参与和投入年度排放策略和（5）修改法律文书，以在未来的水管理中提供土著长者代表。