Indigenous Water Engineering and Aquaculture Systems in Australia: The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape and Baiame’s Ngunnhu (the Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps)

Australia's First Peoples have demonstrated millennia of sustainable water management through sophisticated engineering, including fish and eel trapping structures and weir systems. The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in Victoria and Baiame’s Ngunnhu (Brewarrina Aboriginal fish traps) in New South Wales stand as some of the largest continuing sites of such practices globally. Recent scholarship and heritage listings, including Budj Bim's World Heritage status, highlight these systems' cultural significance and their potential to inform modern water governance. These ancient techniques, maintained through social and environmental stewardship, offer insights into sustainable innovation for addressing contemporary challenges in water management, Indigenous rights, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Daniell, K. A., & Moggridge, B. (2024). Indigenous Water Engineering and Aquaculture Systems in Australia: The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape and Baiame’s Ngunnhu (the Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps). Blue Papers, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2024.1.01