History leaves scars. For the Bendigo Creek in central Victoria, crossing the land of the Dja Dja Wurrung and Barapa Barapa Peoples, those scars came from the days of the gold rush, when the flow of the river was heavily modified to remove obstructions and channel sludge away, contaminating soils across the landscape.
As urban development continued since that era, several unhealthy sections of waterway remained. One area, had become the equivalent of the “town tip”, according to Rodney Carter, CEO of DJAARA (the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation).
Here, rubbish was regularly dumped. When stormwater flowed through, trash was deposited into the river system, further compounding the ecological problem. Water was not just undrinkable, but also unswimmable as a result of silting, littering and pollution, sometimes from contaminated groundwater accruing in former gold mines.
Previously plentiful wildlife disappeared. Indigenous vegetation died off. Pest animals multiplied. The result was a total disconnection between community and creek, between people and water.
Carter and his colleagues at DJAARA, who manage the collaboration of a group of water regulators, managers and authorities with the aim of constantly improving the region’s waterways, are now reversing some of the ecological damage done over so many years.
The project demanded a long-term restorative approach, including buy-in from several water management agencies.
The management of a water system for a single purpose, such as agriculture, urban growth or as fuel for a gold rush, is always going to have a negative effect. In fact, the very concept of humans owning water and choosing how much to give back to the environment, or for any other purpose, is itself a challenging perspective, Carter said.
By shifting the perspective from a single-purpose, locally managed, “giving water to the environment” one, to instead taking a holistic and collaborative approach that acknowledges the natural cycle with “Sky Country providing water for Land Country”, constant improvement of the water system can be achieved, Carter said.
Numerous organisations are subscribing to DJAARA’s point of view, coming together several times a year to synchronise water management, align stakeholders, improve coordination of projects and strategies, and ensure respect for cultural, community and environmental values.
These organisations include:
In aligning such entities, from regulators to water managers, DJAARA helps develop a common, unified strategy grounded in traditional perspectives and knowledge.
It means there are numerous projects in which Dja Dja Wurrung collaboration with partners is restoring waterways for the benefit of the plants and animals that depend on them, and to improve water quality and supply for the community.
To begin the restoration and reimagination process for Bendigo Creek, DJAARA’s Gatjin (Water) team explored traditional ecological knowledge to help solve challenges such as filtration and biodiversity.
Guided by principles from the organisation’s 20-year Country Plan, the approach included Aboriginal water assessments to evaluate the health of the ecosystem through cultural indicators, Carter said.
“You look at locations and make assessments around what you see in the system,” he said. “Is it good? Is it healthy? What is missing? What are the ingredients that are needed to come together as a recipe for good health? There is rigour around this process.”
The DJAARA team also engaged Elders, younger Indigenous generations and members of stakeholder groups in knowledge transfer, creating a dynamic exchange of insights and discussions around the traditional way of doing things, and potential innovations.
Along the way, the DJAARA crew engaged stakeholders and community members on a personal level.
“Organisations are institutions, and institutions naturally operate separate from each other,” Carter said. “We’re trying to deinstitutionalise organisations and lead a more intimate, personal approach to the natural world.
“Some might say that’s a bit quaint, but it allows us to instill a recognition of responsibility, the responsibility that Traditional Owners have. And, actually, it’s good for your soul and spirit. We get great satisfaction and pleasure from allowing ourselves to think in a more holistic way about the restorative management of Country in all its forms.”
One part of the solution, implemented at the point of Bendigo Creek that had become an unofficial rubbish tip, was to slow the water down and create a natural filtration point.
“We were a new kid on the block at the time,” Carter said. “We spoke with the State regulator, built a relationship with North Central CMA and spoke with the City of Greater Bendigo.
“We knew we could heal a part of Country here, by bringing some selective food and fibre plants and design it in a way that the water can be present for longer periods, but at the same time, move it in a fashion that uses engineering design to help clean the water.
“We were able to turn that into some sketches, bring the community together behind the project, talk to our partners and get some investment. It has become an exemplar site for us.”
Stormwater now runs through Wanyarram Dhelk (‘good waterhole’), a chain of stepped ponds that helps silt settle and makes the water healthy.
The long-term vision of the Bendigo Creek is focusing on a 21-kilometre urban stretch of water, including tributaries, to bring the waterways back to health and reconnect the people with the creek.
A program of retrofitting along the catchment has reduced impervious surfaces, added greater vegetation cover and encouraged responsible landscaping, including rain gardens and rainwater tanks to collect stormwater from parks and properties by the creek.
The project is not only significant for residents of Bendigo. It also means the Dja Dja Wurrung people are meeting their own responsibilities of passing on good water to their neighbours downstream.
The project is already paying dividends, making Bendigo a water sensitive city, more resilient and better able to face the challenges of climate change.
“There is a rippling along the Bendigo Creek, there is now undulation. Sounds, when there was none,” according to the Greater Bendigo City Council report Reimagining Bendigo Creek.
“There is a familiar sense of reawakening as we walk along the banks. There is open, clean water, verged by grasses and reeds that are strong and healthy like us. The Creek is healing and so are we.
“Activity and conversation, voices of the community, people and children, looking for and anticipating life and movement within the Creek, hoping for new interactions. We now have a place to gather, to listen and to share.”
This article was originally published in the 2025 edition of Current magazine.