Water Security, Water Honour, Water Flow
By Angel John Gallard, Upper Snowy Riverkeeper

» The once mighty Snowy River winds its way through some of the wildest, most rugged country in southeastern Australia before reaching its destination, the Tasman Sea. The glorious roar of the Snowy still echoes in the memories of old timers. Its historic majesty inspired the famous, century-old words of Banjo Paterson in his poem, The Man from Snowy River.

But death came to the river in 1967 in the form of the Jindabyne Dam and the creation of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme, providing ‘water security’ for Australia’s food-bowl region and electricity for New South Wales. Lauded as a nation-building exercise, the scheme siphoned 99 percent of the river’s natural flow, effectively turning the once wild and beautiful Snowy into little more than a rocky drain. The communities, human and wild, that depended on the Snowy River’s sustaining flow were devastated.

The resurrection of the Snowy River began in the 1990s with a community outcry that spurred the government into action. Federal, Victorian and New South Wales governments passed the Snowy River Agreement; a landmark piece of legislation that requires the return of water to the watershed, committs $375 million and requires that the governments convene an independent scientific committee to, with public input, oversee restoration of the river. But while the plan set ambitious goals, government stumbled in its commitment to implement the agreement.

On 28 August, 2002, bells rang out and the community celebrated as the first environmental flows were released back to an upper tributary of the Snowy River, the Moonbah River. The governments accepted kudos. But it was only a charade.

Three and a half years later the water was again shut off. Behind the scenes the government had gone back on its word. The independent scientific committee was never established. The public was never consulted. The whole episode left the community anguished and bitter. But rather than dissuaded, this tragic experience only reaffirms the resolve of the Upper Snowy Riverkeeper and the community. The Upper Snowy Riverkeeper and other Snowy River community groups are now exploring legal avenues to force the New South Wales government to keep their word to restore the stolen flow.

The same community power and passion that brought about the legislated plan to save the Snowy River will again force the New South Wales government to comply with its promise to the people and its legal obligations to restore flow to the Snowy River. We will again have to fight for the life of our beloved and once wild Snowy River. This time, though, we will be wary of false hopes and the poisonous tongues of politicians. The question is not whether but when the commitments will be honoured to restore this iconic waterway.

Spiritual Meaning of Water
My ancestry is mixed but I draw strongly on my Australian Aboriginal heritage for my understanding of water and the respect and reverence we should all have for it.

The Snowy River is a sacred river. All of our rivers have a sacred quality. Water is sacred. The water cycle shapes the earth, and us. In our Aboriginal Dreaming Stories we see the rivers like snakes twisting through the land, shaping and forming landscape. We see the creative energy contained within the water, circulating, using the energy, and power of the Rainbow Serpent according to the laws of the Great Spirit, whom we know as Byame in parts of central and south eastern New South Wales, Australia. Byame’s Law is Universal.