Strong Country healthy wetlands

World Wetlands Day will be celebrated in West Gippsland and around the world on Monday 2 February.  

West Gippsland is home to a number of internationally and nationally significant wetlands spanning Bunurong and Gunaikurnai Country. These include the internationally important Ramsar sites of Corner Inlet and Gippsland Lakes and eleven sites listed as nationally important under the Directory of Important Wetlands Australia such as Anderson Inlet, Shallow Inlet, Kugerungomome/Powlett River mouth and Lake Wellington and Lake Victoria Wetlands. 

We love that this year’s theme is ‘Wetlands and traditional knowledge: Celebrating cultural heritage’. This global campaign spotlights the timeless role of traditional knowledge in sustaining wetland ecosystems and preserving cultural identity. 

On Bunurong Country, we’re learning from Traditional Owners as they lead projects to protect waterways and wetlands.

“Wetlands shelter countless species, from the smallest invertebrates to migratory birds that cross entire continents,” says Renee Sweetman, Balirt biik Aboriginal Water Officer for Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation.

“But their value extends beyond ecology. Wetlands are cultural landscapes – living places of story, identity, and knowledge. For First Peoples, wetlands are part of an unbroken relationship with Country, where land, water, people, and spirit are inseparable. These places teach us balance, reciprocity and responsibility.”

“The majority of Aboriginal people in Victoria use the Wetlands like ‘fridges’ to get all the materials you need, such as plants to make nets, ropes, tools and for medicinal use,” adds Baden Moore, the Land Council’s Strong Country, Water Team Leader. 

Some mobs used Wetlands to catch fish and have a consistent source of fish throughout the year. Some wetlands were like nurseries for breeding fish so during inundation the fish can join the mainstream.”  

Baden, Renee and team are working to imbed traditional knowledge into water management with:  

• Bunurong Waterway Assessments: To find the cultural values that are significant to Bunurong people, and enable the Water Team to plant Medicine, Tool making and weaving plants along other waterways to imbed Bunurong cultural values into waterway management.  

• Riparian and Aquatic Revegetation.  

• Aquaculture: the team are planning an Aquaculture nursery, growing Aquatic plants and breeding fish.