A Vision for the Future: Revitalizing Darwin Harbour Catchments

The Darwin Harbour Waterways Catchment Project hit the ground running on Monday 17 June, with 47 stakeholders producing dynamic discussion at the initial planning workshop.

Setting the collaborative tone for the day, Larrakia elder James Parfitt, stressed the importance of community involvement in looking after the health of Darwin waterways and the four priority catchments - Rapid Creek, Mitchell Creek, Sandy Creek, and Ludmilla Creek - now and into the future.

“I really want to push the importance of what you are doing here. What we don’t do today will have an adverse effect on our future, on our kids, our grandkids and great grandkids' futures.”

“We can’t be silent about our cultural heritage and waterways. Vision without strategy remains an illusion; it is important that we work with strategies using both Western and Indigenous caring styles and knowledge,” he said.

Led by Landcare NT, the project is a partnership between Larrakia Nation and local community landcare groups, supported by $3.82 million in funding through the Australian Government’s Urban Rivers and Catchments program.

Building on existing strategies, the project will tackle key threats to the catchments, including weed management, fire rehabilitation, erosion control, and stormwater pollutant and litter management. By value-adding to these, the vision is to create a more sustainable and resilient environment where natural biodiversity thrives under community stewardship.

Project Manager Mike Clark said “The aim of the day was to bring together as many of the stakeholders involved in the management of the catchments and those who value these waterway environments to come up with a shared vision.”

“We want to determine what they see as the main issues/threats to these natural assets and come up with strategies to address these issues. I believe the workshop made great progress in achieving this.”

Stakeholders established an understanding of the Conservation Standards before drawing on 100 years of collective wisdom in the panel discussion, which provided powerful insights into the challenges that lie ahead.

Mr Clark stressed the importance of establishing the vision and scope in the lead up to the next planning workshops taking place for each of the catchment groups from 15 - 17 July.

“The plans are to prioritise the targets and strategies that everyone came up with on Monday and work towards producing the results chains,” Mike explained.

“We need to develop a four-year work activity plan so we can confidently roll out the project.”

“This will include Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plans and Program Logic plans - budgets, strategies to set goals, identify threats and targets, as well as pinpoint knowledge gaps,” he added.

For more information get in touch with Mike Clark at [email protected].