Indigenous Nations of the Murray-Darling Basin Maps

Figure 1.  Artist’s impression of Indigenous Nations of the Murray-Darling Basin, over-laid within the natural and cultural boundaries map of Australia

Indigenous Nations assert and Anthropologists recognise that the Basin has long formed a coherent cultural realm with common intra-regional ties of kinship, social organisation, trade and material cultures that are distinct form other such areas in Australia.

Figure 2.  Artist’s impression of Indigenous Nations of the Murray-Darling Basin, over-laid by a map of State and catchment boundaries 

The Traditional Owner community or Indigenous Nation consists of family blood-lines that extend back to their traditional country. They are native to their local environments and hold custodial knowledge and responsibilities for the land, water and natural resources, under their own laws, customs and traditions. In relation to NRM it is more appropriate to talk about a community of Traditional Owners as an Indigenous Nation.

Approximately 40 autonomous Indigenous Nations, interconnected by a compatible system of kinship law, maintain an on-going social, cultural, economic and spiritual connection to their lands, waters and natural resources within the Murray-Darling Basin. Combined, their country extends between the Qld headwaters through to the Darling and Murray rivers systems within NSW, ACT and VIC to the ocean in SA.

Indigenous peoples currently make up 3.4% of the Basin’s total population, a figure that represents 15% of the national Indigenous population.