Murrumbidgee: Big Water

One river tells a global story. The rivers of Australia’s interior feed the nation’s crops, its unique wetlands, landscapes, and ways of life. But many are in trouble, dying slow deaths due to the pressure humans put on them, be it agriculture, corporate greed or ineffective politics. Climate change is making rainfall unpredictable, groundwater is being overexploited. Water is now a commodity to be bought and sold on share markets. The Murrumbidgee river and its catchment, part of the Murray-Darling Basin, is a critical and hugely productive foodbowl, but it’s also home to unique wetlands and endangered species. People, though, need water; Europeans have built towns and thirsty communities in areas where water is scarce, while a new movement of Aboriginal cultural water rights is taking hold. Across the world, water resources are coming under pressure – communities, businesses and entire ecological systems coalescing, yearning and fighting for the same thing – water.

Crucially, this project looks to bridge some of the ever-wider gaps between sections of society. Our planet’s health, and feeding the people who live here, cannot sink further into the ‘us and them’ mentality. Entertaining and informing, even funny, it aims to change the way people think about rivers and water, farming, the environment, and Indigenous water rights. Critically, this film looks for solutions. Better science and tech, yes, but also an increased mindfulness of water’s finite state.

We are seeking to raise awareness on the way communities live or die based on their access to water, the way this water does or does not reach them, and the way this is related to impact on the environment and riverine ecosystems. By raising awareness and focusing on impact and education, and using comedy, we hope to shift the debate in Australia and internationally – or at least, bring it out of the shadows – on what best practice for water use in dry landscapes really looks like.

They are assisting but not directing storyline narrative and interview choices, while helping us find the right funding options and storylines.

Become champions of wetlands and riverine systems, as well as sustainable farming practices.