Headwaters of Castlereagh and Ngamaay

Warning: Images of deceased persons may appear | See the Yuwaalaraay / Gamilaraay pronunciation guide here

the DEG crew with Tony Lees at the NPWS info centre at Barradine. L-R: Tony Lees, Ernie Sands, John Sands, Victor Beale, Ty Hickey, Zoe Sands, Margaret Pallister, Bill Johnson, Sandra Suey-Thorne

On the 13/10/25 a group of Elders travelled with members of the Walgett River Rangers to the headwaters of the Ngamaay and Castlereagh Rivers in the Warrumbungle ranges.

The Ngaamaay enters the Baawan at Walgett, and the Castlereagh enters the Baawan with the Wambuul at Walgett also. It's important for us to understand all that needs to be protected in order to work for the health of the rivers and groundwaters fed by these mighty watercourses.

We had a great day out, informed by Bill Johnson of Slattery and Johnson - past NPWS ranger in the region, and an experienced water manager. We had the pleasure of travelling with Tony Lees from our sister organisation in ACHAA, Wungunja Cultural Centre Trangie LALC and found common ground in our water work.

Aboriginal people in Walgett describe the Ngamaay (Namoi) and Baawan (Barwon) rivers as the lifeblood of their community, waterways which generations have cared for and lived on for thousands of years. However, in recent years the rivers have been largely dry with a massive negative impact on community health and wellbeing.

"Well the river is our life: it's like anywhere in the world, if you don't have water you don't have life. The river when I was growing up was a good thing for everybody. Not to say we didn't take things for granted but we respected the waters. It was our life through fishing, drinking, cooking but today there's nothing there. It's really sad. I think to me it's greed by people upstream that don't allow the water to come down" (Community member, quoted in Yuwaya Ngarra-li Community Data Gathering Report, 2019).

The drying up of local rivers is attributed by the Dharriwaa Elders Group to poor management of rivers and water infrastructure by government, which has prioritised the interests of farmers and irrigators over Aboriginal people, and failed to mitigate threats from Climate Change. The lack of respect and understanding for Aboriginal knowledge of river systems and the perspectives or interests of Aboriginal people is an ongoing legacy of decades of institutional racism and has had disproportionately negative impacts on Aboriginal people in Walgett in a number of ways.

The DEG has long held concerns for the health of surface and ground waters of Walgett. Over its 25 years of operation, DEG has become increasingly aware of the vulnerability of Walgett’s water infrastructure and capacity, the lack of planning for climate change, and the low priority given to Walgett community's water security. Our Caring for Water and Country program works for a vision for Walgett where wellbeing of people and Country is vital, and Walgett children have a better, brighter future. We will link Aboriginal culture and science with western science to renew the health of the river systems and groundwaters. We are developing a collection of policies and requirements for management of waters for the social, economic and cultural development of our community.

As a result of our work we will own and manage water for socio-economic development, the environment and Aboriginal cultural practices and wellbeing.