Western hubris about water leads to really bad water policy - kate harriden

Australia’s First Peoples looked after the country’s waterscapes for millennia before colonisation brought Western ways that exclude their contribution. This week on Earth Matters Wiradyuri woman and indigenous water expert kate harriden (link is external) from the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (link is external) explains how educating settler societies about indigenous ways of knowing is crucial to decolonising water management in Australia.

Produced by Claudia Craig at the studios of 3CR on unceded Wurundjeri land.

Sound recordings of Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra, created and supplied by kate harriden.

This epsiode of Earth Matters first aired on 3CR on 11 May 2025.

References

Overturning Aqua nullius, Virginia Marshall (link is external)

Indigenous design: Water Country by kate harriden (link is external)

‘Hear Their Voices: Australia’s First Nations Women and the Legal Recognition of Their Rights to Water’ Katie O’Bryan & kate harriden (link is external)

Victorian Government Water is Life Policy document (link is external)