Listening to the River

If the river had a voice, what would it say?

  • The river has a voice! Always had a vocabulary and has recently given us all a lecture, I sometimes wonder what it will take? We need to listen - binung!

    Uncle AJ | Kyogle

  • Kill the carp AND make riparian restoration mandatory

    Phil, local bush regenerator | Dunoon

  • Bring your children and families to my banks and see that I’m still teeming with life. The plants might not be the mighty rainforest trees and the fish not the cod, perch and eel, but I am still flowing and will run clear again. When the people repair the land with trees, shrubs and grasses and hold the soil in place, and keep their livestock and poisons away from my creeks and floodplains, I will be clean and the children can swim in my waterholes once again

    Vanessa | Lismore

  • My language is slow, too slow for you to hear let alone comprehend. I’ve been singing the same song for millions of years; since the first patter of rain started the first rill on the slopes of a roaring volcano. My blood; the blood of the world; is drawn from the ground that filters every fluid that strikes the surface of this place. Nothing you do is unknown to me. Though it is of little consequence.

    Laurie | Lismore

  • The river's voice is a multitude. It's song is a chorus of water's story- of every interconnected molecule from a stream on the flanks of Wollumbin across vast oceans to the shores of an Alaskan bay. It tells us of connection, of dispersal. It tells us of deep history and unfathomable change. It reminds us that we must think not only of the present, but upstream and downstream in time and place- for we cannot affect one without affecting all.

    Hannah | Clunes

  • My language is slow, too slow for you to hear let alone comprehend. I’ve been singing the same song for millions of years; since the first patter of rain started the first rill on the slopes of a roaring volcano. My blood; the blood of the world; is drawn from the ground that filters every fluid that strikes the surface of this place. Nothing you do is unknown to me. Though it is of little consequence.

    Laurie | Lismore

  • I am Ballun. A river in north-east New South Wales rising on Julgumbun, a mountain on the Queensland border. Julgumbun’s strikingly tiered summit formed from lava flows from nearby volcanic activity around 24 million years ago, and now catches the eye of all who pass by. In June 1828 Captain Henry James Rous, who claims to have discovered my mouth where I enter the Pacific Ocean, named me the Richmond River, after the 5th Duke of Richmond. Pah! I am Ballun. The only interest Rous showed in me was the extent of navigability for the resource exploitation that was to come. And the Duke? Never once paid a visit. Same goes for Julgumbun, named by colonising explorers after Colonel Patrick Lindesay, commandant of troops in New South Wales. Such was the place-naming of colonial times. Along with my adjoining and inseparable lands, from the grassy woodland flats to the rainforest, I embrace and welcome other rivers, creeks and numerous small watercourses into my main channel. This, is our home, and it will be better if we all start thinking like this.

    Graeme, Upper Kyogle

  • I am the river I am the river. Listen. Listen to my story in the quiet gurgles and the crashing torrents, in the silent eddy’s and the rippling currents. I’ll tell you of a time when all the creatures on my banks heard my voice and followed my wisdom. They listened deeply. The world was harmonious. I spoke of respect for all things and every creature, plant and energy. I spoke of the significance of all to the whole and the need to nurture every part. I spoke of my gifts that sustained all life around me. I offered my wisdom not without obligation. In failing to listen to my voice all the careful balancing and patterning could be lost. Maybe not forever but until those around me who listen convince those that don’t that they too are part of the whole.

    Margie, Kyogle

  • "Silence is acceptance people". Treat me right and I'll see you through. I am life.

    Aunty Kali, Kyogle

  • Please plant my banks and stop the cattle eroding them.

    Rebecca, Lynch’s Creek

  • "I am a river that flows into the sea. I do not mean to cause harm and destruction, but I flow into other streams and rivers neighboring me"

    Madelyn, Lismore

Listen to the river, and tell us - what does it say?

We’re asking community members what the river would say if it had a voice.

2022 Riverkeeper Forum

In June 2022 we brought together Custodians, thinkers and doers from across the Richmond River catchment to foster connectedness across those interested in being a voice for the Richmond catchment rivers, come together as the activators of the Richmond Riverkeeper Network and explore the possibilities for Riverkeeper programs from simple projects and events through to ideas for longer term change.

At the forum we did an activity that really brought the group together. We were asked to form a human map of the catchment and stand “where your heart lies on the river.”

From the Border Ranges, Julgumbun (Mount Lindesay) and Toonumbar all the way down to Wardell & Ballina, people shared the story of their intimate relationship with the river. It was a powerful activity and helped remind us all how much the river connects us; the flowing water being our common thread.

The Yarra Riverkeeper, Charlotte, welcoming everyone to the event

Collaboration for Catchment Health