The Snowy Mountains is home to the headwaters of the Snowy, Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers yet the delicate alpine ecosystem that supports these vital water sources is being trampled. The alpine area that covers only 0.01 of Australia’s inhabited land mass is under threat from a combination of the impacts of feral animals, artificial water flows and climate change.
Where The Water Starts reveals how this fragile alpine region, particularly Kosciuszko National Park, the largest in the Australian Alps is seen by a number of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who were born or live in the southern mountains area, or who care deeply about it.
The film brings together respected Aboriginal community leaders including Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison, Aunty Sue Bulger, Aunty Rhonda Casey, Bruce Pascoe as well as alpine river guide, Richard Swain and his partner Alison, and local farmer, Sterling Dixon, scientist, Prof David Watson, former parks officer, Paul Hardey and academic, Dr Isa Menzies. The film reflects on their ideas around caring for country as a shared responsibility of all Australians; that the best of Aboriginal connection and the best of regenerative science can work together for a better future for the alpine environment and to protect the habitats of 34 threatened native species.
Amanda King is an Australian filmmaker who has been producing documentaries since the late 1980’s. Her interests range from contemporary issues such as the environment, Indigenous rights and independence struggles, through to the arts and labour history. She works closely with her partner, Co-Producer and Cinematographer Fabio Cavadini, and they have done for over three decades. They have produced a number of documentaries around stories based in the Pacific – in Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and Bougainville – which have shown on Australian broadcast networks as well as to international audiences. Titles include Time To Draw The Line, Colour Change, An Evergreen Island and arts documentary, A Thousand Different Angles. In 2017 they co-directed and produced, TIME TO DRAW THE LINE, a tele-hour documentary which screened in cinemas around the country with the cinema on demand group, Demand Films. They co-produced the tele-hour documentary, BUWARRALA ARYAH Journey West with Director, Gadrian Jarwijalmar Hoosan, a Yanyuwa-Garrwa man from Borroloola, NT, broadcast on NITV in late 2019/early 2020. Their most recent films, two feature length documentaries which Amanda directed, THE GREAT STRIKE 1917 which had its World Premiere at the Antenna International Documentary Film Festival 2019 and CLEMENT MEADMORE, its World Premiere at The Fine Arts Film Festival FAFF 2020.
