Dharmae: Mainstem Murray River Oral History collection (Talking Fish project)

This item represents a Study Region in Dharmae, the UTS Data Hub of
Australian Research on Marine and Aquatic Ecocultures.

The data from this study region includes 12 oral histories (audio as mp3s, and transcripts) and 4 image galleries, as well as a georeferenced hand-drawn map of the area.

The Murray River is the boundary between NSW and Victoria. The river both defines boundaries
and unites them with the waters that sustain townships, irrigation and the floodplain forests, including the 70,000ha of the iconic Barmah and Millewa Forest. The river and its floodplain are the traditional lands of the Yorta Yorta and Bangerang people. The Murray is a very different river to the one the Yorta Yorta and Bangerang peoples once knew and fished.

Today, flows in the river are controlled by Hume Dam – the first of 15 structures on the main channel. By the time it reaches Corowa, the Murray has changed from a small clear stream to a fast flowing river, its waters tea brown. Near Yarrawonga the Murray enters Lake Mulwala, where the skeletons of old drowned red gums are a stark memorial to the way the river’s changed.

(Source: Frawley, J., Nichols, S., Goodall, H. and Baker, E. 2011. Murray: Talking fish, making connections with the rivers of the Murray‐Darling Basin. Murray‐Darling Basin Authority, Canberra.)