Salinisation is a powerful process. Salinity can kill plants and destroy expensive infrastructure. Crops and pastures cannot grow, brick walls crumble away. Across the Wagga Wagga region people have responded in various and creative ways to the phenomenon of salinisation. As salinity changes human perceptions and actions, places change too.
PEOPLE, SALINITY AND CHANGE
People shape places. How we see and talk about land influences how we engage with it. Problems like salinity have been exacerbated by the ecological changes made across the Wagga Wagga region since settlement in the 19th century. Careful and innovative responses by people to the phenomenon of salinisation reveal shifting understandings and perceptions of land.
Photo: George Main
> GRAEME WILLIS Graeme Willis is the third generation of his family to run Willis Bricks. Salinity now threatens his livelihood.
> FLO GRANT Flo Grant, a Wiradjuri elder, manages a living-skills and cultural learning place. '... we've all got to work together to heal land and preserve our water, because we build for the next generation.'
> MAX CHAMBERLAIN Salinisation of some low-lying parts of his property has led wheat and sheep farmer Max Chamberlain to propagate and plant tens of thousands of trees and shrubs.
> WAGGA WAGGA URBAN LANDCARE GROUP The Wagga Wagga Urban Landcare Group has been an essential part of community responses to salinity in the Wagga Wagga region for more than ten years.
Places tell stories. The patterns and particularities encountered in places reveal entangled histories of land, people and other species. Crumbling brick walls, salinity scalds, gardens of Indigenous plants and signs explaining salinisation speak of the various and shifting ways people have imagined and engaged with land across the Wagga Wagga district.
Photo: Naomi Zouwer
> ERINEARTH At ErinEarth, Sisters from the Mt Erin convent are exploring how to live in a more sustainable way.
> ARCADIA At Arcadia, the Strong family have developed innovative approaches to living with salinity. They share their ideas and knowledge through regular field days on the property.
> WIRADJURI YALBALINGADA As part of teaching young Wiradjuri people living skills at Wiradjuri Yalbalingada, Aboriginal elders are establishing a native plant nursery.
> NARUA Since discovering salt scalds appearing on part of their property, the Chamberlain family has propagated and planted tens of thousands of trees on Narua to lower the watertable.
Objects have histories. As salinity reshapes places and draws responses from residents of the Wagga Wagga district, a diverse range of objects record and tell these stories of dynamic interaction between land and people. On close inspection, objects reveal rich histories of changes brought by salinity to places and to human perceptions and behaviour.
Photo: George Main
> UNSUSTAINABLE THIRST ARTWORK Unsustainable Thirst offers an artistic interpretation of the relationship between salinity and the history of European settlement.
Photo: George Serras
> DANCEPLANT T-SHIRT This t-shirt came out of Danceplant events where people planted trees all day and danced all night.
> GROUNDWATER MAP The Groundwater map indicates areas at high risk of salinity. It was issued by local Council as one of its public education salinity initiatives.
> HAMILTON TREEPLANTER Max Chamberlain's Hamilton tree planter is well-worn from having been used to plant tens of thousands of trees on his Narua property.
