"When they suck water out of our rivers that ruins our peoples way of doing things. If that water is infected by chemicals, what’s going to happen?"-Ngemba cultural educator Bradley Hardy
Listen to this NITV Radio Podcast to learn about the ancient fish traps of Brewarrina and how agribusiness in the area impacts the cultural flow of the Barwon river.
Brewarrina (Tall Trees) in North Central New South Wales is home to one of the oldest man made structures in the world. Their ancient fish traps built in the Barwon River were shared across eight different tribes who had their own languages and way of doing things.
Ngemba cultural educator from the Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Centre Bradley Hardy says the eight tribes built their structures and friendships as communities, while they fished together.
"When the river is down or low and when it’s being sucked out used for cotton, we notice our moral is pretty low. When the river is running fresh when we got a fresh rise or the river is running consistent you know our people are up beat and stuff the tempo is good. We deeply depend on the river."
Bradley says the eight tribes associated with the fish traps deeply depended on the river.
He says "Without river there is no community, so when they suck water out of our rivers that ruins our people's way of doing things. If that water is infected by chemicals, what’s going to happen."
When the river is down or low and when it’s being sucked out used for cotton, we notice our moral is pretty low. When the river is running fresh when we got a fresh rise or the river is running consistent you know our people are up beat and stuff the tempo is good. We deeply depend on the river. River is really the community, we’re that community that is off that community."
