Watch Gilgais and Caring for water with June Baker

Guiding questions:

What knowledge was shared about how Aboriginal people cared for: 

Gilgais? (You don’t go into the water; it is a source of clear, fresh drinking water)

Billabongs and the lagoons off the Barwon? (The crayfish live near the water’s edge so you must enter and exit the water carefully so you can collect them safely)

Explain how Aboriginal people of the area purified the muddy waters following a flood?

 (They collected little bits of gypsum, burn it in a fire, broke it up into powder, put it into the bucket and mix it causing the muddy water to sink to the bottom leaving drinking water behind)

How have gilgais, billabongs and lagoons been affected by the arrival of non-Indigenous people?

(Non-Indigenous people lacked an understanding of the significance of different water sources, Country is not protected as it was traditionally, livestock and other animals have walked through the waters breaking down the banks causing gilgais to disappear, some gilgais are situated on land that cannot be accessed due to fences)