Wurundjeri Elders enter the Victorian Legislative Assembly to address the house in support of the Wilip-Gin Birrarung Murron Bill July 2017

Wurundjeri Elders enter the Victorian Legislative Assembly to address the house in support of the Wilip-Gin Birrarung Murron Bill July 2017

This image shows Aunty Alice Kolasa, Uncle Colin Hunter, Ron Jones, Aunty Gail Smith, Allan Wandin and Jacqui Wandin entering the Victorian Legislative Assembly on 22 July 2017. The group of six Wurundjeri Elders spoke from the floor of the Victorian Lower House in support of the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Bill 2017 on the occasion of its second reading. They spoke the story of the river and their support in both the Woi-Wurrung and English languages, and their words were recorded in Hansard and in the preamble to the Act. The bill passed through the houses of Parliament unopposed, received royal assent on 26 September, and took effect as the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017 on 1 December 2017. Wilip-gin Birrarung murron can be translated as ‘keep the Birrarung alive.’

The Preamble to the Act acknowledges Kulin authority by explicitly, ‘…recognis[ing] the intrinsic connection of the traditional owners to the Yarra River and its Country and further recognis[ing] them as the custodians of the land and waterway which they call Birrarung.’ As the Elders explained from the floor of Parliament: Birrarung, or the Yarra river, began to flow when Bunjil the Eagle created the land and waterways, the sky, the law, the flora and fauna that comprises Kulin country. The Kulin peoples have known and cared for it since that time. The river has its headwaters at Mount Baw Baw and is fed by fifty tributaries along its 240-kilometre length. The upper reaches wind through the Yarra Ranges; the lower become increasingly estuarine after Dights Falls, as it flows through the centre of the city of Melbourne and out into the sea at Port Phillip Bay. Birrarung is vital to the peoples of the Kulin nations. The Wurundjeri, the Bunurong, the Taungerung, the Dja Dja Wurrung, and the Wathaurong have always lived in relation with the river as food and water source, as site of connection, celebration and diplomacy, and as part of Kulin Dreaming.

To ‘keep the Birrarung alive’, the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017 operates to render as Yarra River Land the river bed, soil and banks, and 500 metres of public riparian land on each side of the river. The river and its ecosystem, from its headwaters to Port Phillip Bay, is addressed in Section 1(a) of the Act as one ‘living and integrated natural entity.’ This constrains decision makers to consider the impacts of planning decisions and environmental policies on the whole river system. Similar legislative framings have been advocated for the Maribyrnong and other Victorian river systems: the interdependence of river system, basin, groundwater and country traversed is a matter of ecological fact that ought to inform law and resource management. The Act mandates going beyond compliance with natural resource management legislation, to acknowledge, reflect, protect and promote Aboriginal cultural values in the making of decisions relating to the river. Further, the Act establishes the Birrarung Council as the independent body responsible for speaking in the river’s interests. The Council is comprised of the chairperson, experts from the environment and agriculture sectors, two skilled members with relevant fields of expertise (natural resource management, public health, urban and landscape planning or similar), at least one community representative (currently the Yarra riverkeeper), and a minimum of two representatives from the Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council. At present, three Wurundjeri representatives sit on the Council. The Birrarung Council’s mandate is to ‘advocate for protection and preservation of the river’, to receive, monitor and report on the progress of the Yarra River Strategic Plan, and to provide advice to the Environment, Land, Water and Planning Minister. The Act bestows on the Birrarung Council a measure of power and authority to care for the river. This is a Kulin obligation.

The Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council worked closely with the Victorian Environment, Land, Water and Planning Minister’s office to consult upon and draft the Wilip-gin Birrarung murron Bill. In so doing, Wurundjeri Kulin leaders engaged the State with the diplomatic skills that characterise Kulin familial and cultural histories, both pre- and post-invasion. Their purpose was one they hold in common with Registered Aboriginal Parties and Aboriginal community groups across the state: to care for country. They engaged to do so through strategic planning, networking and brokering productive partnerships with local and State authorities. These are the diplomatic moves necessary to protect country and culture and cultural heritage in the present-day Victorian jurisdiction, where as yet there are no treaties between First Nations and the State. Such approaches require resilience, ingenuity and perseverance – not least because, in the context of historic and present colonialism, the State is an unnatural ally. Its structural limitations and jurisdictional and procedural rigidity restrict its engagement with the complexity and depth of First Nations’ rights, claims and laws in Victoria.

The river is fundamental to the existence of the City of Melbourne. Birrarung is the reason for the city’s location, and it winds through our history. Since colonisation, the river and the country it runs through have suffered significant pollution and alteration, especially in the lower reaches. In the Lower House of Victorian Parliament on 22 July 2017, the Wurundjeri Elders articulated a concern for the life and continuance of the river. They spoke in Woi-Wurrung and English, from the floor of the parliament, as Sovereign Elders of the Wurundjeri Kulin. For the first time, Victorian Parliament listened to Kulin voices in Kulin language. They explained how Kulin peoples came to be with the river, and how they will continue. The story, the speakers and the language they spoke hold knowledge that is necessary for life with the river. The Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act renders Birrarung whole in Victorian law as it has always been in Kulin law and in fact. In the words of Allan and Jacqui Wandin in the Legislative Assembly, ‘Since our beginning it has been known that we have an obligation to keep the Birrarung alive and healthy—for all generations to come.’ With the passage of the Wilip-gin Birrarung murron Act, under Victorian and Kulin laws, that obligation is recognised, valued and shared.

Woiwurrungbaluk ba Birrarung wanganyinu biikpil Yarrayarrapil, manyi biik ba Birrarung, ganbu marram-nganyinu Manyi Birrarung murrondjak, durrung ba murrup warrongguny, ngargunin twarnpil Birrarungwa nhanbu wilamnganyinu Nhanbu ngarn.ganhanganyinu manyi Birrarung Bunjil munggany biik, wurru-wurru, warriny ba yaluk, ba ngargunin twarn Biiku kuliny munggany Bunjil Waa marrnakith-nganyin Balliyang, barnumbinyu Bundjilal, banyu bagurrk munggany Ngarn.gunganyinu nhanbu nyilam biik, nyilam kuliny – balit biik, balit kuliny: balitmanhanganyin manyi biik ba Birrarung. Balitmanhanganyin durrungu ba murrupu, ba nhanbu murrondjak! We, the Woi-wurrung, the First People, and the Birrarung, belong to this Country. This Country, and the Birrarung are part of us. The Birrarung is alive, has a heart, a spirit and is part of our Dreaming. We have lived with and known the Birrarung since the beginning. We will always know the Birrarung. Bunjil, the great Eagle, the creator spirit, made the land, the sky, the sea, the rivers, flora and fauna, the lore. He made Kulin from the earth. Bunjil gave Waa, the crow, the responsibility of Protector. Bunjil's brother, Palliyang, the Bat, created Bagarook, women, from the water. Since our beginning it has been known that we have an obligation to keep the Birrarung alive and healthy—for all generations to come.

References:

• Parliament of Victoria, Wurundjeri Elders address Legislative Assembly, 21 June 2017, YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySxoOvxZ8wY>
• Wurundjeri Elders and Community, ‘Nhanbu narrun ba ngargunin twarn Birrarung: Ancient Spirit & Lore of the Yarra’ (Wurundjeri Water Policy:,Input into Yarra Strategic Plan, Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council, 31 May 2018)
• Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017 (Vic)
• Explanatory Memorandum, Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017 (Vic)
• Yarra River Community Assembly and Yarra River Protection Ministerial Advisory Committee, ‘Imagine the Yarra’ (Progress Report for the Yarra Strategic Plan, Melbourne Water Corporation, October 2018)
• Email from D. Turnbull, Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation CEO, to C. Oppermann, 20 July 2018
• Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council determinations:
• Application by Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation to be a Registered Aboriginal Party [2009] VAHC (27 August 2009) (Chairperson Eleanor A Bourke)
• Application by Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation to be a Registered Aboriginal Party [2011] VAHC (1 July 2011)
• Decision regarding appointment of the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation as a Registered Aboriginal party [2017] VAHC (19 July 2017)
• Application by Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council to be a Registered Aboriginal Party [2012] VAHC (24 May 2012)
• Application by Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council to be a Registered Aboriginal Party [2015] VAHC (3 September 2015)
• Decision regarding appointment of the Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council as a Registered Aboriginal party [2008] VAHC (22 August 2008) (Chairperson Eleanor A Bourke)
• Second decision regarding appointment of the Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council as a Registered Aboriginal party [2009] VAHC (27 August 2009) (Chairperson Eleanor A Bourke)
• Decision regarding appointment of the Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council as a Registered Aboriginal party [2013] VAHC (18 October 2013) (Chairperson Rodney Carter)
• Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 20 June 2017 (Introduction and First Reading); 22June, 9 August 2017 (Second Reading); 10 August 2017 (Third Reading).
• Victoria, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council, 22 August 2017 (First Reading); 21 September 2017 (Second Reading)

Location of MLS Classroom Photo Murals

In seminar rooms 223 and 224 two murals significant to Kulin nation and the land in which the Law school stands have been installed. In room 224 the image titled A group of Aboriginal men at Coranderrk Station, Healesville shows the sixteen Kulin men (In Alphabetical order: Thomas Avoca; Thomas Bamfield; William Barak; Charles Cable; Mooney Clark; John Cogie; Thomas Gilman; Lanky Gilmore; John Logan; Benjamin ‘Lanky’ Manton; Edward McLennon; Thomas McLennon; Samuel Rowan; Frederick Stewart; John Terrick; Richard Werdurum) who comprised the 1886 Coranderrk deputation to Victorian Parliament in Melbourne, to farewell Chief Secretary Graham Berry upon his retirement from public office. The deputation was led by William Barak, the Kulin ngurungaeta (clan leader). The diplomacy, political strategy and negotiation skills of successive Kulin ngurungaeta were vital in the acquisition of land, and the establishment, success and maintenance of Coranderrk Station. In room 223 the image installed captures the first time Wurundjeri elders addressed Victorian Legislative Assembly as the traditional owners of the land on which Parliament stands. On Thursday, 22 June 2017, six Wurundjeri elders—Aunty Alice Kolasa, Aunty Gail Smith, Ron Jones, Allan Wandin, Uncle Colin Hunter, Jr, and Jacqui Wandin—supported the introduction of the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Bill 2017 (Vic) in Victorian Parliament. Image courtesy of Jim McFarlane/Wurundjeri Tribe Council.