Dharmae: Upper Murrumbidgee 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 5 oral histories (audio as mp3s, and transcripts) and a georeferenced hand-drawn map of the area.

The Upper Murrumbidgee meanders through the Snowy Mountains in south‐eastern New South Wales, snaking its way south, then turning north before dropping into the lowland and heading west to join the Murray downstream of Swan Hill. The Upper ‘Bidgee floodplain is only a couple of hundred metres wide, a stark contrast to the kilometres‐wide floodplains in other parts of the Murray‐Darling Basin. When the floods come, they come up quickly and roar through the narrow valleys.

Since Europeans arrived the health of the river and its fish has been shaped by the people who came to live there and the industries that developed. Mining and grazing, and the development of Canberra brought new people with new needs. Once, river levels would rise with the spring snow melt before falling slowly over the summer. Today the snow melt is collected in Tantangara Dam before being returned to the ‘Bidgee below Burrinjuck Dam. The river between these dams is a shadow of its former self.

These are the traditional lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngarigo peoples. They fished the river and surrounding waterways and the seasonal rise and fall of the water guided their travels and featured in their stories.

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

本数据集代表澳大利亚海洋与水生生态文化研究的UTS数据枢纽旗下达米（Dharmae）平台中的一处研究区域。

该研究区域的数据集包含5份口述历史资料（音频格式为MP3，附带转录文本），以及一张该区域经地理配准的手绘地图。

默伦比奇河上游（Upper Murrumbidgee）蜿蜒流经新南威尔士州东南部的雪山山脉（Snowy Mountains），先向南延伸，继而转向北，随后汇入低地并向西流淌，最终在天鹅山（Swan Hill）下游与墨累河（Murray）汇合。默伦比奇河上游（俗称“Bidgee”）的泛滥平原宽度仅数百米，与墨累-达令盆地（Murray-Darling Basin）其他区域数公里宽的泛滥平原形成鲜明反差。洪水来袭时，会快速上涨并咆哮着穿过狭窄河谷。

自欧洲殖民者抵达以来，该河流及其鱼类的生态健康状况由在此定居的居民与当地发展起来的产业共同塑造。采矿、畜牧业以及堪培拉（Canberra）的开发引入了新的定居者与新的发展需求。过去，河流水位会随春季融雪上涨，并在夏季缓慢回落。如今，融雪水会先被拦截在坦塔塔拉水坝（Tantangara Dam）中，随后被排放至布里努克水坝（Burrinjuck Dam）下游的“Bidgee”河段。两座水坝之间的河段已不复往日风貌。

该区域是恩古纳瓦族（Ngunnawal）与恩加里戈族（Ngarigo）的传统领地。他们曾在该河流及周边水道捕鱼，水位的季节性涨落指引着他们的迁徙活动，也融入了他们的口述故事之中。

（资料来源：Frawley、J.、Nichols、S.、Goodall、H.与Baker、E.，2011年。《默伦比奇河上游：对话鱼类，联结墨累-达令盆地诸河流》，墨累-达令盆地管理局（Murray-Darling Basin Authority），堪培拉。）