Wetlands of abundance
Australia’s wetlands were places of great abundance, one can still grasp that sense in northern Australia, in Kakadu’s Kurrung (the late dry season in Kundjeyhmi language) a mind blowing seasonal abundance happens when a vast swamp drops water level and tens of thousands of magpie geese gather for weeks digging for water chestnuts, feasting. In the south Tim Flannery notes the wetlands of Port Phillip Bay were once a spectacular temperate version of Kakadu, ironically one of today’s great southern wetlands is the Werribee treatment plant in that same bay. The Ngarrindjeri people of the lower Murray River and lakes, where freshwater meets the Southern Ocean similarly sustained perhaps Australia’s highest concentration of people as the meeting of salt and fresh built up a vast trophic web at that sweet spot – the mixing of waters, giant Murray Cod as the river entered the lower lakes and massive Mulloway at the seaward side.
So with this blog I hope to reflect on our connection with Australian landscapes, reflecting upon what was and dream of what is still possible with healthy waters flowing in country.
Australia’s wetlands were places of great abundance, one can still grasp that sense in northern Australia, in Kakadu’s Kurrung (the late dry season in Kundjeyhmi language) a mind blowing seasonal abundance happens when a vast swamp drops water level and tens of thousands of magpie geese gather for weeks digging for water chestnuts, feasting. In the south Tim Flannery notes the wetlands of Port Phillip Bay were once a spectacular temperate version of Kakadu, ironically one of today’s great southern wetlands is the Werribee treatment plant in that same bay. The Ngarrindjeri people of the lower Murray River and lakes, where freshwater meets the Southern Ocean similarly sustained perhaps Australia’s highest concentration of people as the meeting of salt and fresh built up a vast trophic web at that sweet spot – the mixing of waters, giant Murray Cod as the river entered the lower lakes and massive Mulloway at the seaward side.
So with this blog I hope to reflect on our connection with Australian landscapes, reflecting upon what was and dream of what is still possible with healthy waters flowing in country.
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