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Don Watson looks at the triumph of modern management-speak and how those who favour the deliberately obscure and the falsely scientific are driving us all nuts.

David Malouf talks about the importance of language and literacy, and his love of language, but also laments its overuse and debasement.

Simon Toze explains various processes for recycling water, the kinds of chemicals that appear in water (such as pharmaceuticals, oestrogen and plasticisers) and makes a case for drinking recycled water.

Jeanie Bell, a Jagera and Dulingbara woman, talks about the importance of language to Indigenous identities, the impact of the forcible loss of language and culture, and the attempts to revive Indigenous languages.

Kelly Fielding gauges the levels of support for and opposition to recycling water for human consumption, and explores the reasons behind each position.

For many decades, Sunshine Harvester Works was a significant landmark in Sunshine, a suburb in Melbourne’s industrial west. Museum curator Leah Bartsch explores research into the stories and objects of Sunshine.

John Archer shares his experience of travelling the world recording the stories, legends, myths and rituals of cultures that revere water.

Murray Garde considers the Wubarr ceremony performed in 1948 and examines the tangled cross-cultural politics of non-Aboriginal involvement in secret Aboriginal religious ceremonies in Western Arnhem Land.

Louise Hamby examines the dispersed collection of fibre objects collected by the 1948 Expedition – the objects and the process and politics of their collection.

Closing remarks from the Barks, Birds and Billabongs symposium.