"Indigenous Water Science"

Indigenous water science is a missing component in water management in Australia. On this dry, flat and ancient continent Traditional Knowledge has been passed on from generation to generation for millennia. This is a profound reliance of knowledge of surface and groundwater, has been critical to ensure the survival of Indigenous peoples in a dry landscape, through the role of traditional knowledge in finding and protecting water places. Indigenous water science can provide a new (but old) evidence that is culturally appropriate, and which generates a cultural safe space with Indigenous researchers and communities leading.

The aim is to shift the research paradigm away from Indigenous peoples being the researched under non-Indigenous research methodologies to becoming the researchers. This allows the Indigenous scientist to derive the terms, questions and priorities of what is being researched, how the community is engaged, and how the research is delivered.