A Rapid Review of Recreational, Cultural, and Environmental Meanings of Water for Australian River Communities

Abstract

While many studies have explored the value of water, little is known concerning the meaning of water for Australian river communities. This rapid literature review provides an overview of the recreational, cultural, and environmental meaning of water for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian river communities and notes important connections between these relationships. Consequently, this review adds a critical dimension to water management debates by privileging community voices. Most papers explored cultural and environmental aspects rather than recreational relationships with water, with the majority of papers exploring Indigenous cultural and environmental meanings of water and fewer papers focusing on these meanings of water for non-Indigenous people. Our review shows that the meanings of water are understood very differently in cultures, with Indigenous water relationships marginalized by a dominant culture. Understanding the multiple dimensions of hydro-social relationships is critical to socially and environmentally just water management and to people’s health.

Keywords:

• Culture
• environmental attitudes and behavior
• indigenous knowledge
• recreational
• river basin governance
• water

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the La Trobe University Transforming Human Societies Research Focus Area under Grant number 2000004348.